1. What do you do as a sports correspondent for the temple daily telegram?

As a sports correspondent I cover sporting events for the Temple Daily Telegram, write feature stories and previews, plus I have a weekly Sunday column such as the one you are referring to.

2. What is your connection or experience with Harvey Russell and his story?

Years ago my wife’s uncle loaned me the book “12 Mighty Orphans” by Jim Dent which told the story of the Fort Worth Masonic Home and School orphanage. The book encouraged me to return to column writing, often with a historical perspective on local figures in the Temple area. Russell was better known as Rusty Russell, though his given name was Harvey. Before he took the coaching position at Masonic Lodge, Russell had been the head football coach at Temple High School from 1923-26. He had also been the head coach at Granger HS the year before, which is about 30 minutes from Temple and in the newspaper’s coverage area. The fact that Russell went on to prominence after spending three years in Temple provided a local connection to the story. He was the third coach in Temple’s football history.

3. What sports did Harvey do before he became a coach?

Russell was a 3-sport athlete _ football, basketball, and track, and field _ while he attended Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas.

4. What contributions has Coach Russell made to the world of Football?

Russell had an innovative offensive mind that was decades ahead of his time. In an era when teams seldom threw the football, he devised elaborate schemes and an extensive playbook that utilized the forward pass. His inventive style is what made a rag-tag group of orphans one of the best teams in the state of Texas. The Mighty Mites were typically overmatched by other much larger schools, but Russell’s schemes helped even the playing field. He utilized the wide-open “spread” offense many years before it came into vogue as an offensive weapon.

After his long stint at Masonic Home, he became the head coach at Highland Park High School in Dallas which is located in a wealthy portion of the city where he led the Scots too much success. He later became an assistant and head coach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas where the Mustangs were ranked No. 1 for a brief time in the early 1950s before finishing out his career at much smaller collegiate schools as a coach. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor and in the Howard Payne sports Hall of Fame.

5. What challenges did he have to overcome during his time as a coach?

The biggest challenge he had to overcome was starting a football program from scratch without any facilities to speak of at Masonic Home. The team had to get used, hand-me-down equipment to play in. He turned young boys who had had little to no training in football to become not only competitive but victorious.

6. Who has Coach Russell mentored as a Football Coach? How have they impacted the community?

Probably the most prominent player attached to Russell is Doak Walker. Walker played under Russell at Highland Park in high school and again at SMU while Russell was in charge of the Mustangs’ offense. Walker was one of the greatest college football running backs of all time from the late 1940s. Walker won the coveted Heisman Trophy in 1948 and went on to a successful NFL career with the Detroit Lions and numerous other accolades. The annual award for the NCAA’s best running back is named for him. Walker attributes much of his success to Russell and even named a son after him.

7. And lastly, is there anything else I should know about Harvey Russell?

I think that covers much of it. I’d refer you to the aforementioned book by Jim Dent the movie from earlier this year.