On this day in 1966: Bill Russell’s first night as the NBA’s first Black head coach

Sixty years ago on October 15, Bill Russell walked onto the Boston Garden floor wearing two jobs at once. On October 15, 1966, the Celtics center made his debut as player-coach — and became the first Black head coach in NBA history. Boston beat the San Francisco Warriors 121-113 in front of 13,909 fans, with Russell logging 43 minutes, 8 points, 24 rebounds and 11 assists.

Bill Russell won 2 NBA titles while coaching himself. 🏆

He replaced Red Auerbach in 1966 as the NBA's first Black head coach and stayed the starting center. Champs in 1968 and 1969.#BallFacts #NBA #Celtics pic.twitter.com/V4G4FV9bRc

— Ball Facts (@_ballfacts) October 11, 2026

From Red’s retirement to Russell’s sideline

Red Auerbach had just closed out another championship spring. After the Celtics’ 1966 title, he stepped away from the bench, and on April 18, 1966, Boston named Russell to replace him. The move was historic on its face: no Black coach had ever run an NBA team. Russell kept playing, too. The league’s dominant defender would call the plays and still take the floor.

That first night set the tone for how he would coach himself. Russell was not the scoring load — Sam Jones had 29, Larry Siegfried 21, Bailey Howell 19 and John Havlicek 17 — but he controlled the glass and the ball. He went 3-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from the line, with four fouls, while Rick Barry poured in 41 and Nate Thurmond added 24 for the Warriors. Officials Earl Strom and Mendy Drucker worked the game.

Two titles as player-coach

Russell’s first season as coach ended in the Eastern Division finals. The next two did not. Boston won the NBA championship in 1968 and again in 1969, making Russell the first Black head coach to win a title in a major U.S. team sport. He remained player-coach through 1969, then stepped away from the Celtics after a career that already included 11 championships as a player.

The Hall of Fame recognized both halves of that resume. Russell was inducted as a player in 1975. In 2021, he was inducted again as a coach — a rare double that underscored how completely he had remade what a Black leader could be in the NBA.

Same date, other firsts

October 15, 1966, carried more league history beyond Boston Garden. The Chicago Bulls played their first NBA game that night, and Matt Guokas Jr. became part of the first father-son duo to reach the league. Five years later, on October 15, 1971, Julius Erving made his ABA debut. Those footnotes sit beside Russell’s milestone; they do not outshine it.

Sixty years on, the box score still reads like a quiet revolution: a Black coach on the sideline, still the best rebounder on the floor, and a Celtics win that opened a door the league has never closed.

Sources: Basketball-Reference (box score, Oct. 15, 1966); NBA.com (Russell player-coach / Hall of Fame coaching profile); Ball Facts (X).