America has lost a pair of icons from the 1960s…and other decades of course.  Those two would be legendary basketball champion Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics, and Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame.  As amazing as both of them were in their primary roles, each played an additional role you may never have heard about but had just as big of an impact.

In his 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association, Bill Russell won 11 NBA Championships, cementing his Boston Celtics as the greatest franchise in pro basketball history.  Nobody has ever been mentioned as a better defensive center.  In fact, he won so many MVPs against impressive competition that they’ve named the MVP trophy for him.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is @JohnTures2.