Sep 10, 2006 – 3:30 PM
A lot of people never knew that Erk Russell was an Auburn man. A good Auburn man. He was the school's last four-sport letterman. All of you have heard by now of his death in Statesboro, Georgia on Friday. College football can be a strange thing. It's still hard to understand sometimes how two of Auburn's most storied players, Vince Dooley and Russell, became to mean so much to Georgia athletics. The same can be said of Pat Dye - just in reverse.
Many have forgotten that Russell served under legendary coach Shug Jordan. He returned briefly to Auburn after his playing days, serving as an assistant coach for the Tigers from 1958-62. In a strange twist of events, Russell was in line to become the Georgia coach in 1980 had Dooley taken the Tiger head coaching job.
Through the years, when Russell was having so much success at Georgia and Georgia Southern, I often wondered what kind of impact he would have had on Auburn had he stayed close to the program. We'll never know. What we do know is that a fine human being left a lasting mark on a lot of people, including those wearing orange and blue.
Hot Leads
- 12 Craziest Swimsuits -- Oddee
- 10 Spooky Ghostly Recordings -- Oddee
- 10 Dumb Lies Women Tell Men -- Dumb As A Blog
- 10 Paranormal Mysteries Easily Explained by Science -- Cracked
- Nazi Raiders of the Lost Holy Grail -- Fortean Times
- 7 Unusual Ways to Combat Impotence -- Oddee
- Preakness Stakes 2012: Bodemeister, I’ll Have Another connections like post position draws
- Boston Celtics win Game 3 over Philadelphia 76ers, Kevin Garnett regains form
- Brett Lawrie suspended four games for helmet-slamming incident
- David Clarkson's game-winning goal lifts New Jersey Devils to Game 2 win
- Giants unveil Super Bowl XLVI ring
- Weird-Mart: Tales of the Bizarre from the Walmart Aisles
- The Truth About JPMorgan Chase's $2 Billion Loss: It's No Big Whoop
- Shocking Way Electric Utilities Are Making Us Pay for the Smart Grid
- Saver or Sensualist, Innocent or Vigilant: What's Your Money Type?
- Target Makes a Test Run at Trendy Sportswear Biz with C9 Store
ON FACEBOOK
 
Also on AOL >>>
|
Top News
|
More News
|
More on Aol
|
More on Aol
|
Local News
|
More From AOL
|
Latest news, weather, health, business, sports, science, money, entertainment, world news, elections, weird news and more.
- © 2012 All Rights Reserved AOL News.
- Back to Top




