TWIN LAKES—Growing up in Brooklyn, Frank Russ was around Dave Kosel and Don Martella, who were lighting it up on the Hibbing High School basketball team.
It was through those acquaintances that Russ developed a love for the sport.
Playing since the fourth-grade, Russ’ game grew and grew to the point where he made the Bluejacket B-team in the eighth-grade, then as a freshman, he made the varsity team.
Russ also played football and baseball, then he went out for track during his junior and senior seasons.
For all of his success, Russ will be inducted into the Hibbing High School Hall of Fame in ceremony Saturday at the Hibbing Memorial Building.
Russ never saw that coming.
“I’m flattered, really honored to be given this award,” Russ said. “I thought it would never happen. I didn’t expect it. There’s a lot of good athletes in Hibbing, especially when I was growing up.”
Kosel and Martella were two of those athletes.
“Dave lived on one side of me, and Daon on the other side,” Russ said. “I used to like Dave because he would open the doors at the Brooklyn School on Monday nights, and we played ball all night from 6 to 9 p.m.
“That’s how I knew him. When he played for Hibbing, I watched him all of the time.”
As a kid, Russ started playing competitively as a fourth-grader.
“That’s what I remember most. That’s what got me going,” Russ said. “When I was playing basketball, Gary Southgate and Tom Tintor were the guys that I eventually played with when I was junior and senior.
“There were also Kenny Lee and Vic Phillips.”
Russ didn’t take anything for granted once he made the varsity team as a freshman.
“I felt like I was ready for that move,” Russ said. “I practiced a lot. Coach Angie Pergol gave me a ball in the seventh-grade, and I got to love the sport. In the ninth-grade, I played with Charlie Phillips and Joe Davich.
“I came in as a sub, the sixth- or seventh-guy. I fit in, I guess.”
Russ went on to play five years.
When he was a senior, Russ averaged 21 points per game. He hit 1,000 points, finishing his career with 1,231 points.
Russ performed so well that he was recruited by Stan Albrecht to play at Northern Michigan, only Albrecht was hired by the University of Denver.
Now, Russ had a choice to make.
“I said, ‘If I go there, I’ll have to sit out a year because Denver is a Division I school,’” Russ said. “I decided to go to junior college for a year, and if I was good enough, they would give me a call.
“We had a good team that year. We scored 100 points per game.”
Russ got that call, then he went to Denver and played for two seasons.
He was going to go back for his senior season, but he hit a bump in the road.
“After my junior year, there was a summer league in Duluth at UMD,” Russ said. “I asked if it was alright to play, so we tried to do the right things. I asked the athletic director at Denver, and he said, ‘You can play.’
“The NCAA has all kinds of rules, but when I went back to school to get ready for my senior season, the coach called me and said I was ineligible because I played in that summer league.”
What other options did Russ have?
“I just wanted to play. It’s about playing,” Russ said. “Hoyt Brown asked me to coach the JV team because I had a scholarship, but I said, ‘No. I think I’ll go to UMD.’ Murray Ray let me come there to finish out my senior year.
“That’s where I got my Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and health.”
All of that has led up to this honor. Russ is looking forward to the night of celebration.
“I haven’t been back there for a long time,” Russ said. “They have a tour through the school, and I would like to walk through that old building. I always thought it was a beautiful school with all of that marble.”
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