Legendary Boston Celtics player Bill Russell finally accepts Hall of Fame ring

Five-time MVP and former Boston Celtics Player Bill Russell was the first African-American inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975. In his 13-year career, he won 11 championships. Unfortunately, for personal reasons, he refused the accolade. Finally in 2019, 44 years since he was first honoured, he finally accepted.

Russell was even honoured earlier than his rival and one of the strongest players in NBA history, Wilt Chamberlain. According to NBA.com archives, Chamberlain holds 68 of 72 official records, including the most points per game (100 points), and most rebounds in a game at 55. Those are the top two stats for players. To put his rebounding record in perspective, this year's league leader is the Milwaukee bucks with a total TEAM rebound tally of 59.8 per game.

Individually, Chamberlain is better unless he is playing against Russell and the Celtics. Don't forget, 11 of 13 times, it's the Celtics who won the championship. That is why he received the honour first, but he didn't accept it. Wilt Chamberlain was inducted in 1979, four years later than Russell.

Now, over 40 years later, he accepted the honour and provided an explanation in his Twitter account.

In a private ceremony w/my wife & close friends A.Mourning @AnnMeyers@billwalton & others I accepted my #HOF ring. In '75 I refused being the 1st black player to go into the @Hoophall I felt others before me should have that honor. Good to see progress;

It's hard to comment about what the man himself thinks about his own reward and why he refused it for so long. Besides, for every NBA fan who's old enough to know who he is, he is already a legendary player with or without the HOF ring. Fans are just happy that he finally accepted what is rightfully his since 1975.

According to CBS Sports, one of the people who Russell believes should have been honoured before himself is Chuck Cooper, the first African-American player drafted in the NBA in 1950. He may not have played as well as Russell and Chamberlain, but it certainly was a milestone. Inducted this 2019, he will stand forever with Russell, who supported him for 44 years.