By ANDREW DERR (aderr96vandy@gmail.com)
Over the past three months, it has been my special honor to celebrate the life of Fred Russell, a 20th century icon in the sports journalism industry. “Life of Dreams: The Good Times of Sportswriter Fred Russell” (Mercer University Press, 2012) is a freelance project I began in the summer of 2005, and after several years of interviewing, researching, writing, and editing, the first complete biography of Russell arrived in bookstores earlier this summer.
For those who may not have heard of Fred Russell, he was a legendary southern sportswriter who wrote for the Nashville Banner from 1929-1998 and achieved national stature and recognition for his decades of contributions to the field of journalism and college athletics, in particular college football. Covering Southeastern Conference football, Russell was one of the earliest fans and champions of Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning and Florida quarterback Steve Spurrier, two prominent individuals still active in the sport today. Writing for the iconic Saturday Evening Post magazine in the middle of the 20th century, Russell penned the immensely popular “Pigskin Preview”, an annual summer feature than ran from 1949-1962 and highlighted the upcoming college football season. He rubbed elbows with some of the great coaches of last century, from his close friends Red Sanders and Bear Bryant to coaches who were just getting their careers started, such as Johnny Majors, Lee Corso and Lou Holtz. His alma mater was Vanderbilt University, and he covered the Commodores and SEC football for decades. Ultimately, Russell cemented his status as one of college football’s most significant contributors through his years of service to the National Football Foundation. From 1964-1991, he served as the chairman of the NFF’s Hall of Fame Honors Court, and was the NFF’s 1980 recipient of the Distinguished American Award.
In Life of Dreams, I have tried to tell the Fred Russell story through the words of the countless men and women he influenced, entertained, mentored and inspired. I knew it would be too exhausting to research and write (let alone read) a biography that attempted to cover every year of Russell’s life. Rather, I chose to focus on the most significant aspects of his career and the things that meant the most to him. Of the 14 chapters that span roughly 250 pages, there is a chapter on fellow Vanderbilt alum Grantland Rice, originally his mentor and eventually his close friend, several chapters on his years at the Banner, a chapter dedicated to his extraordinary sense of humor, as well as chapters that touch on his favorite sports of the Spring season, the incredible array of contacts and “who’s who” relationships he built, a scholarship named in his honor at Vanderbilt, and his legacy to sportswriting.
If there is one sport that is constant throughout the book, however, it is college football, which was Russell’s favorite. I dedicated two full chapters to chronicle his connections to college football, the fierce rivalry between Vanderbilt and Tennessee, and Russell’s unique relationships with coaches and players. Legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant once described Russell as “one of my all-time heroes”, and fellow SEC coach Frank Broyles had this to say in 2005: “I admired him and respected him more than any person in any profession. What he gave of himself to the game of college football was unequaled by anybody, and he did for the South what Grantland Rice did nationally.”
Current ESPN college football commentator Lee Corso was a tremendous interview for the book, and clearly a fan of Russell’s. “The true test of a human being’s character is how they treat people in their life they don’t need,” Corso said. “And I think of Fred Russell. When I was a lowly assistant and then struggling as a college head coach, he always treated me with respect and dignity.”
There is also a chapter dedicated entirely to the fascinating legal drama that pitted former Georgia coach Wally Butts against the publisher of the Saturday Evening Post in the early 1960s. Butts sued the publisher after the Post ran a sensational story in 1963 alleging that Butts and Bryant conspired to fix the 1962 Georgia-Alabama football game, which Alabama won 35-0. Earlier this summer, in a July book review of the biography, Brad Zimanek of the Montgomery Advertiser referred to this as “one of the more compelling sections” of the book. Zimanek, who worked at the Nashville Banner in the early 1990s, summarized his thoughts on this chapter with the following:
“Post reporter Frank Graham Jr. reconfirmed in an interview more than 40 years after the trial that he was not working alone on the story, and that legendary Atlanta sports writer Furman Bisher helped him. Bisher, even shortly before his death in 2012, denied having any involvement. After reading Derr’s reporting, that’s hard to believe. The facts suggest Bisher was heavily involved. You can judge the situation for yourself, but regardless, it is an intriguing read for any fan of SEC football.”
Lastly, I could not have accurately portrayed Fred Russell’s connections to college football without describing his role with the National Football Foundation. To learn more about Russell’s time as the Honors Court chairman, I spoke at length with Bob Casciola and Gene Corrgian, both of whom were extremely generous with their time. As I learned about the celebrated Hall of Fame weekend that occurs annually in New York at the famed Waldorf-Astoria , it was remarkable to learn just how much Russell meant to the NFF, and how much he enjoyed his time with the organization. Often referred to by his colleagues as the “keeper of the gate” regarding the inductees into the college football hall of fame, Russell chaired the Honors Court with humility, integrity, and passion – not to mention his trademark sense of humor. In the words of his colleagues:
· “He was the boss, and he was a highly respected individual, but Fred Russell was also a very funny guy. On his feet, he could entertain a room very easily.” (Bob Casciola)
· “He was utterly fair, a wonderful writer, and well spoken. Fred was one of our leading lights at that time, and on the Honors Court, he was always good for two to three really good stories, to break the ice and get things started each year.” (Dave Campbell, Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald)
· “Fred was comfortable everywhere. He was comfortable with presidents and bums, and he was one of the great joke-tellers of all time, some of which were repeatable, and some of which were not. We just loved having our annual meeting so we could get together with him.” (Gene Corrigan)
For more information regarding the book, visit either of the links below:
http://www.mupress.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=561
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Dreams-Times-Sportswriter-Russell/dp/0881462780
About the Author
Andrew Derr is Vanderbilt University’s 1992 recipient of the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice TRA Sportswriting Scholarship. A part-time freelance journalist since graduating in 1996, he lives in Maryland with his wife, Molly, and their four children, Michael, Hannah, Isabella, and Lukas. His full-time career is with Deloitte Consulting, and he can be reached at aderr96vandy@gmail.com.
