2010 Medal of Freedom recipients
Here's a list of the 2010 Medal of Freedom recipients. Unlike last year, there don't seem to be any really controversial figures (last year, we had Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu).
President George H. W. BushFor those who didn't know already, yes, I'm a Celtics fan. I saw Russell play in the 1960's. He was a great player (and he was player-coach for his last couple years - you'd never see that today).
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany
Congressman John Lewis – civil rights activist
John H. Adams – environmentalist
Maya Angelou¬¬ - poet
Warren Buffett – billionair & philanthropist
Gerda Weissmann Klein – Holocaust survivor
Dr. Tom Little (Posthumous) – optometrist murdered by Taliban
Yo-Yo Ma – world renowned cellist
Sylvia Mendez – civil rights activist
Stan Musial – Hall of Fame 1st baseman
Bill Russell – former Boston Celtics capt
Jean Kennedy Smith – sister of JFK; founder of VSA
John J. Sweeney – former AFL-CIO Pres.
But he left the team on terms that were not great. He announced his retirement during the off-season without any warning, leaving the team without a center. He wouldn't allow the team to make a Bill Russell day to retire his number as they had done for his teammates Sam and KC Jones (I was at both of those days), so the team retired his number on a day when he was at the Gahden as a broadcaster and raised the banner at halftime. He wouldn't even acknowledge the crowd. I have a good friend who is the world's expert at getting his picture taken with celebrities and he managed to walk right up to Russell and stand next to him while I snapped his picture (that would never happen today either), but Russell just pretended he wasn't there. I don't know why he was so angry at anyone connected with the Celtics.
In recent years, he has re-established a connection with the team, which I think is wonderful. Russell was probably the best defensive center who ever played the game (you can't even discuss that with me intelligently if you're under 50). He was an awesome shot blocker and a dominating force on the court.
I know far more about him than I do about any of the other recipients (obviously). So please forgive me for waxing nostalgic.
Labels: Barack Obama, Bill Russell, Boston Celtics, George H. W. Bush, Medal of Freedom
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:54 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home