National Football Foundation

A native of Oklahoma, Rex Russell was a three-year letterman at Oklahoma State University from 1960-62. A 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds mainstay, he played both guard and center on one of the greatest lines in the county, and he was described as one of the finest players in the Southwest. Russell was a gifted student who was a member of the All-American Scholastic Team. With a 3.81 GPA, he managed to make his way onto the President’s and Dean’s Honor Rolls as well as three honor societies on campus.

After graduation, Russell attended medical school at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and he completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He enjoyed a lengthy career as an invasive radiologist at Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark., for 29 years. During that time, he was the first Arkansas doctor to perform several operations, including tumor ablations, vertebroplasties and thrombolysis for stroke recovery. Russell was active in his church community, and in 1996 he wrote the book What the Bible Says About Healthy Living. He passed away on Jan. 29, 2009, at the age of 68.