Thursday, March 28, 2024

85-year-old NBA Legend Bill Russell Honored at ESPYS, Attends with Young Wife

The 2019 ESPYs - Inside
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 10: (L-R) Kobe Bryant, Bill Russell and a guest attend The 2019 ESPYs at Microsoft Theater on July 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

*The ESPY Awards, ESPN’s annual celebration of the best of the best in all things sports, were held Wednesday in Los Angeles.  As we reported earlier, comedian Tracy Morgan was the host for the 27th edition of the event, which featured several big winners including Giannis Antetokounmpo for “Best Male Athlete,” Alex Morgan for “Best Female Athlete” and the U.S. Women’s National Team for “Best Team.”

Sporting News kept track of the winners of each award here.

The Arthur Ashe Courage Award was presented to 85-year-old NBA legend Bill Russell, who was accompanied by his young wife Jeannine. The Hall of Famer won 11 championships in 13 seasons during his career and was also an activist for social justice in the ’50s and ’60s.

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View this post on Instagram

 

Had a wonderful time @staplescenterla with my wife watching the @lakers and @suns battle it out!

A post shared by Bill Russell (@realbillrussell) on

Back in 2017, in response to NFL players taking the knee in protest to police brutality, Russell responded by posting a photo of himself on Instagram wearing the President’s Medal of Freedom bestowed on him by President Obama and taking a knee — the photo went viral, thanks to his wife.

According to an ESPN interview, Jeannine has been helping Russell with his presence on social media.

“What I wanted,” Russell explained, in an exclusive interview with ESPN, “was to let those guys know I support them. I wanted them to know they are not alone.”

 

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It was great having basketball and @nba back in Seattle, as well as reminiscing on my days at @keyarenaseattle !

A post shared by Bill Russell (@realbillrussell) on

Jeannine told ESPN, “I was telling Bill the photograph kept getting retweeted, and he said, ‘What are you talking about?’” Russell admitted to being “new” to social media. He first posted on Twitter in February 2018.

 

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We go together like Bacon & Eggs! #HappyHalloween⁠ @nbaontnt @celtics I love Bacon!! @anthonyanderson what are you?

A post shared by Bill Russell (@realbillrussell) on

Meanwhile, many fans of the sports icon are shocked that he’s not only married to a white woman, but a much younger one at that.  

via 2paragraphs.com:

Russell was married three times prior to Jeannine. His first wife was his University of San Francisco college sweetheart Rose Swisher (1956 to 1973), the mother of his three children. His second wife was 1968 Miss USA Dorothy Anstett (1977 to 1980). Their marriage was considered controversial by mamy at the time because Anstett is white; interracial marriage wasn’t made legal in the U.S. until 1967 and was still relatively rare in 1977.Russell married his third wife Marilyn Nault in 1996 and they were together until her death in 2009.

Several have expressed dismay and suspicions of his wife in the comments under photos of the couple on his official Instagram account.

One user said: “Why she lookin like she can’t wait to get that money?”

Another attempted to silence the haters by noting: “the majority of sport athlete is married to a white woman im tired of seeing his all the time. He said he been thru a lot why he couldn’t marry his own.”

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