Influence
An influential figure in the Golden Age of sports, Russell was sports editor of the Nashville Banner for 68 years, from 1930-1998. In an era when newspapers were the primary form of information to the public, well before television was popular, Freddie Russell was a local legend in Middle Tennessee and was well known in the sports world throughout the nation.
He was well known and popular as a writer, however he was also a charismatic public speaker, Russell was widely regarded throughout the South as one of the foremost authorities on the world of sports. Noted for his humor and occasional practical jokes, he was a classic storyteller who could hold any size audience captive.
Russell had a positive and optimistic writing style, always focused on the good side of the story, person and group. He was respected as a gentleman, always promoting and recognizing the dignity of all people. According to one longtime colleague, Joe Biddle, who Russell hired and mentored, he had the uncanny ability of making others feel more important than himself.
Russell was one of the primary journalists who covered the Tennessee State University Tigerbelles track team in their amazing success in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Russell and TSU coach Ed Temple remained friends throughout their lives. Wilma Rudolph, who is originally from the town of Clarksville near Nashville, was one of the heroes of the 1960 Olympics.
Read more about this topic: Fred Russell
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“It behooves every man to see that his influence is on the side of justice, and let the courts make their own characters.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent, yet into which we can clearly see but a little way. But in this water there are countless objects at different depths; and certain influences will give certain kinds of those objects an upward influence which may be intense enough and continue long enough to bring them into the upper visible layer. After the impulse ceases they commence to sink downwards.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Women stand related to beautiful nature around us, and the enamoured youth mixes their form with moon and stars, with woods and waters, and the pomp of summer. They heal us of awkwardness by their words and looks. We observe their intellectual influence on the most serious student. They refine and clear his mind: teach him to put a pleasing method into what is dry and difficult.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)