The Late Bill Russell's USF Debut Came at the Expense of Cal and its Star Bob McKeen
The death of Bill Russell at the age of 88 on Sunday reminded everyone of his substantial impact on and off the basketball floor.
But how many fans remember Russell’s first varsity game for the University of San Francisco?
It was on Dec. 1, 1953 at San Francisco’s Kezar Pavilion and Cal was the opponent.
The Bears probably couldn’t wait to get out of the place after Russell delivered a stunning performance in a 51-33 rout of the nation’s 10th-ranked team.
Russell had 23 points and 13 blocked shots — many of them against Cal’s All-Coast senior center Bob McKeen. No official rebound totals were recorded for the game, but given that Russell averaged 19.2 rebounds over his three-year college career it seems likely he logged a triple-double in his first varsity game.
Wiry and athletic at 6-foot-9, Russell was hardly regarded as a college prospect at McClymonds High School in Oakland, where he was a part-time starter. After a year out of sight on the USF freshman team, Russell was ready to stun the basketball world in his debut as a sophomore.
Bay Area News Group
I wrote about occasion in a 2004 Oakland Tribune series called “The Forgotten Times,” which chronicled great Bay Area sports moments from the past.
The late Dr. Bob Albo, who was a team captain in basketball and baseball for Cal, told me in an interview for the story that he believed Russell was a revelation even to folks at USF.
“I don’t think they had any idea how good he was, to tell you the truth,” said Dr. Albo, who went on to become team physician for the Warriors and 49ers. “I don’t think anybody had any concept this gangly young man who ran with his shoulders hunched over and his head looking down, had that kind of timing and ability.”
Albo scored 11 points in the game but he felt Russell’s impact. “I took at least three jumpers from the side, and the ball whizzed back by my head so quickly . . . I couldn’t believe someone could get from under the bucket, out to the side and block my shot. We had never played against a defensive player like that.”
Bob McKeen
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
No one was more stunned than McKeen, who held Cal’s career scoring record for more than three decades before Kevin Johnson broke it in 1987.
According to newspaper accounts, McKeen scored 14 points in the game but had at least eight shots blocked.
“His defensive pay left Bob McKeen so frustrated that the lanky Cal big man had his best look at the basket from the bench,” the Oakland Tribune reported.
“It was a rude awakening for him,” Dr. Albo said of McKeen. “I don’t know that he’d ever had a shot blocked. Bill Russell was absolutely phenomenal.”
Guard K.C. Jones, who helped Russell and the Dons win back-to-back NCAA titles in 1955 and ’56 and went on to his own Hall of Fame career, recalled McKeen’s reaction.
“When you take a little 5-footer and it’s blocked, you take a layup and it’s blocked, and you take a hook shot and it’s blocked . . . McKeen may have been shellshocked,” Jones said.
The entire sport felt a bit like that. After Russell and the Dons won their first national championship, the NCAA rules committee responded. They widened the free-throw lane to 12 feet and made it illegal to block shots that were on their downward arc.
Bill Russell on Wheaties
Cal played Russell two more times after that first one, and had no better success in either of those games. But at least they knew what was coming.
Dr. Albo said the Bears had no idea before walking onto the court on DEc. 1, 1953.
“And we were a very good team. At the time, we felt embarrassed,” he said. “In retrospect, that was just an inkling of what was to come.”
Cover photo of Bill Russell courtesy of USF Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
