Boston Celtics second year swingman Grant Williams has been surprised with the 2021 Bill Russell mentorship award for his work as a mentor to a number of Boston, Massachusetts area teens in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.
Williams has been a strong advocate for mentorship since arriving in Boston after being drafted by the Celtics 22nd overall out of the University of Tennessee. The award, named for the MENTOR co-founder (and legendary Celtic big man) Bill Russell, awards leaders in society for their work in such a role, and this year the former Volunteer was surprised by his mentees for his hard work through such difficult times to keep up his mentorship with them.
.@Grant2Will’s mentees surprised him with the 2021 @RealBillRussell Mentoring Award! Watch as they share #ThankYourMentor stories & talk about how Williams has impacted them. Congratulations Grant! #MentoringSummit #MentoringMonth #MentoringAmplifies @celtics @nbacares @NBA pic.twitter.com/sLoKHVmff0
— MENTOR (@MENTORnational) January 29, 2021
Watch the video embedded above to see the moment they let him know he’d won the award; Williams himself shared the moment in a tweet of his own, with a short statement that read:
“So honored and thankful to have received this award! Makes me so thankful to know im able to give back in a good manner. [Shout out] to my mentees for making this possible and being so receptive.”
The Celtics have some truly high-character guys on their roster, and Grant Williams has consistently been a leader among them, finally getting some recognition for the constant hard work he puts in both on and off the court.
