The McDonald’s worker who was shot in the neck over cold french fries is brain-dead and on life support, prosecutors said Thursday, as a Brooklyn judge ordered his alleged assailant held without bail.
Michael Morgan, 20, is expected to face upgraded homicide charges for Monday’s Bedford-Stuyvesant shooting, in which he allegedly blasted victim Matthew Webb, 23, shortly after an argument about the French fries served to the suspect’s mother, prosecutors said.
“Your Honor, the people anticipate a homicide charge on this case given the victim is currently on life support. The victim has been transported to Brookdale Hospital and has been brain-dead,” Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Luis Paternina told Judge Inga O’Neale during Morgan’s arraignment on attempted murder charges.
“The family now has to make the difficult decision [to take him off life support].”
Morgan, who was cuffed behind his back, looked down during the brief proceeding and didn’t speak.
Webb was serving at the Fulton Street eatery on Monday evening when Morgan’s mom, Lisa Fulmore, complained to workers that her fries were cold and asked to speak to a manager.
When the workers began laughing at her, Fulmore was FaceTiming with Morgan, who came to the restaurant and got into a fight with Webb that spilled out onto the sidewalk.
Matthew Webb, the Brooklyn McDonald’s employee who was shot while working, is brain-dead and on life support. Webb was allegedly shot by Michael Morgan over a dispute involving his mother being served cold french fries.
Morgan punched Webb in the face and when he got back up, he pulled out a gun and blasted him in the neck, prosecutors alleged.
The suspect’s girlfriend, Camellia Dunlap, has also been charged in connection with the case after she allegedly handed Morgan the gun prior to the shooting, prosecutors said.
Morgan was taken into custody at his home Monday night and following hours of questioning, he confessed to the shooting and an unrelated 2020 homicide a few blocks from the McDonald’s that left Kevin Holloman, 28, dead, prosecutors alleged.
Holloman was outside a Herkimer Street building with his cousin that October when Morgan allegedly fatally shot him, prosecutors said.
Morgan was arrested for the shooting and is being held without bail.Paul MartinkaNYPD at the scene of the shooting at the Brooklyn McDonald’s on August 2, 2022.Paul Martinka
A few days prior, Morgan and Holloman’s cousin got into an altercation and when the relative took out a knife to cut up some marijuana, the suspect ran out of the apartment and began shooting, prosecutors alleged.
The cousin wasn’t hit but Holloman was struck three times and later died at Interfaith Hospital, prosecutors said.
“He was the sweetest kid. He was not like these little thugs we have running around here. He was so polite. He was always chasing girls. That was it. Chasing girls, making jokes,” Domingo Rivera, a longtime former neighbor of Holloman, told The Post Thursday.
“[He] was a good kid. I have never got into trouble. He was always dancing and joking around.”
Morgan was charged with a 2020 murder that took place near the Brooklyn McDonald’s restaurant. Gregory P Mango
Rivera, 57, referred to Holloman by his nickname “Keybo” and said after he was murdered, his mother soon got sick and died.
“I’m glad they got him,” Rivera said of Morgan.
Holloman’s sister also celebrated the news in a Wednesday Facebook post.
“The first person I wanted to call with this news was my mother and I couldn’t I’m still heartbroken but I’m happy me and my family get some kind of peace,” she wrote with a series of green and white heart emoji.
Morgan is charged with murder in the 2020 slay and was held without bail in both cases. He’s due back in court on August 8. Relatives of Morgan and Webb couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
A Victorian father who killed his two-year-old son in a quad bike crash because he was doing donuts with the toddler on his lap has wept after learning that he is likely to avoid jail.
WARNING: This story contains details that may distress some readers.
Key points:
Christopher Browne is likely to be sentenced to a community-based order over the fatal crash
The court heard Browne was “overwhelmed” by post-traumatic stress
Prosecutors initially pushed for jail time, but accepted a community-based order was appropriate
Christopher Browne was behind the wheel when he lost control of the buggy during the dangerous manoeuvre and it overturned, flinging his son Lincoln from the vehicle at their home in Barnawartha North, near the New South Wales border, on Christmas Day in 2020.
Lincoln was sitting on his father’s knee and was only being held in place. No one was wearing a helmet.
Browne escaped the crash with minor injuries, as did his sister, who was in the passenger seat.
He today appeared in the County Court of Victoria and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and conduct endangering persons.
Judge Michael Cahill said he accepted that Browne was “profoundly remorseful.”
“I have formed the view in all the circumstances in this case that a community correction order is the appropriate sentence for Mr Browne,” the judge said.
“Living with the loss of his child is punishment more than any court could impose.”
Browne, who appeared by videolink from Wodonga, wiped away tears as the judge spoke.
Father was trying to ‘scare’ sister in lead-up to crash, court hears
On December 25, 2020, Browne opened presents and ate brunch with family members at his home in Barnawartha North.
Just before lunchtime, Browne took his Polaris buggy out to give his guests rides.
He got into the driver’s seat and sat on top of the seatbelt, which was already clipped in, while his sister got into the passenger side and put on her restraints.
Court documents reveal that Browne placed Lincoln, who wanted to go for a ride, on his left knee and held him in place.
He then drove out into a paddock and performed several donuts before driving back up the driveway, where he reached speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour.
He turned the buggy around and drove back into the paddock to perform another donut when he lost control of the vehicle and it flipped, flinging the toddler.
The court heard the buggy was estimated to be traveling at 45kph at the time.
The event was witnessed by Michael Hart, the partner of Browne’s sister.
“Lincoln fell out … and went straight under. The buggy landed straight on top of him,” he later told investigators.
The two-year-old died at the scene.
The court heard Browne has been overwhelmed by post-traumatic stress in the aftermath of his son’s death.(Facebook)
Browne later told investigators that he was trying to “scare” his sister.
“I tried to show my sister my new car … My brother-in-law, her partner, said not to go too hard to scare her ’cause he wanted to get one, which her being my sister made me feel like I wanted to ,” he said.
He told police that he had one mid-strength beer during lunch and a pre-mixed drink before and during brunch, but tests revealed he had no alcohol in his system after the crash.
“Mr Brown has been overwhelmed by his post-traumatic stress,” Judge Cahill said.
“At times, the only thing that keeps him going is his sense of responsibility to look after his wife and the younger child.”
None of Browne’s family members made victim impact statements to the court and he was supported by his wife during the hearing.
Prosecutor Erin Ramsay initially pushed for jail time but ultimately accepted that a community-based order was an appropriate sentence.
“There should be a very significant amount of unpaid community work attached to such an order given that the order’s really being made in lieu of what would otherwise be imprisonment,” she said.
Browne’s bail was extended ahead of his sentence next week.
The body of a man has been found in a submerged car near the West Beach boat ramp in Adelaide.
Key points:
Two cars appear to have entered the water at West Beach overnight
A man’s body was found in one of them
Major Crime and other police are investigating
Police had been called at 6am after reports of two cars being in the water.
They had reportedly gone into the water at some stage overnight.
Water police searched the scene and found the body.
Western District detectives, Major Crime and forensics officers are investigating the incident.
The State Emergency Service is assisting with a search along the beach.
Police say they will disclose more information when it is known.
The West Beach boat ramp as seen from the Marine Safety SA webcam at midday.(Marine Safety S.A.)
Police have asked anyone who attended the boat ramp overnight or anyone who has any information that may assist to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
There has been strong winds overnight and this morning in Adelaide, with likes of more than 50kph being recorded at nearby Adelaide Airport at midday.
The boat ramp is operated by West Beach Parks and was recently upgraded by the Department for Infrastructure and Transport.
West Beach is located west of Adelaide Airport and north of Glenelg, in Adelaide’s western suburbs.
The Sydney apartment where two Saudi sisters were mysteriously found dead has gone back on the rental market, with a disclaimer from the real estate agent.
In June, Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead in separate beds in their Canterbury apartment during a welfare check.
Police said there were no obvious signs of injury or forced entry and called the deaths “unusual.” Neither homicide nor suicide has been ruled out.
The Canterbury Road apartment has now been listed for rent again but prospective tenants have been notified of the recent deaths.
“A crime scene has been established and it is still under police investigation,” the listing reads.
“According to the police, this is not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for the community.”
John Barilaro inquiry
The parliamentary inquiry into former deputy premier John Barilaro’s controversial trade job appointment will summarize public hearings this morning.
Investment NSW CEO Amy Brown, who oversaw the recruitment process for the US-based role, will front the inquiry for a second time.
She first gave evidence five weeks ago but a lot of new information has come to light since then.
The opposition says it plans to question her about her discussions with Trade Minister Stuart Ayres and why she decided the original preferred candidate, Jenny West, was unsuitable.
Labor has previously called for Ms Brown to be stood down.
Goulburn firefighter wins gold
Ellen Ryan has won Australia’s first-ever gold medal in the women’s lawn bowls singles.(Supplied: Bowls Australia)
NSW firefighter Ellen Ryan has made Commonwealth Games history, claiming gold with a two-shot victory in lawn bowls.
The Goulburn brigade member became the first Australian in her sport to win a gold medal in Britain and the first to claim the women’s singles crown.
The 25-year-old got her first taste of the sport in 2008 and made her senior debut for Australia in 2017, narrowly missing out on a spot in the Commonwealth Games team a year later.
Five years on, she’s living out that dream of wearing the green and gold on the world stage.
Rooty Hill station assault
Blacktown’s mayor has publicly condemned violence after three teenage boys allegedly assaulted an off-duty police officer and Blacktown City councilor on Monday.
The teenaged trio were allegedly involved in an assault at Rooty Hill train station, which ended in a 60-year-old chief inspector allegedly being struck multiple times to the head with a bike seat pole.
Mayor Tony Bleasdale said the alleged attack was absolutely despicable and also involved one of the most respected members of the Blacktown City community, Councilor Bob Fitzgerald.
Three teenagers have been charged and police are urging witnesses to come forward.
Two crucifixes were found in a Canterbury apartment where Saudi sisters Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead in June, a worker with access to the apartment has told the ABC.
The discovery was made after the women’s bodies were removed.
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The worker told the ABC that the crucifixes were found on the floor of one of the bedrooms.
The ABC could not independently corroborate this claim.
It’s unclear whether the discovery of the crosses was a sign that the sisters had renounced Islam and converted to Christianity or whether they were using them as a disguise.
No signs of forced entry
In June, the bodies of the women were found naked and in separate beds.
This prompted the apartment’s building manager Michael Baird to dismiss suicide as a potential cause of death.
“Two young women do not commit suicide together unless they’re doing it together. They don’t get naked, they don’t go to separate rooms, they don’t die separately,” he said.
Police say they have not yet ruled out homicide or suicide as their investigations continue.
A worker, who accessed the apartment after the police had made the grim discovery, said the sisters’ bodies were found in a state of decomposition.
Last month, tradespeople entered the apartment to replace the flooring.
One told the ABC that the apartment still “has the smell of dead bodies.”
The sisters are thought to have been dead for over a month before a sheriff was called at the behest of their landlord, as the girls were behind on rent payments. This sheriff made the discovery and called the police.
After locating the bodies, police said there were no obvious signs of injury or forced entry although they have called the deaths “unusual.”
They are waiting on the results of postmortem examinations and toxicology tests.
In a press conference last week, the NSW Police released images of the two women and published their names, as they launched a community appeal for any information about the women’s movements.
Burwood Police Station has now established Strike Force Woolbird to investigate the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
The apartment block in Canterbury in Sydney’s western suburbs where two Saudi women were found dead in June 2022. (ABC RN: Brendan Esposito)
living in fear
The ABC has confirmed that the sisters had applied for a protection visa with the Department of Home Affairs, and they had been in contact with a settlement service for refugees.
Michael Baird, a director of Sydney’s Transparent FM Building Management which manages the Canterbury apartment block, said he was aware that the young women were concerned about their safety.
In a January 2022 email sent to the site manager, younger sister Amaal asked if building management could check the security cameras as she feared someone had tampered with a recent food delivery order.
“I think the girls were very, very scared. Very afraid of something. And we’re not sure whether it was something or someone, they didn’t tell us,” Mr Baird said.
Mr Baird said his first interaction with the women had taken place earlier this yearwhen their car had been “keyed”.
“We believed that it was not a personal attack on them because they’d parked their car in an unusual position. And somebody’s obviously taken offense to it,” Mr Baird said, about the incident.
His second interaction with the women was when he organized for a plumber to visit their apartment.
“When [the plumber] came out of that unit, he said that he was concerned that there was something untoward happening in the apartment. He got a very bad vibe,” Mr Baird said.
“He was pretty shaken up. He said, ‘I’m never coming back to that apartment again’.”
Mr Baird asked the local site manager to contact the police at the time and he understood that the women had subsequently told police they were fine.
Mr Baird has not been contacted by the police for a statement.
Another building worker told the ABC that he knew that the women had noticed a man watching their apartment from across the street.
The worker, who is familiar with the building’s residents, said he’d also seen an unknown Middle Eastern man inside the building on two occasions in the months leading up to the sisters’ death.
The building worker said when he asked the man which apartment he was from, the man gave the women’s address.
‘really good people’
The sisters arrived in Australia from Saudi Arabia in 2017.
They lived in Sydney’s western suburbs for about eighteen months with their friend Rita, while they attended the local TAFE.
“[Amaal and Asra] we were just really good people. They did nothing harmful,” Rita said.
“They moved to this house because it was like closer to their TAFE. And they usually stayed up all night and only slept in the morning.”
She said the women worked in construction. They had applied for an ABN in 2018, and were registered as sole traders.
Rita said the sisters’ mother had visited Australia on one occasion.
“Their mum came here once. She didn’t like it. Then she went back to her country,” Rita said.
The young women led a discreet life. They didn’t have many visitors, apart from a man Rita believed to be Asra’s boyfriend, an “Iraqi man with a beard”.
Early in 2020, after they’d lived with Rita for about 18 months, the sisters decided to move out.
They moved into the Canterbury apartment in November 2021.
At the time of publication, Rita said the police had not interviewed her or her family.
A Home Affairs departmental spokesperson told the ABC: “The Department does not comment on individual cases.”
Since 2017, 86 women from Saudi Arabia applied for permanent protection in Australia and 75 were granted a permanent protection visa.
This story has been updated from an earlier version to clarify who found the women’s bodies.
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Pat Carroll — best known for voicing underwater villain Ursula in Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid — has died, aged 95.
Carroll’s daughter, Tara Karsian, confirmed the actor’s death on Instagram with a post praising her mother’s iconic laughter.
“We ask that you honor her by having a raucous laugh at absolutely anything today (and everyday forward) because besides her brilliant talent and love, she leaves my sister Kerry and I with the greatest gift of all, imbuing us with humor and the ability to laugh … even in the saddest of times,” Ms Karsian said.
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The actor’s other daughter, Kerry Karsian, said Carroll died at her home in Cape Cod, in the US state of Massachusetts on Saturday.
Carroll’s first film role came in 1948, in Hometown Girl, but she found her stride in television.
She won an Emmy for her work on the sketch comedy series Caesar’s Hour in 1956, was a regular on Make Room for Daddy with Danny Thomas, a guest star on The DuPont Show with June Allyson, and a variety show regular stopping by The Danny Kaye Show, The Red Skelton Show and The Carol Burnett Show.
However, she’s best known for her role as Ursula in The Little Mermaid, with her throaty rendition of Poor Unfortunate Souls making her one of Disney’s most memorable villains.
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Carroll would often say that Ursula was one of her favorite roles.
She said she saw her as an “Ex-Shakespearean actress who now sold cars.”
“She’s a mean old thing,” Carroll said in an interview.
“I think people are fascinated by mean characters.
“There’s a fatal kind of distraction about the horrible, mean characters of the world because we don’t meet too many of them in real life.
“So, when we have a chance, theatrically, to see one — and this one, she’s a biggie — it’s kind of fascinating for us.”
In a statement on Twitter, Disney Music said “we are deeply saddened” by Carroll’s death.
“We will forever treasure and remember her iconic portrayal of Ursula and performance of Poor Unfortunate Souls,” it said.
HUDSON, Wis. (WEAU) – The suspect in a deadly stabbing spree in St. Croix County Saturday is set to appear in court on Monday.
52-year-old Nicolae Miu of Prior Lake, Minn. is being held at the St. Croix County Jail awaiting formal charges for allegedly stabbing five people on the Apple River Saturday, killing one person.
In a release, the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office said they were told that multiple people had been stabbed on the river while tubing upstream from the Highway 35/Highway 64 bridge in the Town of Somerset at 3:47 pm on Saturday, July 30 Deputies found five people with stab wounds to their abdomen and began providing medical care to the victims. Two of the victims were flown and two others were taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. The fifth victim, a 17-year-old boy identified by his family as Isaac Schuman of Stillwater, Minn., was taken to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater where we were pronounced dead.
Four other victims, a 24-year-old woman from Burnsville, Minn., a 22-year-old man from Elk River, Minn., and a 20-year-old man and 22-year-old man from Luck, Wis. ., suffered serious or critical torso or chest injuries, according to the release.
The family of Isaac Schuman, who was killed in the stabbings, released a statement Sunday, said the 17-year-old soon-to-be high school senior was preparing to apply to several universities to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. Schuman had started a car and boat detailing business in the past year, and his family called him “mature for his age and had a forward-looking mentality that was uncommon for a high school junior.” Family members said he “entered every room with a big smile, infectiously positive aura and lifted everyone around him up,” and that he had a bright future ahead of him.
Miu, the suspect in the stabbings, was found at the exit point for tubers on the river at Village Park in Somerset, Wis. after witnesses told law enforcement about his location of him. Miu was taken into custody without incident.
Miu is scheduled to appear in St. Croix County Circuit Court at 1 pm on Monday. He is being recommended for one charge of 1st-degree intentional homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon, four counts of mayhem and four counts of aggravated battery with the use of a dangerous weapon with the intention to cause great bodily harm. A conviction of 1st-degree intentional homicide in Wisconsin carries a mandatory life sentence in prison.
The investigation continues and anyone who has video of the incident is asked to send it to St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office investigator John Shilts, who can be contacted at 715-381-4319 or by emailing him at [email protected].
1 killed, 4 injured in stabbing attack on the Apple River.(KARE 11 News)
ELWOOD, Ind. (AP) — A young Indiana police officer was killed early Sunday when a man got out of his car during a traffic stop and opened fire, authorities said.
The suspect was caught roughly 30 minutes later after a car chase, state police said.
Noah Shahnavaz, 24, was an officer at the Elwood police department, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis. He stopped the driver of a Buick LaCrosse just after 2 am
“For an unknown reason, the suspect exited the Buick and fired multiple rounds, striking the officer at least one time,” state police said.
Shahnavaz was a US Army veteran who had been an Elwood officer for 11 months.
“A senseless act of violence robbed this young man of the life and career he deserved,” Major Todd Jones said.
People placed flowers next to a patrol car outside the police department.
“The cop didn’t deserve to die like that,” resident Donna Williams said.
The 42-year-old suspect has a criminal record, which includes a conviction in 2006 for firing a gun at Indianapolis officers, said Andrew Hanna, Madison County’s chief deputy prosecutor.
Sheriff Scott Mellinger told The Herald Bulletin that the shooting made him go “from being prayerful to being angry.”
“Prayers. Senseless act. Please join us in holding up Elwood PD’s officers and their families,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
Senior Grampians Tony Driscoll is being remembered as a ‘wonderful’ community member after he died over the weekend.
Key points:
Northern Grampians Mayor Tony Driscoll died on Sunday
He was last elected to the mayoral position in November last year
Council meetings will be postponed until August 15 as a mark of respect
Cr Driscoll started his third stint as major of the Northern Grampians Shire Council last year but sadly passed away on Sunday after battling illness.
Fellow councilor Murray Emerson said he was devastated by the news.
“Tony and I first came together about 11 years ago when we joined the Northern Grampians Shire and we instantly took a liking to each other,” Cr Emerson said.
“[It] It wasn’t hard to get along with Tony Driscoll, he was a person who was very easy to become a friend with.”
Cr Driscoll represented the Kara Kara ward, taking in St Arnaud, since October 2012 and remained active with the council until his death.
He has served as major three times, with his most recent appointment beginning in November 2021.
Cr Driscoll was also the oldest from 2016 to 2017 and from 2017 to 2018.
Murray Emerson (far left) says Tony Driscoll (far right) played a key role in major council projects and helped secure government funding.(Supplied: Northern Grampians Shire Council)
Leader who fought for region
In council statement, his colleagues remembered Cr Driscoll for his dedication, integrity and as “a passionate advocate for his community”.
Cr Emerson said Cr Driscoll campaigned the state government for funding for major projects like the Grampians Peaks Trail, the Underground Physics Laboratory, and was involved in their decision-making.
“Tony was part and parcel of all of that and he just had that way about him, that he could get people to agree with some of our requests,” Cr Emerson said.
“Tony had a lot of sayings, some of them that I could quote and some I couldn’t, but Tony was just easy to get along with.
“He was a wonderful person, he was a wonderful councillor, and he was a great mate.
“He’d been sick for a little while but you never expect this sort of thing to happen.”
Flags at Stawell Town Hall in Stawell and St Arnaud would be flown at half-mast and council meetings postponed until August 15 while councilors respected a period of mourning.
Cr Driscoll is survived by his wife Annette, two sons, two daughters and his grandchildren.
Tony Driscoll (back left) is remembered for being a proactive advocate for the community.(Supplied: Northern Grampians Shire Council)
Bill Russell redefined how basketball is played, and then he changed the way sports are viewed in a racially divided country.
Key points:
Bill Russell was a 12-time All-Star and was voted the greatest player in history in 1980
He won 11 championships as the centerpiece of the dominant Boston Celtics team
The MVP award for the best player of the NBA finals series is named after him
The most prolific winner in NBA history, Russell marched with Martin Luther King Jr, supported Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
The centerpiece of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years, Russell earned his last two NBA titles as a player-coach — the first black coach in any major US sport.
Russell died on Sunday at the age of 88. His family posted the news on social media, saying his wife Jeannine was by his side. The statement did not give the cause of death, but Russell was not well enough to present the NBA Finals MVP trophy in June due to a long illness.
“Bill’s wife, Jeannine, and his many friends and family thank you for keeping Bill in your prayers. Perhaps you’ll relive one or two of the golden moments he gave us, or recall his trademark laugh as he delighted in explaining the real story behind how those moments unfolded,” the family statement said.
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“And we hope each of us can find a new way to act or speak up with Bill’s uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principle.
“That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement that Russell was “the greatest champion in all of team sports.”
“Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he stamped into the DNA of our league. At the height of his athletic career, Bill vigorously advocated for civil rights and social justice, a legacy he passed down to generations of NBA players who followed in his footsteps,” Silver said.
“Through the taunts, threats and unthinkable adversity, Bill rose above it all and remained true to his belief that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.”
A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in the NBA history by basketball writers.
He remains the sport’s most decorated champion — he also won two college titles and an Olympic gold medal — and an archetype of selflessness who won with defense and rebounding while others racked up gaudy scoring totals.
Often, that meant Wilt Chamberlain — the only worthy rival of Russell’s era and his prime competition for rebounds, MVP trophies and bar room arguments about who was better. Chamberlain, who died in 1999 at 63, had twice as many points, four MVP trophies of his own and is the only person in league history to grab more rebounds than Russell — 23,924 to 21,620.
But Russell dominated in the only stat he cared about: 11 championships to two.
The native of Louisiana also left a lasting mark as a black athlete in a city — and country — where race is often a flash point.
He was at the March on Washington in 1963, when King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, and he backed Muhammad Ali when the boxer was pilloried for refusing induction into the military draft.
Bill Russell stands court side during a tribute in his honor during a game in 2013. (AP Photo: Michael Dwyer)
“To be the greatest champion in your sport, to revolutionize the way the game is played, and to be a societal leader all at once seems unthinkable, but that is who Bill Russell was,” the Boston Celtics said in a statement.
In 2011, Mr Obama awarded Russell the Medal of Freedom alongside Congressman John Lewis, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and baseball great Stan Musial.
“Bill Russell, the man, is someone who stood up for the rights and dignity of all men,” Obama said at the ceremony.
“He marched with King; he stood by Ali. When a restaurant refused to serve the Black Celtics, he refused to play in the scheduled game. He endured insults and vandalism, but he kept on focusing on making the teammates who he loved better players and made possible the success of so many who would follow.”
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Russell said that when he was growing up in the segregated south and later California his parents instilled in him the calm confidence that allowed him to brush off racist taunts.
“Years later, people asked me what I had to go through,” Russell said in 2008.
“Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’ve never been through anything. From my first moment of being alive was the notion that my mother and father loved me.”
It was Russell’s mother who would tell him to disregard comments from those who might see him playing in the yard.
“Whatever they say, good or bad, they don’t know you,” he recalled her saying.
“They’re wrestling with their own demons.”
But it was Jackie Robinson who gave Russell a road map for dealing with racism in his sport: “Jackie was a hero to us. He always conducted himself as a man. He showed me the way to be a man in professional sports.”
The feeling was mutual, Russell learned, when Robinson’s widow, Rachel, called and asked him to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral in 1972.
Bill Russell (left), with Muhammad Ali (centre) and college basketballer Lew Alcindor. The photo was taken during a meeting of a group of the nation’s top athletes to hear Ali’s views of him on rejecting Army induction. (Getty Images)
“She hung the phone up and I asked myself, ‘How do you get to be a hero to Jackie Robinson?'” Russell said. “I was so flattered.”
William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana.
He was a child when his family moved to the West Coast, and he went to high school in Oakland, California, and then the University of San Francisco. He led the Dons to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956 and won a gold medal in 1956 at the Melbourne Olympics.
Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach so coveted Russell that he worked out a trade with the St Louis Hawks for the second pick in the draft. He promised the Rochester Royals, who owned the number one pick, a lucrative visit by the Ice Capades, which were also run by Celtics owner Walter Brown.
Still, Russell arrived in Boston to complain that he wasn’t that good.
Bill Russell, back left, joins his US teammates in posing for a photo with Soviet Union basketballers during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics at the Royal Exhibition Building.(Getty Images)
“People said it was a wasted draft choice, wasted money,” he recalled.
“They said, ‘He’s no good. All he can do is block shots and rebound.’ And Red said, ‘That’s enough.'”
The Celtics also picked up Tommy Heinsohn and KC Jones, Russell’s college teammate, in the same draft. Although Russell joined the team late because he was leading the US to the Olympic gold, Boston finished the regular season with the league’s best record.
The Celtics won the NBA championship — their first of 17 — in a double-overtime seventh game against Bob Pettit’s St Louis Hawks. Russell won his first MVP award the next season, but the Hawks won the title in a finals rematch. The Celtics won it all again in 1959, starting an unprecedented string of eight consecutive NBA crowns.
At 6-foot-10 centre, Russell never averaged more than 18.9 points during his 13 seasons, each year averaging more rebounds per game than points. For 10 seasons I have averaged more than 20 rebounds. He eleven had 51 rebounds in a game; Chamberlain holds the record with 55.
Auerbach retired after winning the 1966 title, and Russell became the player-coach — the first Black head coach in NBA history, and almost a decade before Frank Robinson took over baseball’s Cleveland Indians. Boston finished with the second-best regular-season record in the NBA, and its title streak ended with a loss to Chamberlain and the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Division finals.
Russell led the Celtics back to titles in 1968 and ’69, each time winning a seven-game play-off series against Chamberlain. Russell retired after the ’69 finals, returning for a relatively successful — but unfulfilling — four-year stint as coach and GM of the Seattle SuperSonics and a less fruitful half season as coach of the Sacramento Kings.
Russell’s number six jersey was retired by the Celtics in 1972. He earned spots on the NBA’s 25th anniversary all-time team in 1970, 35th anniversary team in 1980 and 75th anniversary team. In 1996, he was hailed as one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players.
In 2009, the MVP trophy of the NBA Finals was named in his honor — even though Russell never won himself, because it wasn’t awarded for the first time until 1969. Russell, however, traditionally presented the trophy for many years, the last time in 2019 to Kawhi Leonard; Russell was not there in 2020 because of the NBA bubble nor in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns.
In 2013, a statue was unveiled on Boston’s City Hall Plaza of Russell surrounded by blocks of granite with quotes on leadership and character. Russell was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975 but did not attend the ceremony, saying he should not have been the first African American elected. (Chuck Cooper, the NBA’s first Black player, was his choice.)
In 2019, Russell accepted his Hall of Fame ring in a private gathering.
“I felt others before me should have had that honor,” he tweeted. “Good to see progress.”
Silver said he “often called (Russell) basketball’s Babe Ruth for how he transcended time.”
“Bill was the ultimate winner and consummate teammate, and his influence on the NBA will be felt forever,” Silver added. “We send our deepest condolences to his wife, Jeannine, his family, and his many friends.”
Russell’s family said arrangements for the memorial service will be announced in the coming days.
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