I was the original socially depraved shy ghetto kid.
— Bob Cousy
But as a coach I wanted to keep things from being too complicated.
Russell joined the team in December, 1956, following the Olympics.
My biggest win was getting the meal money bumped from $5 to $7.
I won the city scoring championship as a senior.
We hung out on the streets, played stickball, and did all of the things that other kids did.
French was my first language.
People have been killing because of racial differences since the time of Adam and Eve, but in this country racism has been primarily aimed at African Americans.
That seemed to be the case with most of the teams based in the smaller towns - the fans were more rabid, and they wanted to literally kill the opposition.
We had a strong relationship with Walter Brown, and felt that he was the best owner in the league.
You have to remember that coaching wasn't sophisticated back then - you didn't have the camps, clinics and all the technical advances that are available today - so from that standpoint, playing with a cast on my arm was a fortunate event in my life.
I grew up in the heart of the Depression.
Do your best when no one is looking. If you do that, then you can be successful in anything that you put your mind to.
The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.
There were riots in just about every game we played with Syracuse.
The NBA wasn't a big deal at that time, so it wasn't really in my career plans.
Race wasn't an issue. My family was French, but Yorkville was a melting pot of races and cultures.
