There will never be another Bill Russell. The Boston Celtics acknowledged that reality in an emotional remembrance of the 11-time NBA champion and revered civil right activist, calling the late Russell the “greatest champion” in basketball while inviting mourners to “celebrate his enormous legacy.”

By far the most decorated player in NBA history, Russell was acquired by Red Auerbach and the Celtics in a draft-night trade with the St. Louis Hawks in 1956. He went on to win a remarkable 11 championships in Boston, including eight straight titles from 1959 to 1966 and two more as a player-coach in 1968 and 1969.

The greatest defender ever, Russell's team-first approach to the game set him apart from other superstars, paving the way for teammates turned legends like Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones—a college teammate at the University of San Francisco—and John Havlicek to achieve Celtic glory.

Regardless, Russell's history with Boston, the franchise and city, is complicated. He regularly called out explicit and implicit racism of Bostonians and Celtics fans, yielding even more animus from an overwhelmingly white audience.

“It had all varieties, old and new, and in their most virulent form,” Russell wrote of Boston in his 1979 memoir, Second Wind. “The city had corrupt, city hall-crony racists, brick-throwing, send-’em-back-to-Africa racists, and in the university areas phony radical-chic racists…Other than that, I liked the city.”

The fraught relationship between Russell, the Celtics and city of Boston thawed in the decades following his 1968 retirement. After honoring his request for a private jersey retirement ceremony in 1972, the Celtics held a public engagement for Russell in 1999, with fans giving him a standing ovation as his No. 6 rose to the TD Garden rafters.

Bill Russell was back on the floor at TD Garden nine years later, sharing heartwarming embraces with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce after the 2008 Celtics won the franchise's 17th championship.