Rusty Russell: The Impact of Life Events...

Unforseen events and the influence of others can have an impact in the direction of lives. For the Home Kids, family circumstances altered their definition of home and family. For H.N. "Rusty" Russell, outside intervention twice in his life changed his course.

First, he was plucked off a tractor to play sports for Howard Payne boarding school in Brownwood, Texas. He had to work hard with tutors to catch up academically. He continued to play sports for Howard Payne University with a small interruption when he fought in the trenches in France in World War I.

The second major life event was that he received major injuries as he served as a medic on the front lines. He nearly died and spent a year recovering in hospitals in France. He dreamed of returning and making a difference in the lives of others, but first he had unfinished goals. He wanted to finish his college career with a team championship and achieve his personal goal of making All-Conference. This photo is from 1922 when he returned from the Great War.

Returning to Howard Payne after his war experience and recovery, Russell resumed his sports activities with even more intensity. He was All-Conference in football and basketball at Howard Payne, lettered in track and was named Best All-Around Athlete. He was Captain of both his basketball and football teams. The football team won the Conference Championship his senior year.

Most of all, more important than the sports to Russell, was the opportunity to learn and to immerse himself in an academic environment that he would otherwise not have had helping out on his family farm. He had to have private tutoring to bring him up to speed academically when he first entered Howard Payne. The world of the mind was the foundation of the game of life.

Why would Russell take a job at an orphanage in Fort Worth? Jim Dent thinks that Russell knew he could mold these kids into something big - they had nothing else to lose, says Dent. The Masons built The Home in Fort Worth to give orphans a first-class education. Science teacher-turned coach Russell rarely had more than 12 to suit up. His daughter, Betty, says he thought his calling was to be in Child Guidance, a relatively new field then and the academic focus for his master's degree. However, the importance of teachers as mentors in his own life and in the life of his wife, Juanita, led him to understand innately the impact he could make in the world by touching one child at a time with hope, love, teaching and guidance. And...coaching.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Masonic Home games were routinely outdrawing the major college games of Dallas (Southern Methodist University), and Fort Worth (Texas Christian University). More than 25,000 would come to watch the Mighty Mites. Sacks and sacks of mail were delivered with letters and telegrams arriving from people all over the nation.

Had someone not seen his potential as more than riding a tractor to help his family make ends meet, Russell's life might have taken a completely different path. The appreciation for that intervention led him to do the same for others from that point on. He would not have been injured in the war had he not put his own welfare second to his goal to save others on the front who had been hit by mustard gas.