RIP to one of the ORIGINAL St. Louis Hawks

[sturt]

... albeit for just a few minutes, I suppose.

 

Regardless, good to honor NBA legends and give them their due.

(Right? Right.)

[sturt]

Ya know... I'd never realized Bill Russell was technically drafted by the Hawks until relatively recently.

I did realize that Bob Cousy was our first-ever draft pick in 1950, though.

 

Seems maybe the basketball gods were trying to help us out from the very beginning, but we just refused to be helped, true?

[AHF]

17 minutes ago, sturt said:

Ya know... I'd never realized Bill Russell was technically drafted by the Hawks until relatively recently.

I did realize that Bob Cousy was our first-ever draft pick in 1950, though.

 

Seems maybe the basketball gods were trying to help us out from the very beginning, but we just refused to be helped, true?

At least we got a HOFer in the trade and beat the Celtics for a championship….but it is hard not to think what might have been with a Russell / Petit combo.  They seem like they would have paired up very nicely.

RIP Bill Russell.

[TRW]

His reached stretched farther than the NBA. A true humanitarian. He was one of the greatest human beings of all-time. I will always remember his laugh, sense of humor, and the awe and respect he got from other people. That says a lot about a person.

[sturt]

 

 

 

 

 

[sturt]

Bill Russell was the first-ever recipient of the NBA's lifetime achievement award.

(If you want to learn about the second-ever recipient, one only needs to visit the Politics & Religion forum, and click on some thread that talks about nicknames.)

[MarylandHawk]

True legend. Lived an amazing life and will live on forever as an example of excellence. 

[Spud2nique]

of the ’s.

1/1

RIP  

[sturt]

16 hours ago, TRW said:

I will always remember his laugh, sense of humor...

Spot on. Me, too.

[macdaddy]

18 hours ago, sturt said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I'm not an expert on this but it's my understanding that there was absolutely no way St Louis could have a black man on the team at that time.   So they drafted him to trade him.  Maybe someone can shed more light or correct me if i'm wrong.  

[sturt]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

 

Anyway, I'm not an expert on this but it's my understanding that there was absolutely no way St Louis could have a black man on the team at that time.   So they drafted him to trade him.  Maybe someone can shed more light or correct me if i'm wrong.  

Hmmm... didn't know.

Found this.

https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2020/5/17/21258883/bill-russell-atlanta-hawks-racism-st-louis-details-story-conspiracy

[sturt]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

I'll never forget this,  

 

 

[sturt]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'll never forget this,  

 

 

 

Context? Never knew about that one.

[JayBirdHawk]

2 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

Context? Never knew about that one.

Just cause he could 

How did Bill Russell mess with Charles Barkley on live television?

Russell trolled Barkley in the simplest and most effective way possible. Russell flipped Barkley off.

Barkley, along with Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on stage at the NBA awards. Barkley took a second to greet Bill Russell and received a big bird as an acknowledgment.

[sturt]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Just cause he could 

How did Bill Russell mess with Charles Barkley on live television?

Russell trolled Barkley in the simplest and most effective way possible. Russell flipped Barkley off.

Barkley, along with Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on stage at the NBA awards. Barkley took a second to greet Bill Russell and received a big bird as an acknowledgment.

Hmmm... seems out of character. I'm suspicious there's more back story than that.

[JayBirdHawk]

9 minutes ago, sturt said:

Hmmm... seems out of character. I'm suspicious there's more back story than that.

You'll have to find out for yourself.

[sturt]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

You'll have to find out for yourself.

Let's go to the source, shall we?...

 

 

So, yeah, because he could, but it appears it was intended as a joke to shock Barkley. Which is entirely in character, of course. I really don't know of any NBA player whose laugh was both as memorable and as infectious.

[sturt]

"All the rings are right here."

Mannnn... I just love that man's laugh. Had I mentioned that yet?

 

 

 

[AHF]

10 hours ago, macdaddy said:

 

Anyway, I'm not an expert on this but it's my understanding that there was absolutely no way St Louis could have a black man on the team at that time.   So they drafted him to trade him.  Maybe someone can shed more light or correct me if i'm wrong.  

That checks out as plausible from the rudimentary check I did on the 1960 Hawks roster.

The Hawks faced the Celtics in the NBA Finals in 3 of 4 years around that time, winning 1 and losing the other 2.  I have to think that if you pair Pettit and Russell you are talking about more like 4 or 5 rings.