Wilt/Russ/ESPN top 50 (LA Times)

[Douglas342@aol.com]

LA Times TV/radio sports columnist Larry Stewrt on the above:

 ESPN
                      profiles Bill Russell today at 4 p.m. as the 
18th-greatest athlete of the
                      20th century, as selected by a panel of experts. 
Russell is the fifth
                      basketball player in the top 50 thus far. The others: 
Julius Erving, No.
                      43; Oscar Robertson, No. 36; Larry Bird, No. 30, and 
Kareem
                      Abdul-Jabbar, No. 26. 
                             Still remaining are Wilt Chamberlain, Magic 
Johnson and
                      Michael Jordan. 
                             Chamberlain's ranking higher than Russell caused 
quite a stir
                      among Boston Celtic fans. They point out that Russell's 
Celtic teams
                      were 7-1 in playoff games against Chamberlain's teams 
and 86-57
                      overall. 
                             The Russell-Chamberlain debate is a part of the 
ESPN show,
                      another excellent one in the series. It presents all 
sides of Russell, a
                      complex man, and includes dozens of interviews. 
Teammate John
                      Havlicek says, "It wasn't a matter of Wilt versus 
Russell with Bill. He
                      would let Wilt score 50, if he won. The thing most 
important to him
                      was championships--rings and winning." 
                             Bill Sharman played with Russell and coached 
Chamberlain but
                      is not part of the show. He doesn't do television 
interviews because
                      his voice, which he blew out while coaching the Lakers 
in the early
                      1970s, still isn't 100%. 
                             "They were both great athletes, big, strong, 
quick and skilled,"
                      Sharman said by phone. "Wilt was more about muscle and 
power and
                      scoring. Russell was more about running the floor and 
passing and
                      defense. They'd both make my top five." 
                             Chick Hearn, honored at a fund-raising dinner 
Thursday night in
                      Beverly Hills for the Richstone Family Center in 
Hawthorne, also
                      took the diplomatic approach. 
                             "I would have them tied," he said. 
                             The best description of Russell on the ESPN show 
comes from
                      Bob Cousy, who says, "He was Jekyll and Hyde." Around 
the team,
                      he would laugh and be a great guy, Cousy says, "and 
then the mask
                      would come down." 
                             Cousy says he and Russell would talk at length. 
                             "I should have been much more sensitive to his 
anguish," Cousy
                      says as he breaks down and cries. ..