1957-58 Topps Bill Russell #77 RC

Topps tries basketball, once

By 1957 Topps already sold baseball, football and non-sports cards. That year it entered basketball too, nearly a decade after Bowman's 1948 basketball set had shown how thin the market was. Topps built an 80-card set of standard 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch cards and filled it with the era's best-known stars, all of them on their first cards.

The fronts mixed full-length poses, action shots and portraits. Some photographs were left uncropped, with dim crowds in the background; others set the player against a bright single-color backdrop. A two-part banner carried the player and team names. On the back, a card number sat inside a backboard-shaped graphic, beside a biography, a small stat chart and a height chart that placed a generic ballplayer against a measuring scale.

The experiment did not last. Topps repeated the mistake Bowman had made in 1948, and its 1957 basketball set ended after a single production; in untouched groups of cards from the period, basketball is badly under-represented. That loss for Topps became the hobby's gain.

The winner

William Felton Russell was born February 12, 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana, and grew up in segregated Monroe before his family moved to Oakland, California, when he was eight. His mother died when he was 12. He was cut from his junior high team and nearly cut again at McClymonds High School, where coach George Powles saw his potential. College recruiters ignored him until the University of San Francisco offered a scholarship.

At USF he led the Dons to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including 55 straight wins, and was the 1955 tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He was also a world-class high jumper, ranked seventh in the world in 1956. He captained the U.S. team to the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, beating the Soviet Union 89-55 in the final.

The St. Louis Hawks drafted him second overall in 1956, and Celtics coach Red Auerbach traded Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan to get him, a deal later called one of the most important trades in North American sports. Because of the Olympics, Russell did not play his first Celtics game until December 22, 1956. In 13 seasons Boston played for 12 NBA titles and won 11, eight of them in a row from 1959 to 1966.

He won five MVP awards and made 12 All-Star teams. He refused to attend his own Hall of Fame induction in 1975 and accepted the ring privately in 2019. In 2009 the NBA named the Finals MVP award for him, in 2011 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and after his death on July 31, 2022, the league retired his No. 6 across every team, an honor no other player has received.

Boston, 1957-58

The card arrived after Russell's rookie year, in which he played 48 games, averaged 14.7 points and led the league with 19.6 rebounds. The Celtics reached their first NBA Finals and beat the Hawks in seven games; in Game 7 Russell ran down Jack Coleman from his own baseline and blocked his shot to protect a one-point lead.

In 1957-58 the Celtics opened with 14 straight wins. Russell averaged 16.6 points and a league-record 22.7 rebounds and was voted MVP by the players, yet the media named him only to the All-NBA Second Team, a split that would repeat through his career. In the Finals rematch with St. Louis he hurt his foot in Game 3 and returned only for Game 6, and the Hawks won the title behind 50 points from Bob Pettit.

Elsewhere that year, President Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into Central High School, Leave It to Beaver premiered and the Boeing 707 flew for the first time.

From hard-to-find to six figures

As a player Russell ignored nearly every well-wisher who approached him, and his autograph was among the hardest of his era to get. In June 2021 he arranged the sale of more than 700 items from his career, which were offered from December 2021 to April 2022 and brought nearly $9 million, with proceeds going to charities including Mentor, a Boston nonprofit he co-founded.

Prices for his rookie card climbed alongside. In 2021, PSA 8 copies sold for between $192,000 and $390,000. A PSA 8.5 sold for $630,000 in 2021; one report dates that sale to March 2021, while a sales record shows a PSA 8.5 at the same price in August 2021. On May 11, 2023, that card sold again for $660,000, a record for the player and, at the time, the third-highest price for any pre-1980 basketball card.

As of 2023, the three copies graded higher than 8.5 had never been offered at public auction. Another PSA 8.5 sold for $549,000 in February 2026, and a PSA 7.5 brought $70,150 in September 2026.

What to look for in a PSA 6

Russell's #77 is one of the set's short prints, along with cards of Cliff Hagan and Andy Phillip. Some references call the more common cards double prints instead; either way, at least 30 cards in the set are clearly scarcer than the other 50.

High grades are hard. The set is known for poor centering, grainy photographs, surface flecks collectors call snow and print defects. No PSA 10 Russell rookie exists. PSA's own figures list three 9s, 48 8s, 91 7s and 169 6s.

PSA 6, Excellent-Mint, is a strong mid-grade example. Copies in that grade sold for $8,117 to $12,600 through 2025, then for $17,400 on September 27, 2026. A PSA 7 brought $35,000 in January 2026.

The numbers

1957-58 season (card year)

69 G, 38.3 MPG, 16.6 PPG, 22.7 RPG (league record at the time), 2.9 APG, .442 FG%; 1,564 rebounds led the NBA

1957-58 honors

NBA MVP, All-Star, All-NBA Second Team

1958 playoffs

9 G, 15.1 PPG, 24.6 RPG; lost Finals to St. Louis 4-2 after a Game 3 foot injury

1956-57 rookie season

48 G, 14.7 PPG, 19.6 RPG (league leader); NBA champion

Career (1956-1969)

963 G, 14,522 PTS, 15.1 PPG, 21,620 REB, 22.5 RPG, 4,100 AST

Playoff career

165 G, 16.2 PPG, 24.9 RPG

Titles and honors

11 NBA championships, 5 MVPs, 12 All-Star selections, Hall of Fame 1975

Timeline

1. Feb 12, 1934

   Bill Russell is born in West Monroe, Louisiana.

2. 1955

   Russell leads San Francisco to the first of two straight NCAA titles and is named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

3. 1956

   The Hawks draft Russell second overall and trade him to Boston for Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan.

4. 1956

   Russell captains the U.S. to Olympic gold in Melbourne.

5. Dec 22, 1956

   Russell plays his first game for the Celtics.

6. 1957

   The Celtics win their first NBA title, beating St. Louis in seven games.

7. 1957

   Topps issues its 80-card basketball set, with Russell on card #77.

8. 1958

   Russell is named NBA MVP after averaging a league-record 22.7 rebounds.

9. 1969

   Russell retires after his 11th championship in 13 seasons.

10. 1975

    Russell is inducted into the Hall of Fame and declines to attend.

11. 2009

    The NBA names the Finals MVP award for Russell.

12. 2011

    Russell receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

13. 2021

    A PSA 8.5 copy sells for $630,000.

14. Jul 31, 2022

    Russell dies; the NBA later retires his No. 6 league-wide.

15. May 11, 2023

    The same PSA 8.5 copy sells for $660,000, a record for a Russell card.

16. Feb 21, 2026

    Another PSA 8.5 sells for $549,000.

17. Sep 27, 2026

    A PSA 6 sells for $17,400.

The world in 1957

• Jan 6, 1957

  Elvis Presley makes his third and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

• Mar 4, 1957

  The S&P 500 index is first published.

• Aug 28, 1957

  Senator Strom Thurmond sets the filibuster record, speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes against a civil rights bill.

• Sep 24, 1957

  President Eisenhower sends federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into Central High School.

• Oct 4, 1957

  Leave It to Beaver premieres.

• Dec 6, 1957

  Vanguard TV3, the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite, explodes on the launch pad.

• Dec 20, 1957

  The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this card every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

No completed sale at PSA 6 is on record yet. The same card at other grades:

Every grade and recorded sale for this card

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1957-58 Topps Bill Russell #77 RC is number 56 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (38 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• No PSA 10 copy of the Russell rookie exists.
• Russell won the 1957-58 MVP, voted by players, but the media put him only on the All-NBA Second Team.
• Russell was ranked the seventh-best high jumper in the world in 1956, the year he graduated from college.
• Russell refused to attend his Hall of Fame induction in 1975 and accepted the ring privately in 2019.
• After his death in 2022 the NBA retired his No. 6 for every team, the only player so honored.
• Topps' 1957 basketball set lasted one production; each card back included a height chart measuring the player.
• Proceeds from Russell's 2021-22 sale of his own memorabilia, nearly $9 million, benefited charities.