Grasshoppers Taught To Be Giants...

"The genius of Rusty Russell was in his ability to make every boy a giant in his own eyes," said Abner V. McCall, Chancellor of Baylor University (photo at right), as he gave the eulogy at H.N. "Rusty" Russell's funeral in Dallas, Texas on a cold, rainy day in December, 1983. McCall came to The Masonic Home in Fort Worth in 1926 as an eleven year-old, played football, and was one of Mr. Russell's kids.

McCall said any of the hundreds of Russell's former "kids" (Russell called all of The Masonic Home children "his kids") would have felt privileged to testify of his admiration and love for him.

Excerpts from McCall's eulogy:

Everyone has heroes. At least everyone ought to have heroes in his life. They serve as models. They inspire us to be better than we would otherwise be....Mr. H.N. Russell was one of my heroes.

Some have praised Mr. Russell as an offensive genius in football and many sportswriters over the years have noted the innovations he brought to football offense and ranked him among the great football coaches of this century. But this is not the reason he was a hero to me and to many others who he called "his kids." ...

Our team was just an ordinary group of boys. Only half of us weighed as much as 140 pounds. We were not bigger, stronger or smarter than our opponents... What made the difference? We were competing with teams who in our eyes were composed of giants and in our own eyes we were but grasshoppers...He did not convince all of us that our opponents were mere grasshoppers but he did convince us that we could win over any opponent.

...Because of Coach Russell, all my life I have carried with me the philosophy that I could confront and conquer any problem which came my way. My story can be duplicated by hundreds of Mr. Russell's "kids." We all have gone through life with more courage and confidence and achieved more and been better persons than we would have otherwise been except for Mr. Russell. ...