Georgia Southern Celebrates Icon’s 100th Birthday

Eagle Nation is remembering Erk Russell, the legendary football coach who would have turned 100-years-old on July 23. Recounting his impressive coaching career is somewhat like preaching to the choir, but seeing it summarized again offers fresh insight. 

In 1982, Russell arrived in Statesboro to revive a Georgia Southern University football program that lay dormant for more than 40 years. Despite the obvious challenges of building a college football program from scratch, Russell and the Eagles dominated the Southern Conference for the next eight years. He compiled an astounding 83-22-1 record — a winning percentage of nearly 80% — including three national championships. 

In 1989, Russell led the Eagles to a perfect 15-0 season and retired that year as the winningest coach in America. He was named Coach of the Year 19 times and was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. He was also named Georgia Coach of the Decade by USA Today in 1989.

Former professional quarterback Tracy Ham led the Eagles to a pair of NCAA Division I-AA national championships. Now back at Georgia Southern, where he serves as the Eagles’ senior associate athletics director for administration, he said Russell’s impact will continue to be felt by generations of Eagles.

“Coach Russell was more than a football coach to me; he was a mentor who helped shape the man I became,” Ham said. “He was an innovator in every sense of the word, always thinking differently and finding ways to get the very best out of his players and staff. What I respected most about Coach was that he was hard but fair. He demanded excellence, accountability and toughness, but you always knew he cared about you as a person first. The lessons he taught us went far beyond football and have stayed with me throughout my life. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to play for him and to learn from one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever known.”

Frank Hook, former director of Alumni Relations at Georgia Southern and former president of the Southern Boosters, called Russell a great man.

“He was a players’ coach,” said Hook, who, in retirement, serves as a special assistant to the athletic director. “Players loved him. They would run through a brick wall for him. He motivated players to play as hard as they could and loved them like his own children. He was a motivator and a terrific defensive and offensive coach. He was great at donor relations and with boosters. I can’t imagine where we would be in football today without Erk Russell coming to Georgia Southern, coaching for almost 10 years and getting our program off the ground.”

Former defensive back and outside linebacker Danny Britt joined the Eagles a year after Russell retired. He is now the head football coach at Benedictine Military School in Savannah and calls Russell the epitome of a football coach.

“I do remember the first time I stood in front of him as an 18-year-old, and I was in complete awe of the legend in front of me,” Britt said. “I couldn’t speak, and he simply laughed as he asked me how practice was that morning. He patted me on the shoulder and said: 

‘Well, son, it must have been a good one.’” Britt added that Russell was “Tough, knowledgeable and smart, but what made Erk Russell the best to ever do it was his ability to relate to everyone. He had the uncanny ability to get the best out of everyone around him, and everyone loved him for it.”