For the first time since plans were unveiled for a statue, Bill Russell spoke publicly about the honor. If you expected a quick and easy response from Russell, you’ve got the wrong guy.

“It makes me uneasy because it seems almost like a tombstone,” Russell said. “And I don’t want to engrave my tombstone yet.” In between and after those words there was that famous Russell laugh that fills the room and lets you know that it’s all right to appreciate his gallows humor.

Russell was in town to be given a lifetime achievement award by the Mass Mentoring Partnership (MMP), with whom he has had a long relationship. The group also honored the Celtics' Shamrock Foundation.

MMP is playing a big role in the effort to build Russell a statue. As part of the overall package and presentation, they are establishing a mentoring grant in Russell’s name for area kids. “There’s very little that I wouldn’t do for the mentoring program,” Russell said.

He told a story about a speaking engagement in Texas at the time when the Vietnam War was winding down. Russell suggested that the government take the money from the war effort and put it into education. A man came up after and said he didn’t feel like his tax dollars should go to educating other people’s kids.

“Sir, there are two reasons you should do this,” Russell said. “First, when you were 6 years old, there was a school there for you to go to. And second, there are no other people’s children in the United States of America. That’s the next generation of Americans. In my post-athletic career I’ve done everything I could to further education and if this is going to be something that will help, I’m all for it.”

But what about the statue itself?

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you what we’ll have to do” — and here Russell paused for a moment. “I’m one of those guys, I can wait and see. Tommy here has been bugging me about this statue.”

Tommy of course is Tommy Heinsohn, former teammate, successor as coach, and a Celtic for all of his adult life. Heinsohn also is an accomplished artist, and so it was a natural that he would be on the committee that decides on a design and a sculptor.

I talked to Heinsohn last week in the press room before the Celtics played Miami in Game 3 of their playoff series. He has definite ideas about the statue, but he’s not willing to share them while the project is still in development. “It would be very unique for all of sports if it gets carried out,” he said.  

Like a lot of people who are close to Russell, Heinsohn feels that his friend is fundamentally misunderstood. “He’s a smart guy,” Heinsohn said. “Just like [Bob] Cousy. [Larry] Bird was the same way. Suspicious. ‘What do you want from me,’ you know? But that’s not unusual. Ted Williams was like that.”

Russell arrived first to the makeshift press area at Fenway Park on Tuesday with his daughter Karen. Mayor Tom Menino, Celtics managing partner Steve Pagliuca and Polaroid chairman Bobby Poland who took care to stay in the background arrived soon after, but it was Heinsohn’s entrance that captivated Russell the most. After a long flight in from the west coast Russell looked understandably tired, but his face came alive when Heinsohn sat down across from him.

“I’d just like to say something here about Bill,” Heinsohn said. “A very difficult time in our city’s history and Russell proved that he was his own person, which was very difficult to do in those days. And he stood tall and he represented a great organization. Through him it taught the city teamwork and how people could get along.”

The mayor, who was described by Karen Russell as a “dear friend,” offered his own testimonial.

“He broke down barriers,” Menino said. “When Bill played here it was a different city than it is today. Bill was out there working hard to make this city work for folks who were left behind. That’s why I’m so enthused about this. It took a little longer than we expected but we’re all here now.”

As for his relationship with the city, Russell said, “A lot of people think that I had to put up with a lot of things. I never once felt I was putting up with anything. I was having the time of my life. The city of Boston was … interesting.”

That hung in the air for a second and then he laughed his laugh. This is not his tombstone and a block of granite and cement could not possibly contain his epitaph, but the people behind this effort are determined to get it right.

Someone asked Russell if he thought was the statue was overdue. “It’s not overdue,” he said to which Karen added, “It’s happening at the right time.”