Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1988
There was no mistaking Larry Russell, the quarterback on the Wake Forest football teams of 1969, 1970 and 1971. Here's how he once described himself: "A cocky player is one who thinks he's good and thinks he can do the job. A confident player is one who knows he's good and who knows he can do the job. I'm confident."
That was Russell - a spirited team leader who guided the Deacons and their deceptive veer offense to numerous rushing records and the ACC title in his junior season, 1970.
Russell was a magician at directing Cal Stoll's veer attack, which relied so much on the ball-handling trickery and aggressive running at the quarterback position. Despite throwing for fewer than a thousand yards total in 1970 and 1971, he was named the All-ACC first-team QB in both years.
His name still appears frequently throughout the Deacon record book for his rushing exploits and nose for the end zone. He is 10th on the WFU career list with 1,923 yards on the ground, and 7th all-time in scoring with 180 points. The 94 points (and 15 TDs) he collected as a senior are only bested by Brian Piccolo's 1964 All-America totals and Sam Swank's 2006 season.
