Lindsay Chamberlain, left, and Joe Brown, both of Claremont, N.H., take cover from the rain at Fenway Park before yesterday’s game was postponed. The game versus the Seattle Mariners was rescheduled for May 3.

The providence journal / Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — One moment it was a rainy day at Fenway Park with little promise of dodging an extended, ugly weather delay. Then Bill Russell showed up.

On hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of a Red Sox tribute to Boston Celtics’ patriarch Red Auerbach, the winningest athlete in team sports history sat at a long table with several of his former teammates yesterday and promptly stole the show. While Jim Loscutoff and Frank Ramsay tried to interject at times, ultimately they were content to sit back and listen as Russell told tales about Auerbach, the dynastic Celtics of the late 1950s and early ’60s, race relations and one of his heroes, baseball great Jackie Robinson.

The news briefing began on a light note when longtime Celtics press chief Jeff Twiss introduced the panelists and called Russell, “arguably the best all-around basketball player ever.”

Russell, who’s now 73 years old, perked up a bit and cracked “Who’s arguing?’ He went on to answer every question tossed the panel’s way, even those directed at other players. First Russell was asked about the significance of the 50-year anniversary of the Celtics’ NBA title in 1957, the first in an amazing run of 11 titles in 13 seasons. Russell’s mind instantly raced back to Game Seven of that title series against Bob Pettit and the St. Louis Hawks. He recalled a rookie, Tommy Heinsohn, going off for 37 points and 23 rebounds, “and up until that time, Red had complete and utter disdain for rookies.”

With Loscutoff banging in the winning free throws with two seconds left in double overtime, the Celtics hung on for a 125-123 victory at the Boston Garden. To this day, Russell wears the ring from the 1957 championship on his finger.

As he talked about that win, Russell put his arm around Ramsay, a college star at Kentucky who played for Adolph Rupp in an era when Rupp would never consider having a black player join his program. Even so, he says he quickly befriended Ramsay, although he wasn’t ready to take his teammate up on a standing invitation to join him in Kentucky in the offseason.

“Frank was always a great friend of mine. He not only was a great player, he is a better man,” he said. “You know what? I finally went to visit him in Kentucky a couple years ago. I’m glad I did.”

It was that type of togetherness that marked the Celtics’ great run, a group of players and a coach who saw no color and treasured winning more than anything else. “I don’t think Red had any notion or agenda with race relations,” Russell said. “All Red thought about was having a good team with good guys who got along. That would be enough for him to win.” On Sunday, Major League Baseball is planning a tribute to honor the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. When asked about Robinson’s impact on his athletic career, Russell hushed a crowd of media members with a story he says he rarely shares with the public.

“You may or may not know that I was a pallbearer at Jackie Robinson’s funeral,” he said. “A day after he died, Rachel Robinson called me and asked if I would be a pallbearer. I said to her, ‘Could I ask why?’ She said, ‘You were his favorite athlete.’ My question was, how did I get to be Jackie Robinson’s favorite because he was a hero to all of us.

“Whenever I hear his name now, I’m very touched by that,” Russell added. “When I was growing up in the projects, we regarded Jackie as a scholar and an athlete. He was the first one.”

Russell lives in Seattle but is in Boston frequently for appearances with the Celtics and a mentoring program he supports. He watches the present-day Celtics from time to time and appreciates how difficult it is to win big in the modern NBA. With the Celts poised to finish in the bottom two or three in the league this season, the team’s fans are clamoring for the franchise’s next great star along the lines of Russell, Dave Cowens or a Larry Bird. That, of course, is impossible.

Russell is still up on his hoops, though. He says he met Texas freshman Kevin Durant at the Final Four (“We were staying in the same hotel. He’s a nice, nice young man”) and enjoyed watching Ohio State center Greg Oden play in Atlanta. Asked if either of the two top college stars could become that next great Celtic, Russell said with a smile, “now I don’t have to worry about that, do I.

“You have to understand, the first professional game I saw was in 1953. I saw George Mikan play,” he said. “So over the years I’ve seen very few great players. Now I’ve seen a ton of good players. When the young kids come out, you don’t know what they’re going to turn into. So I don’t like to speculate.”

With that, it was time for the legend to leave. He graciously excused himself, pulled his gangly, 6-foot-9 frame away from a table and walked away.

As he exited, it was hard not to think that there couldn’t be a better way to spend an April rain delay at Fenway Park than hearing Boston’s greatest athlete talk about the old days.

kmcnamar@projo.com