Bill Russell, Nichelle Nichols were trailblazers

For all Bill Russell accomplished in a basketball career few if any have matched, his legacy will reside in equal measure in what he did off the courts of play.

Russell towered over his game, but also met intense racial injustice with a classy calmness, and used his fame to become a leading activist in our nation's battle for civil rights.

Russell, who died Sunday at the age of 88, was the centerpiece of the Boston Celtics' march to an unmatched 11 championships in 13 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. A defensive powerhouse with surreal jumping ability, Russell often seemed able to block any shot and reshaped the game, playing with savvy intelligence and a fierce focus on winning. In 1966, Russell became the first Black head coach in a major American sport, winning his last two titles as the Celtics' player-coach.

But it was Russell's voice and work beyond basketball that defined his contributions to humanity. Racism he encountered growing up in Louisiana followed him onto the basketball court, where he endured vile treatment and ugly epithets from Boston fans who nonetheless celebrated his achievements. Russell publicly joined the civil-rights fight that defined the era, marching with Martin Luther King Jr., and supporting Black students conducting a sit-in against Boston's school segregation. After Medgar Evers was assassinated, Russell took a suggestion from Evers' brother and ran an integrated basketball camp in Mississippi, plowing forward despite death threats. Years later, he organized the "Cleveland Summit" to support Muhammad Ali in his protests against the Vietnam War.

Russell's activism didn't end when his career did. When former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality, Russell posted photos of himself taking a knee in support. It's no wonder that Russell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And it's no wonder that now he is remembered not only for basketball greatness but for his fight against racism.

An eerie echo of that struggle came in the hours after the announcement of Russell's death when news emerged that another trailblazer, Nichelle Nichols, had died at age 89. Nichols, the iconic Lt. Uhura on "Star Trek," faced her own challenges during the same era Russell played basketball, as a Black actress playing a leading, authoritative professional role quite different from stereotypical parts like a maid. Nichols wanted to quit after one season, but King convinced her not to, telling her she had "changed the face of television forever." Nichols later participated in one of the first interracial kisses on national television and went on to use her stature to recruit minority astronauts to diversify the space program.

Their deaths remind us how far we've come — and how far we have to go.