CHICAGO - When we put aside our toys from this life, there is one box in our life summary in need of a checkmark. “Did I make a difference? If so, check here.”
Russ Anderson checked that box over and over again throughout his amazingly productive life. Russ understood the true meaning of service to others, and his deep understanding framed his life and everything he did.
In an age where sports information services are more and more generic, Russ Anderson understood that, at its core, his profession is a “people business.” The good ones know that...the others feed the machine (social media and the Internet).
Russ worked hard, and he found great joy in the work itself. And through his work he discovered the great satisfaction of knowing the difference he made in the lives of others. He never sought praise for this. He just knew, and was happy in the knowledge.
He stood up from his desk, when I first met him over twenty-five years ago. It was in the Jeweler’s Building, that great art deco masterpiece adorning the banks of the Chicago River at State Street. In that building was the original headquarters of Conference-USA. Mike Slive was the conference’s first commissioner.
I had come to have lunch with Rex Lardner, a great friend and Associate Commissioner specializing in the media. Rex introduced me to Assistant Commissioner Brian Teter, and also to the richly-talented Erika Hirschfield.
And then there was Russ...the youngest of the group, working in Sports Information. Boy, was he excited to be there! We went to lunch together and talked about our favorite teams, as well as “shop.” We shared many wonderful times together this way.
When the conference moved to Dallas, a number of conference employees chose not to go. But Russ did go and remained in service to the conference and its member schools. The conference began to change, but the quality of workmanship in sports information remained constant.
One day I received a call from Russ. C-USA had been posting a short daily audio sports report on its web site, called the Conference USA Daily Update. The person who had produced and anchored the piece was stepping away. Would I take it over and finish the year? I did.
At the end of the year I proposed that this report be repackaged as a daily over-the-air sportscast, for distribution to radio stations throughout the conference footprint. Russ loved the idea and personally walked it through the approval process.
And thus was born Today in Conference USA! At its peak, the program was carried by 46 radio stations within the conference footprint and was available through the C-USA web site. It ran for 1,360 episodes and remains the longest-running daily Division I conference sportscast in American broadcast history. Russ Anderson did that.
Russ and Courtney Morrison-Archer had another idea...how about a longer-form weekly show on C-USA football and basketball? This 15-minute weekly program was also offered in syndication, and a number of stations found it appealing and carried it. Russ did that.
It was during one such recording session that Russ earned the nickname many of us associated with him. It just blurted out, really...one of those off-the-cuff moments of true wisdom. I called him the Impresario of Information.
It stuck! Russ was regularly introduced that way on C-USA’s syndicated radio programs. And it wasn’t too long before he’d be visiting the school press boxes, only to hear someone yell out...Hey, Impresario!
Russ accepted the nickname graciously and never commented about it publicly. But he did admit to me in a quiet phone call that he really liked the nickname and had grown to have a sense of pride about it. That, of course, was strictly between us.
The term impresario comes from the world of opera and stage. An impresario is that one person of spirit and will who organizes and backs the undertaking...the driving force behind it. In the truest sense, Russ was an Impresario to Conference-USA. Another box checked. Russ did that.
Russ made me a better broadcaster, too. The information he prepared for my broadcasts made me look very smart! And it was always accurate. Russ had a wealth of ideas, too. Many of them I utilized on various radio and television broadcasts, always to my betterment. Russ did that.
Russ was an advocate for college baseball and was actively involved in the National College Baseball Writers Association. Russ reached out to me with an idea about how to get more publicity for the sport. What came out of that conversation was a weekly hour-long program, called This Week in College Baseball. Russ helped get some seed money to get it started.
Radio stations were enthusiastic about the program, and another syndicated radio network was born. But as the season went along, stations asked if we would consider expanding the program to cover college sports each week throughout the year. Today, the program is known as College Sports Weekly, which just celebrated its 400th episode. College baseball is now covered within this program. Another box checked. Russ did that.
Russ had a great many contacts and friends. Through one of them he learned that I had suffered a recent carjacking of my vehicle, and that I had been beaten up and left lying on a dark street in Maywood.
Russ reached out to me, and in doing so he showed all that he knew about me. He didn’t call during the daytime. He knew that the best time to reach me was late at night, due to the work and deadlines of broadcasting. Russ knew that I did much of my creative work during the quiet hours, when I could focus my efforts without distraction.
Did Russ call by phone? No. He knew better than that, too. He called me through Skype, knowing that I would answer. It was then, in the quiet time, that Russ and I shared our last conversation. Russ was concerned and wanted to know I was alright. He wanted to be there for me in his own quiet way. Russ did that.
Russ Anderson was the Impresario, now fully revealed with every box checked. He understood media attention, but he never sought it. His joy and achievement came in contributing to the success of others. At all times, Russ Anderson was a credit to his profession, his family, his co-workers and his many friends.
I am just one of thousands of people whose lives intersected with Russ Anderson. How lucky I was! What a difference Russ made in my life!
Multiply what you have read here many times over, and then take another look at that box next to the question, Did I make a difference? If so, check here.
Now you know why that box is checked. But not just that. You know why it is checked firmly and with great pride!
Yes! Russ Anderson made a difference.
-30-