Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend

“Bill Russell was the greatest team basketball player ever….[He] has produced a moving tribute to his friend and, in a larger sense, to friendship.”

—Booklist

In Red and Me, Boston Celtics basketball legend Bill Russell pays homage to his mentor and coach, the inimitable Red Auerbach. A poignant remembrance of a life-altering relationship in the tradition of Big Russ and Me and Tuesdays With Morrie, Red and Me tells an unforgettable story of one unlikely and enduring friendship set against the backdrop of the greatest basketball dynasty in NBA history.

Red Auerbach, one of the greatest coaches in sports history, died on October 28, 2006. Bill Russell, the star center on the Auerbach teams that won eleven championships in thirteen years, said little in public at the time. His relationship with his coach had been so deeply personal that he could not express it with a brief comment.

Auerbach and Russell—one a short, brash Jew from Brooklyn; the other a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland—were far more than just coach and player. Through thirteen years of building a sports dynasty together, one that remains among the greatest of all time, their relationship evolved into a rare example of deep male friendship: confident, supportive, understanding, founded in common goals, even as their feelings remained largely unspoken.

Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach; an inspiring story of mutual success; and perhaps the best depiction of male friendship ever put on the page.

"On the subject of his love of Red Auerbach and his Celtic teammates, Russell is loud and clear. He might object to my use of the word 'love,' but deny it though you will, Mr. Russell, that's what sits at the heart of this beautiful book." - Bill Bradley, New York Times Book Review

“Bill Russell was the greatest team basketball player ever….[He] has produced a moving tribute to his friend and, in a larger sense, to friendship.” - Booklist