An Indigenous prisoner has taken his own life in his cell at Casuarina Prison.
Prison officers found the 32-year-old man, who is a father of two young children, unconscious in his cell at about 1.30pm on Sunday.
“Officers and prison medical staff provided first aid before paramedics arrived by ambulance,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
“The prisoner was declared deceased at the prison.
“There were no suspicious circumstances.
“As with all deaths in custody, WA Police will provide a report to the coroner.”
It is understood the man had been in and out of Banksia Hill Detention Center from a young age.
The West Australian has also been told he had been held in the SHU — the special handling unit, which has been described as a “prison within a prison” — in the lead-up to his death.
National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project director Megan Krakouer said the McGowan Government “has to ask itself why this State has the nation’s highest prison suicide rate of First Nations people”.
Restorative justice advocate Gerry Georgatos said: “They key message that I always tell everybody – is that if you believe in people long enough they will believe in themselves.”
“That is a major way forward in preventing this from happening,” he said.
“For any person to take their life in a custodial setting, everything must’ve seemed to bleak. And that needs to be avoided, we’ve got to shine a light to hope and avoid the compounding bleakness of their prison setting.”
Just last week, a coronial inquest was held into the death of young Aboriginal man Jomen Blanket, who took his own life inside his cell at Acacia Prison in 2019.
Several disturbing details emerged, including that he had tried to take his own life 10 times before he was successful.
Mr Blanket had also started giving away his possessions and had told others about his intentions.
On the morning of his death, Mr Blanket was being escorted back to his cell when he requested the prison’s counseling services — but he changed his mind almost immediately and walked away.
The last time he was seen alive, he was waving goodbye at the door of his cell.
Worried, the prison officer who escorted him attempted to telephone the prison counseling service, but no one from that team was in the office as they were at a staff farewell party.
WA Prison Officers’ Union secretary Andy Smith said any death in custody was an incredibly hard on staff and that when prisons were short-staffed, officers who were committed to preventing self-harm were put under strain.
Elon Musk’s father has admitted he isn’t proud of his billionaire son and explained why he married and had a baby with his stepdaughter in a candid radio interview.
Errol Musk, 76, called in to the Kyle and Jackie O show on Monday morning for a bizarre 20-minute interview in which he joked he could be Kyle’s biological father.
The father of the Tesla CEO said Elon had ‘surpassed the mark’ of what he deemed success but said the Musk family had ‘been doing a lot of things for a long time’.
‘Your offspring is a genius. He’s worth so much money and has created so many things, you can’t take that away from him. Are you proud?’ Jackie O asked.
‘Nope. You know, we are a family that have been doing a lot of things for a long time, it’s not as if we suddenly started doing something,’ Errol replied.
Errol Musk (right) said his billionaire son Elon (left) had ‘surpassed the mark’ but as a family the Musks had ‘been doing a lot of things for a long time’
Kyle and Jackie O were joined by the billionaire’s father for a candid interview on Monday in which Musk revealed why he wasn’t proud of his son
Errol said his billionaire son isn’t as happy as he could be when it came to his success and said he feels as if he is running five years behind schedule.
‘He is frustrated with progress and it’s understandable,’ the 76-year-old said.
‘I know it sounds crazy, but we tend to think like that as a family. He’s 50 now and I still think of him as a little boy. But he’s 50, I mean he’s an old man.’
In reference to recent shirtless photos of his son on a boat in Greece, he said he had been encouraging his son to eat better and take a supplement.
‘Elon is very strongly built but he’s been eating badly,’ he told the hosts.
In a ruthless aside, Errol said he had recommended garcinia cambogia – a supplement that can supposedly aid weight loss without additional exercise or dieting – to his son.
Errol then revealed he never once received a handout from his billionaire son (pictured in May) and that it was his younger brother Kimbal who was his ‘pride and joy’
Jackie O asked the South African engineer if he drove a Tesla to which he replied he instead drove a Bentley, Rolls Royce and Mercedes – similar to Kyle’s car collection.
Errol said he had not once received a handout from his billionaire son and that it was Elon’s younger brother Kimbal who was his ‘pride and joy’.
‘We are a very frugal, stingy family. If I want to spend anything I have to answer 100 questions of why,’ he explained.
‘Elon lives a very frugal life. He’s up at work at six o’clock.’
Errol said he worried Elon, who is currently single, will never find a woman who will give up her career to be part of his life, like Kimbal’s wife had done.
Errol was then asked about the relationship he shares with his 34-year-old stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout – who he is married to and shares two young children with.
He said he was married to the 34-year-old’s mother for two years in the 1990s and that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Ms Bezuidenhout after the divorce until 2014.
Elon Musks’s father revealed his son lives a very frugal life and is up at 6am every morning to go to work (pictured, Tesla staff)
He said it was when she reached out to him during a difficult time that their friendship turned into a romance.
When Kyle said he thought Jana was his biological daughter, Errol interjected.
‘No, it’s not completely normal,’ he said, to which Kyle agreed, despite the 42-year age gap.
Kyle then bizarrely asked what Elon’s penis looked like and if it was circumcised, blaming the personal question on the ‘promiscuous’ Australian women who wanted to know.
‘I’ll get him to send a photo,’ Errol joked.
Kyle concluded the interview by asking the father-of-seven if he could be his father.
‘Maybe I am. Has your mother ever been to South Africa?’ Errol replied with Kyle screaming ‘daddy’ to the Musk patriarch.
Errol Musk revealed his Tesla CEO son Elon Musk (pictured in 2019) had never given him any money and admitted they were a ‘frugal, stingy family’
Last month, the 76-year-old revealed he had had a daughter with Ms Bezuidenhout in 2019, a year after they had their first child, Elliot Rush, now aged five.
He told The Sun he would like to have the children living with him but the last time they visited ‘the kids were starting to get on my nerves.’
He refused to rule out having even more children, however, saying: ‘The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce.’
Errol told the publication that his CEO shared the opinions of his three sisters, who were creeped out by the relationship he had with their half-sister.
‘They still don’t like it. They still feel a bit creepy about it, because she’s their sister. Their half-sister,’ Errol said.
Musk started dating singer Grimes in May 2018 and she gave birth to their son X AE A-Xii, in May 2020 (Musk pictured with X)
Meanwhile, it also emerged Elon had welcomed twins last November with a senior executive at one of his companies, 36-year-old Shivon Zilis.
The twins arrived just a few weeks before Musk had a second child via surrogate with his on-off girlfriend Canadian pop star Claire Boucher, who goes by the alias Grimes.
The father-of-ten also has five children with his first wife, Canadian author Justine Musk.
A sixth child, their first, died of sudden infant death syndrome when they were just ten weeks old in 2002, prompting them to use invitro fertilization.
Then Justine gave birth to twins — Vivian and Griffin — in 2004, followed by triplets — Kai, Saxon and Damian — in 2006.
Their eldest child, Vivian, 18, recently filed a legal request to change her first name to reflect that she is transgender and her last name to signal she doesn’t want ‘to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form ‘.
A former high-ranking advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin — who fled the country after the invasion of Ukraine — has fallen seriously ill and was in intensive care Sunday, a report said.
Anatoly Chubais was suffering from a neurological disorder at a European hospital, according to Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian television personality and friend of Chubais.
Sobchak, on Telegram, spoke with Chubais’ wife and was told he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Guillain-Barre occurs when a person’s immune system harms the body’s nerves, which can lead to muscle weakness and even paralysis.
Chubais, 67, had grown numb in his hands and legs. Specialists in “chemical protection suits” probed the room where he suddenly got sick, according to the New York Times.
Chubais did not explain why he stepped down from his post in March, though the assumption is it was due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. His high-profile resignation was one of many following the start of the war.
Chubais’ wife shared he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome.Getty Images/Daniel BerehulakChubais served as a former high-ranking advisor to Vladimir Putin.TVK6/east2westnews
He most recently was part of Putin’s envoy to international organizations on sustainable development and is well-known in the country after holding many top-level posts since the early 1990s.
His illness raises suspicion considering other Kremlin opponents have mysteriously and suddenly gotten sick in the past, most famously Alexei Navalny, who was apparently poisoned in 2020.
Graduates are demanding salaries of up to $350,000 as firms fight to nab the best and brightest workers just weeks after they leave university.
Those completing university as medical practitioners, dentists, software engineers and stock traders can command exorbitant six-figure salaries, and can also expect a bunch of added bonuses and perks.
Australia is facing a dire skills shortage and struggling labor market as the two-year hangover from our strict border closures meant many backpackers fled the country and migrants are slowly returning.
The huge amount of jobs on the market – with fewer people to fill them – has meant the balance of power falls into the hands of jobseekers.
Graduates in the fields of medicine, dentistry and tech are commanding salaries of up to $350,000 (stock image)
Major recruiters are now expanding their entry-level programs by offering high salaries and perks as smaller players attempt to also attract degree holders, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Jeffrey Duncan, the co-founder of Prosple, a site that advertises graduate roles and internships, said he was shocked at how high graduate salaries were in 2022.
‘I’ve never seen salaries jump so much in one year before,’ he said.
‘Top employers in traditionally high-paying sectors have taken it to a new level in the last 12 months.’
He crunched some numbers with the publication, explaining that the ‘most sought-after graduates’ were commanding $350,000 as traders and $200,000 as investment bankers.
Mr Duncan said salaries for graduate jobs in mining, oil and gas were also nothing to scoff at, paying up to $145,000.
Law graduates could also demand up to $130,000, while those in technology could request $120,000 and management consulting salaries were up to $115,000.
But the most highly-paid graduate roles, besides traders and investment bankers, come in the form of medical practitioners and dentists.
A job search done by Daily Mail Australia showed medical practices regularly offer salaries between $200,000 and $400,000.
For those in the medical field, practices usually require entry-level medical practitioners and dentists to relocate.
Medical practices are offering lucrative salary packages for entry-level medical practitioners and dentists. However, those who take on the roles would be required to relocate
Jeffrey Duncan, the co-founder of Prosple, said traders are commanding $350,000 and investment bankers $200,000 salaries (stock image)
The tech industry also provides entry-level roles with six-figure salaries, with software engineers amongst the highest earners.
Data compiled for The Australian showed annual graduate salaries for the top 10 tech firms range from $147,000 to $350,000.
Jane Street tops the list, offering a $350,000 salary for a software engineer graduate, almost six times the median salary of an Australian worker.
Optiver and IMC each pay $250,000 for the same position while Akuna Capital, Atlassian and Google all offer $200,000.
A first year product manager at Microsoft can look forward to a $187,000 salary while software engineer salaries at Canva start from $173,000
Rounding out the top 10 are Amazon, which offers $153,000 for a graduate software engineer, while a graduate business analyst Kearney offers $147,000.
Gym membership, weekly massages, daily breakfast, lunch, an annual company trip, a work-from-home allowance and competitive relocation package are some of the perks in Optiver’s job description for graduate software developer.
The firm also offers internship salary packages of up to $175,000, plus benefits and says the attractive salaries reflect the demands for graduates’ skills and expertise.
Teenage detainees being held at an adult maximum security prison have trashed their cells and climbed into the roof space a day after they were fed KFC as a treat.
WA Prison Officers Union secretary Andy Smith told The West Australian that some of the boys ripped out toilets to smash windows and then pulled apart the window frames to hurl projectiles at guards.
It was “pure luck” none of the youth custodial officers were injured during the two hours of chaos at Casuarina Prison on Saturday night.
Mr Smith said the group climbed into the roof space of Unit 18 before they were brought under control with pepper spray by the Special Operations Group, the prison system’s riot squad.
Some of the facilities inside Casuarina Prison being used by teenagers who have been moved there from Banksia Hill. Credit: Supplied/Supplied
The incident comes less than two weeks after 16 inmates were transferred from Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Center to Casuarina following months of damage and disruption.
Mr Smith revealed the troubled youths were given KFC for dinner on Friday night as a reward but kicked-off the following evening when they refused to go back into their cells.
“This was a failure of parenting 101 — do not reward bad behaviour,” the union boss said.
“The behavior of these juveniles at Banksia Hill has continued at Casuarina. There needs to be a huge look at how they are managed, not just where they are placed.”
One of the cells at Casuarina Prison. Credit: Supplied/Supplied
The Justice Department said the “disturbance” lasted between 6pm and 8pm and confirmed the detainees had used debris as “weapons” to threaten youth custodial officers”.
A department spokesman said as part of efforts to manage young people at Banksia Hill, from time to time “incentives” were offered for good behaviour.
“At the temporary youth detention centre, six of the detainees were given a KFC meal on Friday as a reward for meeting a target of no behavioral incidents for about a week,” he said.
“A similar reward for good behavior was offered to details in two units at Banksia Hill.”
Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston said five of the details transferred from Banksia Hill were involved in the violence.
“It’s actually a demonstration of why we moved them because I’m pleased to say that during the week the services at Banksia Hill were back to where they should be and programs were running,” he said.
“The whole purpose of moving these disruptive young people was to allow the majority of detainees (at Banksia Hill) to get the services that they deserve.”
The basketball court. Credit: Supplied/Supplied
He said the group had previously damaged about 100 cells at Banksia Hill and denied their behavior at the weekend was a result of being housed at an adult prison.
Mr Johnston said he hoped the teenagers would only be kept at Casuarina for a “short period” while plans for a $26 million upgrade of Banksia Hill were developed.
Shadow corrective services minister Peter Collier said situation “lurched from crisis to crisis” and responsibility rested entirely with Mr Johnston.
He said: “Of course moving them to Casuarina didn’t solve the problem, it merely transferred it. What’s he going to do now, put them in solitary confinement 24 hours a day?
“The Minister must resolve the systemic issues at Banksia Hill and stop doing what he thinks is politically expedient.”
It comes after Mr Johnston said he agreed with prison bosses who let some of WA’s most notorious criminals enjoy a late-night soccer party after winning special permission to watch the recent UEFA Champions League final.
Tony Beaumont’s story is not rags to riches but rather riches to (cleaning) rags.
As a high-flying corporate executive he had all the trappings of success including a $200,000 salary, shares in oil giant BP, a company car and 45 staff under him but he gave it all away to scrub floors.
He now owns Jim’s Cleaning Bayview in Sydney’s northern suburbs and says despite taking a ‘financial hit’ he is much happier.
Tony Beaumont was a high-flying corporate executive with oil giant BP but he found the job had taken over his life in a way he didn’t like
The BP role required him to spend time in Melbourne each month away from his family, leaving behind his wife and two young children in Sydney.
‘My peers were all career-focused, and I had no desire to go to Melbourne ongoing – the corporate culture, drinking until midnight, couldn’t speak to my wife and kids,’ Mr Beaumont told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Beaumont was getting 150 emails a day and was expected to be ‘on’ 24/7.
‘I thought “bugger it”. I had to make a change,’ he said.
As a teenager he cleaned McDonald’s restaurants and thought he might try getting behind a mop again.
‘I wanted to be my own boss,’ Mr Beaumont said.
Mr Beaumont has swapped his corporate suit for casual cleaning attire as the owner of Jim’s Cleaning Bayview in Sydney’s northern suburbs
‘I didn’t want to manage others anymore. I had had 10 direct and thirty-five indirect people reporting to me. I didn’t want any staff that I had to worry about.’
It seems he has found his niche.
‘I love cleaning as I love to see the happy faces of my clients when they come back to their property and find it perfectly cleaned, freshened up and smelling great!’ he writes on his business website about him.
Mr Beaumont admits he has taken a ‘financial hit’ but says money isn’t everything.
‘I would much rather have a happy family life and watch my kids grow up,’ Mr Beaumont said.
The so-called ‘great resignation’ has been seen many Aussies take advantage of worker shortages to decide on a career change.
Mr Beaumont says the job swap was important to him to spend more time with his young family
With the unemployment rate at four per cent, which is the lowest it has been since 1974, many workers have taken the chance to quit jobs they weren’t happy with.
Nearly 10 per cent of the workforce, 1.3 million people, swapped jobs in the year up until February 2022, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
This was the highest rate of job change in over a decade.
The professional, scientific and technical services areas were particularly notable for an increase in job mobility.
Nearly 40 per cent of managers who left their jobs went into another field, while in sales it was more than 50 per cent of job hoppers who tried something new.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said earlier this year that low unemployment was gave people the opportunity to leave unsatisfactory roles.
‘The great job market shuffle is underway,’ he said.
‘For the first time there are more people that say they are unemployed because they left their lost job rather than those that lost jobs through redundancy, business failure or poor performance.’
Mr Beaumont said even though taking over a cleaning franchise meant he took a ‘financial hit’ it was worth it
Job availability and mobility may change with rising interest rates expected to slow the economy and borders open once more to let in foreign workers.
With higher unemployment and reduced consumer spending, people may be less willing to leave jobs or take chances on setting up their own businesses.
For Mr Beaumont, however, he says he would make the swap again ‘without a shadow of a doubt’.
A detector dog at Darwin Airport has sniffed out a stowaway McDonald’s breakfast in the backpack of an Aussie traveler flying home from Bali – leaving him with a $2664 fine.
The penalty for the undeclared meat and dairy products is part of the active biosecurity efforts being made to stop foot and mouth disease (FMD) from entering the country.
Watch the video above for more on this story
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“Two egg and beef sausage McMuffins from McDonald’s in Bali and a ham croissant” were the offending menu items that caught the attention of biosecurity sniffer dog Zinta, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt told 7NEWS.com.au in a statement.
Stopping the food groups from entering the country is just one of several measures the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is cracking down on to mitigate the biosecurity threat.
“Detector dog Zinta responded to a passenger’s backpack and, after further inspection, it was found they were carrying a variety of risk items,” Watt said.
“This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has.
“This fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.”
McMuffins from a Bali McDonald’s cost one Australian traveler more than twice the price of his flight after he failed to declare the potential biosecurity threat. Credit: Supplied
He was issued a “12-unit infringement notice for failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document”.
The undeclared food was inspected for FMD and destroyed.
“Biosecurity is no joke—it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy. Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures,” Watt said.
Indonesian authorities confirmed on July 5 that there had been an FMD outbreak in livestock, and as Australia is FMD-free, authorities are being extra vigilant at the border.
The disease “can survive in meat and dairy products even if they are frozen, chilled or freeze-dried,” the department said.
Zinta the biosecurity detector dog has been assigned the job of tracking down potential carriers of foot and mouth disease before they enter the country. Credit: Supplied
The infringement notice cost more than the man’s flights, but that is the standard cost of failing to declare biosecurity risks at the border.
Travelers who are entering Australia on temporary visas could also risk them being cancelled, ensuring they cannot enter the country.
“Travellers arriving from Indonesia will be under much stricter biosecurity scrutiny due to the presence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia, including at the popular tourist destination Bali,” the department said in a statement.
The Albanese government last month announced a $14 million biosecurity package.
It has also rolled out biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports, as well as sanitation and on-ground support at Australian and international airports.
The energy and healthcare deal from Sens. Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer would raise taxes on millions of Americans earning less than $400,000 annually, Senate Republican say, citing non-partisan data.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found that taxes would jump by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023 and raise another $14.1 billion on taxpayers who make between $200,000 and $500,000.
During the 10-year window, the average tax rate would go up for most income categories, the Senate GOP said, citing the data from the joint committee. And by 2031, new energy credits and subsidies would have people earning less than $400,000 pay as much as two-thirds of the additional tax revenue collected that year, the release said.
“Americans are already experiencing the consequences of Democrats’ reckless economic policies. The mislabeled ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ will do nothing to bring the economy out of stagnation and recession, but it will raise billions of dollars in taxes on Americans making less than $400,000,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who sits on the Senate Finance Committee as a ranking member, and who requested the analysis.
“The more this bill is analyzed by impartial experts, the more we can see Democrats are trying to sell the American people a bill of goods,” Crapo added.
The Manchin-Schumer plan would spend $369 billion on energy and climate initiatives.AP/J. Scott Applewhite
But Democrats are objecting to the GOP’s assertions with a spokesperson for Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden stating families “will not pay one penny in additional taxes under this bill,” according to Politico.
The spokesperson, Ashley Schapitl, also said the JCT analysis isn’t complete because “it doesn’t include the benefits to middle-class families of making health insurance premiums and prescription drugs more affordable. The same goes for clean energy incentives for families,” Politico reported.
The Manchin-Schumer plan would spend $369 billion on energy and climate initiatives and another $64 billion to continue federal health insurance subsidies.
Manchin believes the bill is “not putting a burden on any taxpayers whatsoever.”Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz
The measure would raise $739 billion over a ten-year span with much of that money coming from a 15% corporate minimum tax, the West Virginia Democrat and Senate Majority Leader from New York said.
Manchin, in touting the bill, said it “would dedicate hundreds of billions of dollars to deficit reduction by adopting a tax policy that protects small businesses and working-class Americans while ensuring that large corporations and the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.” .”
He said on CNN Sunday the bill is “not putting a burden on any taxpayers whatsoever.”
On “Meet the Press” he said, “I agree with my Republican friends, we should not increase and we did not increase taxes.”
Two egg and sausage McMuffins and a ham croissant has cost an Australian-bound passenger $2664, as the nation’s biosecurity remains on high alert for fear of foot and mouth disease.
The passenger, arriving from Indonesia, allegedly provided a false and misleading document and failed to declare the potential high biosecurity risk item.
The three items were sniffed out by Darwin’s new biosecurity detector dog Zinta last week.
They will be tested for foot and mouth disease before they are destroyed.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said not only was not declaring food items a crime, it threatened Australia’s status as being foot and mouth disease – which has torn through Indonesia’s cloven hoofed animals – free.
A passenger has been fined more than $2664 for failing to declare their McDonald’s McMuffins and a ham croissant. Credit: Supplied
“This will be the most expensive Macca’s meal this passenger ever has,” Senator Watt said.
“This fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.
“Australia is FMD-free, and we want it to stay that way.
“Biosecurity is no joke – it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy. Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures.”
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said Australia was taking foot and mouth disease seriously. NCA NewsWire / Sarah Marshall Credit: News Corp Australia
Zinta’s discovery of the products comes as Indonesian authorities say they have foot and mouth disease under control in four provinces, including in Bali.
Last month the federal government announced a $14m package to roll out more frontline defenses in protecting from foot and mouth disease, including biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports.
The government also rolled out sanitation foot mats at all international airports.
Australia has also dispatched support for Indonesia and other countries.
Bill Russell, the cornerstone of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won eight straight titles and 11 overall during his career, died Sunday. The Hall of Famer was 88.
Russell died “peacefully” with his wife, Jeannine, at his side, a statement posted on social media read. Arrangements for his memorial service will be announced soon, according to the statement.
The statement did not give the cause of death, but Russell was not well enough to present the NBA Finals MVP trophy in June because of a long illness.
“But for all the winning, Bill’s understanding of the struggle is what illuminated his life. From boycotting a 1961 exhibition game to unmask too-long-tolerated discrimination, to leading Mississippi’s first integrated basketball camp in the fuel wake of Medgar [Evers’] assassination, to decades of activism ultimately recognized by his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom … Bill called out injustice with an unforgiving candor that he intended would disrupt the status quo, and with a powerful example that, though never his humble intention, will forever inspire teamwork, selflessness and thoughtful change,” the statement read.
“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.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. “
Over a 15-year period, beginning with his junior year at the University of San Francisco, Russell had the most remarkable career of any player in the history of team sports. At USF, he was a two-time All-American, won two straight NCAA championships and led the team to 55 consecutive wins. And he won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics.
During his 13 years in Boston, he carried the Celtics to the NBA Finals 12 times, winning the championship 11 times, the last two titles while he was also serving as the NBA’s first Black coach.
“Bill Russell’s DNA is woven through every element of the Celtics organization, from the relentless pursuit of excellence, to the celebration of team rewards over individual glory, to a commitment to social justice and civil rights off the court. Our thoughts are with his family as we mourn his passing and celebrate his enormous legacy in basketball, Boston, and beyond,” the Celtics said in a statement.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver called Russell “the greatest champion in all of team sports” in a statement Sunday.
“I cherished my friendship with Bill and was thrilled when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I often called him 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 said.
A five-time MVP and 12-time All-Star, Russell was an uncanny shot-blocker who revolutionized NBA defensive concepts. He finished with 21,620 career rebounds — an average of 22.5 per game — and led the league in rebounding four times. He had 51 rebounds in one game and 49 in two others and posted 12 straight seasons with 1,000 or more rebounds. Russell also averaged 15.1 points and 4.3 assists per game over his career.
Until Michael Jordan’s exploits in the 1990s, Russell was considered by many as the greatest player in NBA history.
“Bill Russell was a pioneer — as a player, as a champion, as the NBA’s first Black head coach and as an activist. He paved the way and set an example for every Black player who came into the league after him, including me “The world has lost a legend. My condolences to his family and may he rest in peace,” Jordan, now the chairman of the Charlotte Hornets, said in a statement.
Russell was awarded the Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2011, the nation’s highest civilian honor. And in 2017, the NBA awarded him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
William Felton Russell was born Feb. 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His family moved to the Bay Area, where he attended McClymonds High School in Oakland. He was an awkward, unremarkable center on McClymonds’ basketball team, but his size earned him a scholarship at San Francisco, where he blossomed.
“I was an innovator,” Russell told The New York Times in 2011. “I started blocking shots although I had never seen shots blocked before that. The first time I did that in a game, my coach called timeout and said, ‘No good defensive player ever leaves his feet.'”
Russell did it anyway, and he teamed with guard KC Jones to lead the Dons to 55 straight wins and national titles in 1955 and 1956. (Jones missed four games of the 1956 tournament because his eligibility had expired.) Russell was named the NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1955. He then led the US basketball team to victory in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne, Australia.
With the 1956 NBA draft approaching, Celtics coach and general manager Red Auerbach was eager to add Russell to his lineup. Auerbach had built a high-scoring offensive machine around guards Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman and undersized center Ed Macauley but he thought the Celtics lacked the defense and rebounding needed to transform them into a championship-caliber club. Russell, Auerbach felt, was the missing piece to the puzzle.
After the St. Louis Hawks selected Russell in the draft, Auerbach engineered a trade to land Russell for Ed Macauley.
Boston’s starting five of Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Cousy, Sharman and Jim Loscutoff was a high-octane unit. The Celtics posted the best regular-season record in the NBA in 1956-57 and waltzed through the playoffs for their first NBA title, beating the Hawks.
In a rematch in the 1958 Finals, the Celtics and Hawks split the first two games at Boston Garden. But Russell suffered an ankle injury in Game 3 and was ineffective the remainder of the series. The Hawks eventually won the series in six games.
Russell and the Celtics had a stranglehold on the NBA Finals after that, going on to win 10 titles in 11 years and giving professional basketball a level of prestige it had not enjoyed before.
In the process, Russell revolutionized the game. He was a 6-foot-9 center whose lightning reflexes brought shot-blocking and other defensive maneuvers that trigger a fast-break offense into full development.
In 1966, after eight straight titles, Auerbach retired as coach and named Russell as his successor. It was hailed as a sociological advance, since Russell was the first Black coach of a major league team in any sport, let alone so distinguished a team. But neither Russell nor Auerbach saw the move that way. They felt it was simply the best way to keep winning, and as a player-coach, Russell won two more titles over the next three years.
Their biggest opponent was age. After he won his 11th championship in 1969 at age 35, Russell retired, triggering a mini-rebuild. During his 13 seasons, the NBA had expanded from eight teams to 14. Russell’s Celtics teams never had to survive more than three playoff rounds to win a title.
“If Bill Russell came back today with the same equipment and the same brainpower, the same person exactly as he was when he landed in the NBA in 1956, he’d be the best rebounder in the league,” Bob Ryan, a former Celtics beat writer for The Boston Globe, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019. “As an athlete, he was so far ahead of his time. He’d win three, four or five championships, but not 11 in 13 years, obviously.”
In 2009, the MVP trophy of the NBA Finals was named in Russell’s honor — even though he 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.
Along with multiple titles, Russell’s career was also partly defined with his rivalry against Wilt Chamberlain.
In the 1959-60 season, the 7-foot-1 Chamberlain, who averaged a record 37.6 points per game in his rookie year, made his debut with the Philadelphia Warriors. On Nov. 7, 1959, Russell’s Celtics hosted Chamberlain’s Warriors, and pundits called the matchup between the best offensive and defensive centers “The Big Collision” and “Battle of the Titans.” While Chamberlain outscored Russell 30-22, the Celtics won 115-106, and the game was called a “new beginning of basketball.”
The matchup between Russell and Chamberlain became one of basketball’s greatest rivalries. One of the Celtics’ titles came against Chamberlain’s San Francisco’s Warriors teams in 1964.
Although Chamberlain outrebounded and outscored Russell over the course of their 142 career head-to-head games (28.7 rebounds per game to 23.7, 28.7 points per game to 14.5) and their entire careers (22.9 RPG to 22.5, 30.1 PPG to 15.1), Russell usually got the nod as the better overall player, mainly because his teams won 87 (61%) of those games.
In the eight playoff series between the two players, Russell and the Celtics won seven. Russell has 11 championship rings; Chamberlain has just two.
“I was the villain because I was so much bigger and stronger than anyone else out there,” Chamberlain told the Boston Herald in 1995. “People tend not to root for Goliath, and Bill back then was a jovial guy and he really had a great laugh.Plus, I played on the greatest team ever.
“My team was losing and his was winning, so it would be natural that I would be jealous. Not true. I’m more than happy with the way things turned out. He was overall by far the best, and that only helped bring out the best in me.”
After Russell retired from basketball, his place in its secure history, he moved into broader spheres, hosting radio and television talk shows and writing newspaper columns on general topics.
In 1973, Russell took over the Seattle SuperSonics, then a 6-year-old expansion franchise that had never made the playoffs, as coach and general manager. The year before, the Sonics had won 26 games and sold 350 season tickets. Under Russell, they won 36, 43, 43 and 40 games, making the playoffs twice. When he resigned, they had a solid base of 5,000 season tickets and a team that reached the NBA Finals the next two years.
Russell reportedly became frustrated over the players’ reluctance to embrace his team concept. Some suggested that the problem was Russell himself; he was said to be aloof, moody and unable to accept anything but the Celtics’ tradition. Ironically, Lenny Wilkens guided Seattle to a championship two years later, preaching the same team concept that Russell had tried to instill unsuccessfully.
A decade after he left Seattle, Russell gave coaching another try, replacing Jerry Reynolds as coach of the Sacramento Kings early in the 1987-88 season. The team staggered to a 17-41 record, and Russell departed midseason.
Between coaching stints, Russell was most visible as a color commentator on televised basketball games. For a time he was paired with the equally blunt Rick Barry, and the duo provided brutally frank commentary on the game. Russell was never comfortable in that setting, though, explaining to the Sacramento Bee, “The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation and people go deeper than that.”
He also dabbled with acting, performing in a Seattle Children’s Theater show and an episode of “Miami Vice,” and he wrote a provocative autobiography, “Second Wind.”
Russell became the first Black player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, and in 1980 he was voted Greatest Player in the History of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America. He was part of the 75th Anniversary Team announced by the NBA in October 2021.
In 2013, Boston honored Russell with a statue at City Hall Plaza.
