The Key to Defense

To begin with there was the alumni link. When Coach Bob Blackman first brought football recruiting to Hanover in the early '50s he enlisted the help of a vast circuit of alumni.

The old grads not only found football players but, more important, football players who were qualified for admission to Dartmouth.

Good football fortune has also resulted from parental legacy. For instance, 1986 cocaptain Dave Gabianelli is one of several members of the team to follow in their fathers' footsteps. Eugene Gabianelli '53 played end for the Big Green.

But the latest boon to the football program is one that may be too obscure to be enduring. The Super Bowl connection is not a usual recruiting tool, but it worked fine with Andy Russell.

Russell '88 is the only returning starter in the defensive backfield this year, and on a team where defense could mean everything, Russell is the key man this season.

He won his starting spot at safety midway through last season, but he probably wouldn't be at Dartmouth at all if not for one of his father's buddies-Senator Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), a former NFL quarterback.

"I had been at a pre-Super Bowl party with Jack," said Andy Russell Sr., who played safety for 14 years for the Pittsburgh Steelers, including Super bowl championships in 1975 and 1976, "and there I met his son Jeff (Dartmouth '81 and currently a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers). I mentioned that my son was getting ready to look at schools.

"Jeff just raved about Dartmouth-to such an extent that I thought this might be a good place for Andy. He was so extraordinarily enthusiastic.

"I knew something about the place. I had been recruited there in 1959 and I had considered going. I remember seeing a movie about the campus at an alumni party in St. Louis. I ended up going to Missouri, but one of my friends went to Dartmouth."

The übiquitous alumni were on the other side of the bargain, also. While at Fox Chapel High School in Pittsburgh, young Russell had attracted some attention with his football skills, despite being injured for most of his senior year.

One of those paying attention was Fred Babcock '36.

"We had recruited a couple of players from that area," recalled Coach Joe Yukica, "and we had an alumnus down there (Babcock) who was a big help to the program.

"I had received a call from Jack Kemp before - he had called to recommend young Andy, so I asked John Curtis (freshman coach) to go down and take a good look. We had also heard about Ish McLaughlin ('88, defensive tackle) so I wanted him to look at both.

"I knew Andy came from a football family, but that doesn't always mean that the player will follow in his father's footsteps -and his father was an outstanding football player but I knew football was a topic of conversation in their home for years. It helps.

"The other factor was that Fred was able to recommend Andy on his scholastic ability and willing to sponsor a trip here for both kids."

Russell was impressed by what he saw when he visited the campus, but he was still considering Miami of Ohio and the University of North Carolina. Barely.

"Once I was accepted at Dartmouth," said Russell, "I was sure I was coming here. The people here-well, it's academically tough, but the attitude here is so good. It's not like Harvard or Cornell where people get stressed out or snobbish about being in the Ivy League. A lot of times up here, you forget it's an Ivy League school. It's the people that sold me on the place."

Playing college football turned out to be a much more difficult endeavor than getting into Dartmouth. Russell had had a good junior year in high school, but his senior season was a disaster.

It started with a broken thumb that kept him on the sidelines for four weeks. When the thumb had finally healed, Russell played one game and promptly broke his collarbone.

Some of the big name schools that had been interested suddenly weren't.

"I always made an effort not to pressure him into playing," said Andy Russell Sr. "I think it's a terrific game and I enjoyed it a lot. It was a terrific experience for me and I was pleased that he liked the game.

"He did well in the lower levels, but in high school he kept getting hurt and that held back his real talent. When I asked him about college ball, I thought he might figure he was injury-prone and drop it. But he said he wanted to try. I admired his courage."

Courage was only part of the requirement, however. As a freshman, Russell wasn't entirely impressive, although he did end up starting. His size, 6-0, 175 pounds, didn't help either.

"As a freshman, he didn't fit into our plans as far as helping as a sophomore," said defensive backfield coach Don Brown. "But in his sophomore preseason it was apparent that something had changed. He had to make a tremendous mental transition we have some very complex defensive schemes and he had problems with that early.

"But on the field he was flying around. He had developed much more quickness over the summer. When the ball is in the air you see him just flying around. Everyone is moving at one pace and he's at another level."

Russell didn't play much in the first four games of the 1985 season, but starting safety Scott Rusert '87, developed a severe charley horse in the Harvard game and Russell had his chance.

In his first start, against Cornell the next week, Russell helped the Big Green to its first win of the season. But it was the Yale game that secured his reputation and his spot in the lineup.

Russell recovered a fumble and made ten tackles in the game. And with 19 seconds left, he made the biggest play of the day and perhaps of the season.

With the score tied at 17, Yale had the ball on the Dartmouth 21. Instead of trying a running play to set up a field goal, the Eli attempted one more pass. It was tipped by linebacker Peter Kortebein '86, and Russell made a diving interception at the five-yard line to preserve the tie.

"I feel that now Andy is as fine a safety man as we've ever had in the program," said Yukica, "at least as long as I've been here. He's tough, he's quick, and he has a good mind for the game. He can make the game-saving plays as he did against Yale."

"He's the guy," added Brown. "He's the guy this year. He controls center field and he works hard and he's the guy we'll key our defense around. He's a credit to the program and to Dartmouth and to his father."

Russell is a psychology major interested in pursuing business as a career, although he wouldn't mind postponing it for a while.

"If I ever did get the opportunity to play in the NFL," said Russell, "I'd at least give it a try. But there isn't much room there for a guy as small as I am. I look forward to a business career and I'm just having fun playing football now."

Russell may have grown up with the game, but he never treated it any differently than his friends. In fact, Russell never even got to see the two Super Bowls his father played in.

Russell may not have had much time to be a football fan, but his father has. Last year he was able to get to the Princeton game in Hanover and the Penn and Columbia games on the road.

"This year I hope to come to a lot more," said Andy Russell, Sr. "I'm a much bigger Dartmouth fan than a Steelers fan right now."

Andy Russell '88, defensive back fromPittsburgh, will have a lot of the defensiveload on his shoulders this season.

1986 Dartmouth Coaching Staff: from left, John Curtis, freshman coach; Neil Putnam,offensive line; Frank Hershey, offensive backfield; Head Coach Joe Yukica; Glenn Pires,defensive line; Don Brown, defensive backfield; David Murray, linebackers.

The play that saved the tie with Yale last season. The Elis, on Dartmouth's 21 with 19seconds'to play, chose to pass before trying a field goal, but Peter Kortebein (93) tipped theball and Andy Russell (38) charged up and intercepted it.