Ring culture has become rampant in the NBA. A player retiring without a championship ring can prove detrimental to their legacy. But that wasn’t a concern for Bill Russell, who won 11 championships. He flexed his achievement in an iconic photo where he’s seen wearing 11 rings and smirking with pride. However, the rings in that mythical image did not belong to the Celtics icon.
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During an appearance on the Legend Of Sport podcast, former Sports Illustrated photographer, Nathaniel S. Butler revealed that Russell did not own 11 championship rings. He said,
“Obviously people love that photo, and I was fortunate enough to do that. But they didn’t get rings for every championship…But after you got one ring, you didn’t get another ring…There is a lot of urban myth about what they got instead of a ring.”
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Butler added that receiving a ring for winning championships is a concept that only originated in the modern era of the NBA. In the 1960s, a first-time champion would be awarded a ring. However, someone on the same team who had already won a championship got championship-themed cufflinks instead.
So Russell had an ornament for each of his 11 championships, but they weren’t all rings. So to create the iconic photo, they borrowed championship rings from his teammates. Butler revealed,
“So Bill Russell didn’t get 11 rings. So we had to borrow rings for the photoshoot because that symbolizes… Everyone talks about rings. Championships.”
In Russell’s era, the NBA wasn’t as lucrative as today. Players were paid modest wages, and only a handful made a name playing in the league. So it’s understandable why the NBA didn’t hand out expensive rings to each player on a championship roster.
Even if they tried footing the bill, it was an unnecessary expenditure as the ring culture was non-existent. Russell did have two championship rings and auctioned them off in 2022 along with four of his five MVP awards and his 1956 Olympic gold medal.
The seven items fetched a combined $7.4 million. Part of the proceeds went to MENTOR, a non-profit organization he co-founded, and the Boston Celtics United for Social Justice.
Russell passed away only a few months after the auction. It was awe-inspiring to see him giving back to the community until his last days. He may not have had as much silverware as the iconic photo suggested, but he had a heart of gold.
