“Up until the very end of his life, Russ could remember the most amazing stories. He had clear memories of the day the president
was shot–not John F. Kennedy, but President William McKinley in 1901. I loved to hear about how Babe Ruth let him keep one
of the two hot dogs he held while the Yankees slugger fulfilled Coffey’s request for an autograph. He was a track starter
for Big 10 meets in 1934 when Jesse Owens was breaking records and Russ started for Owens. Russ had such a way about him;
people really connected with him. He traveled all around and always came back with stories about all the interesting people
he met. One of the best parts of Rotary was having regular dinner meetings with Russ; he was the oldest living Rotarian with
continuous service since 1954. He had 100 percent attendance for years and was still driving to meetings when he was 103,
parlaying his great personal warmth to generate support for innumerable community causes.”
–Ron Stoner, BGSU Professor Emeritus of physics and astronomy and current Bowling Green Rotary Club president
