September 16, 2009 Mary-Kate Roan

mkroan@connectstatesboro.com

    It doesn't seem like it's been three years since the world lost one of its best motivators. But that's how long it's been since Erk Russell died.
    Snooky's on Saturdays stopped being the same for me after Sept. 8, 2006. He was 80-years-old, but his legend will live forever.
    He was like Statesboro's Babe Ruth or the Hercules of Georgia Southern. He inspired his players, motivating a group of "rag-tag" Eagles to play like All-Americans.
    Not one of his players regretted playing for him.
    Nowadays, drugs and steroids threaten the purity of all sports, but Russell was ahead of his time on dealing with it.
    When one of his players died from a drug overdose, Russell gave a speech about drugs and addiction to his players. It wasn't just the speech that players remembered, but the way Russell got the memory to stick.
    He threw a rattle snake on the ground of the team meeting. When the players scattered, he reportedly said, "You see how you ran from that snake? If anyone ever brings that white stuff (cocaine) into a room you run from it just like you ran from that snake."
    He was known for smoking cigars after every Eagle victory.
    He addressed the Eagles the night before his untimely death from a stroke while pulling out of a gas station in Statesboro.
    Erk's last game as the Georgia Southern head coach would be after a National Championship win and a perfect 15-0 record. The standing ovation for him lasted nearly 30 minutes. That's when his famous speech took place.

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