TAMPA, Fla. – Of course Bill Russell left an indelible impression on the most prolific Super Bowl champion the NFL has ever known.
“I knew him pretty well,” Tom Brady told reporters following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice on Monday, a day after the NBA legend passed away at 88. “I had a lot of time up there in Boston and got to know him. Even back to my early days with the Patriots, my second year, in training camp he came and spoke to our team.”
Russell, who won 11 NBA titles with the Boston Celtics, just so happened to speak to the Patriots in the season that Brady won the first of his seven Super Bowl rings.
“Really an imposing figure,” Brady recalled. “He had just a great presence about him.”
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Brady called it “a sad day” as he paid homage to Russell. He also acknowledged a sense of social challenges that Russell endured.
Apparently alluding to the overt racism that Russell experienced in Boston despite his status as a star basketball player in the 1950s and ‘60s, Brady added, “Obviously, what he overcame in his career was pretty unbelievable.”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady on Bill Russell: ‘Really an imposing figure’