Bill Russell was a role model for all people, but especially young Black athletes, former NFL star and broadcaster Ahmad Rashad told Newsmax.
Rashad appeared on Monday's "Wake Up America" to speak about Russell, the former Boston Celtics great who died Sunday.
Russell, who won 11 NBA titles and five Most Valuable Player awards, became a national figure, social activist, and a "hero" to young Black athletes including former NBA stars Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, Rashad said.
"Bill Russell was bigger than life," Rashad told "Wake Up America" co-hosts Rob Finnerty and Alison Maloni. "And he was one of these guys that cared about people. He cared about everybody. But especially young, African-Americans that were trying to come up through the same way that he did through [sports].
"We looked up to him because he had sort of set a standard that was something that you wanted to live your life like, and be that way, and be as consummate as he was about things. He was always our hero. Just really our hero."
Russell, to whom President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, had a complicated relationship with the city of Boston when he played during a period that included the fight for Civil Rights in America.
"He just moved forward," Rashad told "Wake Up America." "It's easy to get caught up in [it] and never want to go back there again and never wanted anything to do with it. He wasn't like that. He was of the point of trying to make things better.
"The 60s [were] such a turbulent time in terms of civil tights and things like that. I always wondered why it never got to him, and he was one of those guys who said, 'You can't let it get to you. You just have to do your best to change it.' And to go on and be happy with your life as you're moving forward, as opposed to getting caught in a puddle of crap and just get stuck there."
Rashad, who was a highly touted high school athlete in Tacoma, Washington, got to know Russell after the NBA icon became coach of the Seattle SuperSonics.
"Throughout my childhood, the Celtics never lost," Rashad told "Wake Up America." "They won every single championship when I was a kid, all the way through. He was bigger than life. And the fact he even knew who I was was an inspiration to me.
"But not only did he know who I was, he was sort of a big-brother figured to me, just sort of took me under his wing, always had something to say, always wanted to know how I was doing, and what I was doing, and how I was doing it. He also could give you a lot of crap, too. He's one of this kind of big brothers – he might pop you on the head every now and then. But a wonderful, wonderful guy."
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