45 Facts About Fred Russell

Fred Russell was an American sportswriter from Tennessee who served as sports editor for the Nashville Banner newspaper for 68 years.

Fred Russell was a member of the Heisman Trophy Committee, president of the Football Writers Association of America and a member of several sports-related Halls of Fame.

Fred Russell served for nearly 30 years as chairman of the College Football Hall of Fame Honors Court, a group responsible for selecting College Football Hall of Fame members.

Fred Russell was a long-time friend and protege of fellow sportswriter and Vanderbilt University alumnus Grantland Rice.

Fred Russell's parents were John E Russell and Mable Lee McFerrin Russell, who in 1920 moved the family to Nashville.

Fred Russell's father started a newspaper, the Wartrace Tribune, but it was short-lived; he became a salesman for a wholesale grocery company and traveled the middle Tennessee territory with a horse and buggy in his early career.

Fred Russell's mother was a music composer and author of the "Vanderbilt University Waltz".

Fred Russell attended Nashville's Duncan College Preparatory School for Boys, which was located at a site now occupied by Vanderbilt University's Memorial Gymnasium.

Fred Russell wanted a job as a newspaper office boy, but it only paid three dollars per week and he could make much more by working at a soda fountain downtown at the United Cigar Store.

Fred Russell saved enough money over a year to enter Vanderbilt in the fall of 1923.

Fred Russell was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, and a varsity baseball player.

Fred Russell attended Vanderbilt Law School, passed the state bar exam, and was listed in the class of 1929.

Fred Russell did legal work at a title company for 18 months and found out pretty quickly that "it was not the most exciting kind of work".

Fred Russell would be a member of the Banner staff until the paper closed in 1998.

The events Fred Russell regularly covered were: college football; amateur and pro baseball; the Masters Golf Tournament; the Kentucky Derby; championship boxing; college football bowl games, including The Sugar Bowl and The Rose Bowl; and The Olympic Games.

Fred Russell gained national exposure in the mid-twentieth century for writing a widely-read annual college football article, the "Pigskin Preview", for The Saturday Evening Post.

In May 1954, when Rice was in declining health, Fred Russell recalled a memorable lunch with him at Rice's regular corner table at Toots Shor's restaurant in New York.

The organization was founded in 1947, and Fred Russell became involved in it in the 1960s to become president in 1964.

Fred Russell served its chairman from 1964 to 1991, a role perfectly suited for him because he had, according to Derr, "an instinctive sense of fairness and prudence" along with significant experience in college football and relationships with the coaches and administrators.

One of Fred Russell's trademarks was his humorous and entertaining style of writing in his columns, books, speeches and stories.

Fred Russell was a unofficial ringleader of a group of friends who engaged in practical jokes, often ingeniously planned.

An example is an April Fools joke in 1965: Fred Russell published a story on the front page of the Banner sports page on April 1 reporting that newly-passed legislation would mean that the Natchez Trace Parkway would be built directly across the golf course of a Nashville country club of which Fred Russell was a member.

Fred Russell authored three sports humor books, I'll Go Quietly, I'll Try Anything Twice and Funny Thing About Sports.

Fred Russell covered major championship boxing and was a long-time friend of heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey.

Fred Russell covered more than 50 consecutive runnings of the Kentucky Derby.

Fred Russell covered the first Masters golf tournament in 1934 in Augusta, Georgia, and over 40 subsequent Masters'.

Fred Russell got to know him before Jones' golfing success, when Jones was a part owner of the Atlanta Crackers, a minor league baseball team.

Fred Russell often traveled with fellow sportswriter Red Smith, and they would frequently stay with players at venues such as the Soreno Hotel in St Petersburg.

Sports Illustrated reported that in the 1930s, Fred Russell interviewed Babe Ruth as Ruth played cards with Lou Gehrig.

Fred Russell spent the majority of his time covering the Yankees, and said "Casey Stengel was better than any show anywhere".

Fred Russell was one of the primary journalists who covered Tennessee State University, an HBCU, whose women's track team, the "Tigerbelles", achieved international acclaim in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

When Wilma Rudolph died in 1980, Fred Russell delivered her eulogy.

Fred Russell received numerous honors from sports organizations throughout his life.

Fred Russell was elected to the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame and was a charter member of the Tennessee Sportswriters Hall of Fame.

Fred Russell received the Distinguished American Award given by the National Football Foundation.

Fred Russell is a past president of the Football Writers Association of America.

Fred Russell was a member of the Heisman Trophy Committee for 46 years and served as the Heisman's Southern chairman for 30 years.

Fred Russell received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from the American Football Coaches Association.

Fred Russell was a member of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Fred Russell was named to the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class.

Fred Russell was awarded the Distinguished Journalism Award by the US Olympic Committee.

Fred Russell's legacy includes the following items named in his honor:.

Fred Russell worked past the age of 90 and lived until the age of 96.

Two personal tragedies that Fred Russell endured in his life were the death of his wife Kay in 1996 and the demise of the Nashville Banner in 1998.

Fred Russell wrote a few articles for them, enough to make his 70th year as a journalist, then retired.