The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/432566
BY JOHN BORTON C ampy Russell knew it was time to go, when he left Michigan be- fore his senior season. Twenty-eight years later, he knew it was time to return. The high-scoring Michigan for- ward, who averaged 23.7 points a game as a junior on coach Johnny Orr's Big Ten champions of 1973-74, left with some unfinished business. It wasn't winning a national cham- pionship, although Russell and his teammates still trade what-ifs about that scenario. Russell's return, after he spent bet- ter than a decade in the NBA and years working for Bing Steel, in- volved keeping a promise and earn- ing a piece of parchment. He'd vowed to his mother, decades before it happened, that he'd finish his Michigan degree. He's always preached education to his five chil- dren, despite cutting his stay short in Ann Arbor to pursue every basket- ball player's dream. So at 48 years of age, Russell hit the books. "There was the promise I made my mom," he reflected, on a recent trip back to Crisler Center. "Secondly, I wanted to show my kids that it's never over until you say it's over. "For me to go back and finish my degree at the University of Michigan, at 48, and to sit in a classroom with 17- and 18-year-old kids … I really WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Campy Russell Finds The Best Finish At Michigan Russell averaged 21.2 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in his two years at U-M, and helped the Wolverines win the Big Ten championship and advance to the Elite Eight in 1974. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS