Bill Russell scores only 8 points, but he had other things on his mind. Namely, he was now a player-coach, the 1st black coach in NBA history, and, unless you count Fritz Polland of the 1st NFL Champions, the 1920 Akron Pros (and the NFL was hardly a major league at that point), the 1st black coach in the history of North American major league sports. That this happens on the birthday of Willie O'Ree, and in the building he also called home with the Bruins, is interesting, but not especially relevant to Russell's story.
The Celtics would fall to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals this season, but Russell would lead them to the NBA title in 1968 and 1969 -- making him the most recent player-coach to lead a team to a World Championship.
Alas, while Bill Russell is still one of the Top 10 players in NBA history, he didn't do so well as a coach when he didn't have Bill Russell as a player: With himself playing, his coaching record is 162-83, for a winning percentage of .661; otherwise, with the 1974-77 Seattle SuperSonics and the 1987-88 Sacramento Kings, he's 100-122, .450; overall, 341-290, for a winning percentage of .540.
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October 15, 1966 was a Saturday. Among the other NBA games played that day was the Chicago Bulls making their debut. Guy Rodgers scored 36 points, and they beat the St. Louis Hawks, 104-97 at the Kiel Auditorium. For most of their history, the Bulls will be at least good, and, at times, historically good.
* Also, the New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 128-112 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Wilt Chamberlain scored 28 points and had 21 rebounds.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Baltimore Bullets, 126-115 at Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena). Elgin Baylor of the Lakers and Gus Johnson of the Bullets each scored 36 points.
* And the Cincinnati Royals beat the Detroit Pistons, 103-99 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 37 points.
This was one of the rare seasons in which the NBA started before the NHL, which didn't begin for another 4 days. The baseball seasons ended 6 days earlier, when the Baltimore Orioles swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. But there was college football on this day, including the following games:
* Number 1 Michigan State beat Ohio State, 11-8 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
* Number 2 Notre Dame beat North Carolina, 32-0 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame and Michigan State were on a collision course, and played to a 10-10 tie, and the National Championship voters awarded it to Notre Dame. Michigan State were robbed.
* Number 3 Alabama beat Tennessee, 11-10 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alabama would finish undefeated and, unlike Michigan State and Notre Dame, also untied. If you don't think Michigan State were robbed, certainly, Alabama were.
* Number 4 UCLA beat Penn State, 49-11 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Number 5 Southern California beat Stanford, 21-7 at the old Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. USC won the title in the Athletic Association of Western Universities, a precursor to the league now named the Pacific-Twelve Conference.
* Number 6 Nebraska beat Kansas State, 21-10 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska won the Big Eight Championship, but lost to Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
* Number 7 Georgia Tech beat Auburn, 17-3 at Cliff Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama.
* Number 8 Florida, led by quarterback Steve Spurrier, who went on to win the Heisman Trophy, beat North Carolina State, 17-10 at Carter Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina. That stadium had opened just the week before, as N.C. State lost to South Carolina. It was renamed Carter-Finley Stadium in 1979. Florida went on to beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
* Number 9 Purdue beat Michigan, 22-21 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Because the Big Ten Conference still had that stupid rule that a team couldn't go to the Rose Bowl in back-to-back years, Champions Michigan State were ineligible, so 2nd-place Purdue went. Led by quarterback Bob Griese, the beat USC. It was Purdue's 1st bowl game ever, and remains their only Rose Bowl win.
* Army beat Rutgers, 14-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
* Navy beat Pittsburgh, 24-7 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* And Princeton lost to Colgate, 7-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.
Also on this day, Bob McNab makes his debut for Arsenal. The left back doesn't make much of a difference, as the Gunners lose 3-1 to a strong Leeds United team at Highbury. But McNab will go on to help Arsenal win the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and both the Football League and the FA Cup, "the Double," in 1971.
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