“I loved making passes in from out of bounds because I could see each of my teammates so distinctly in the rush of bodies moving this way and that. … [B]ecause I had acquired enough technique, I could slow those bodies down in my mind’s eye before I released the ball.”

STEVEN SENNE/AP
Bill Russell hugs NBA Commissioner David Stern during an award ceremony for the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 2, 2013.