Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA, a first for the league.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday that the number worn by the late Boston Celtics star - an 11-time NBA champion and a civil rights activist enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach - was being permanently retired by all 30 teams.
"Bill Russell's unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honored in a unique and historic way," commissioner Adam Silver said in a release announcing the move. "Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill's transcendent career will always be recognized."
Players who currently wear No. 6, including the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, may continue doing so, but the number cannot be issued again, the league said.
Also, all NBA players will wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, the league said, and every NBA court will display a clover-shaped logo with the No. 6 on the sideline near the scorer's table. The Celtics have "separate and unique recognition for him on their uniforms" planned, the NBA said; nobody has worn No. 6 for the Celtics since Russell's final season, 1968-69.
Russell died on July 31 at the age of 88. He was the most prolific winner in NBA history, winning 11 titles during a 13-year career - the last two of those as a player-coach - and was the first Black coach in any of the major professional sports leagues in the United States to win a championship. He also marched with Martin Luther King Jr., stood with Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama.
AP photo by Charles Krupa / The 1969 game-worn jersey of NBA and Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell is displayed along with other memorabilia in December in Boston.Having his number retired leaguewide puts him in a very exclusive club.
In 1997, Major League Baseball permanently retired No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke MLB's color barrier, with the understanding that those who were wearing that number could continue to do so. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was the last in the majors to wear No. 42, doing so through his final season in 2013.
The NHL, upon Wayne Gretzky's retirement in 1999, said his No. 99 would be retired leaguewide in honor of hockey's all-time scoring leader.
And now Russell gets the same treatment, again linking him and Robinson, who both broke barriers. Russell called Robinson a hero, once saying "he showed me the way to be a man in professional sports."
Robinson clearly held Russell in high esteem as well. Rachel Robinson, his widow, asked Russell to be a pallbearer at her husband's funeral in 1972.
"This is a momentous honor reserved for one of the greatest champions to ever play the game," NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio said in the release. "Bill's actions on and off the court throughout the course of his life helped to shape generations of players for the better and for that, we are forever grateful. We are proud to continue the celebration of his life and legacy alongside the league."
There have been more than 250 players in NBA history to wear a No. 6 jersey. That includes 24 who did so in at least one game last season, most notably, James, who has alternated between 6 and 23 throughout his NBA career.
Russell is one of 12 players currently enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame who wore No. 6 at some point. The others are Don Barksdale, Chuck Cooper, Larry Costello, Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Tom Gola, Cliff Hagan, Alex Hannum, Buddy Jeanette, Neil Johnston and Ben Wallace.