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Basketball icon Bill Russell’s life and legacy is set to be explored in a new documentary, set to be released today (Feb 8) on Netflix.
The NBA champion and civil rights icon’s legacy on and off the court will be documented and discussed in Bill Russell: Legend, which will also include interviews with the likes of Barack Obama and Magic Johnson.
The former Boston Celtics player won 11 championships in 13 seasons, was a five-time NBA most valuable player, a 12-time NBA all-star and won gold in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
The two-part documentary features personal archives from the legend himself, as well as interviews conducted before he passed away in July last year.
It has been directed by Sam Pollard, whose other work includes MLK/FBI and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, who had to find a balance between portraying Bill’s career with the Boston Celtics and his influence on the American Civil Rights movement.
“Without Bill Russell, there wouldn’t be any modern NBA today,” Pollard explained.
“That’s the legacy he brought to the game. He created a new view of basketball that primarily had been a white-dominated game.
“And it changed the whole development and game and how it unfolded over the next decades.
He wasn’t just a basketball player who just would shut up and play. He had a voice, he was active off the court about many issues and he wasn’t afraid to speak up and speak truth to power.”
Bill Russell: Legend premieres on Netflix today.
