Mr. Kurt Russell, More Than Just a History Teacher

SPORTS

April 29, 2022 Established 1874

Mr. Kurt Russell, More Than Just a History Teacher

Kurt Russell smiles in front of Oberlin High School’s Phoenix backdrop. Courtesy of Cleveland.com

John Elrod

Contributing Sports Editor

As a sports writer, it is not surprising that I have a love for sports and stories. Much of this love was cultivated at Oberlin High School in 2022 National Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell’s classroom. All throughout the past week, his work as a history teacher has been deservedly praised. I took Russell’s classes in all but one semester during my four years at OHS, and I learned so much along the way. It was also Russell’s support of sports that helped me grow as a student and into the person I am today.

Russell is certainly known as a big part of the local sports community as the longtime coach of OHS boys’ basketball team. His team is often known for being some of the few successful athletic teams at the school, and he won Lorain County Coach of the Year twice in the last three years. When I’ve talked to him about his role as a coach in the past, including an article I wrote for the Review in March, he has always emphasized how important basketball can be as an opportunity to teach students things they cannot learn in the classroom.

There is no doubt he makes a huge impact on the boys he coaches. I didn’t play basketball, so it was the other ways in which Russell emphasized sports that stuck with me. Not only did he discuss professional and collegiate sports in class, but he also made an effort to attend my soccer games and rehash them with me the next day.

Although I have a lot of good things to say about Russell, I need to point out that he has the most questionable combinations of favorite sports teams I have ever heard of. He cheers for the University of Alabama’s football team, the Dallas Cowboys, the Oklahoma City Thunder (at least when Russell Westbrook played for them), and for some reason, the Baltimore Orioles. My friends and I all supported the local Ohio teams and we had to constantly defend them from Russell’s trash talk. We responded by hounding him about any losses the Cowboys and Alabama suffered. He did not hear the end of it when Alabama lost by 28 points to Clemson University in the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship.

Interactions like this in a classroom weren’t distractions. I felt that the breaking of social barriers between student and teacher in his classroom lessened my own participation anxiety, which led to positive academic outcomes. Hearing him give credit to the Cleveland Browns for a rare win in the moments before class began gave me a better attitude about learning about the Treaty of Versailles. The power of sports is that it creates something that people of all ages and backgrounds can talk about and it knocks down any disconnects.

It wasn’t just making small talk about professional and collegiate sports that made an impact on me. I was also impressed with Russell’s effort to support Oberlin High School’s sports teams from a financial standpoint, often volunteering at the concession stand at football games. For most of us, seeing Russell serving pretzels and nachos on Friday nights was the only time we saw him wearing something other than a suit and tie. It set a good example for me to see someone put in the time after a long school week to give back to the school’s sports programs.

In addition to volunteering, Russell took it upon himself to be a spectator at his students’ sports games. He would also stay up to date on what happened in everyone’s games, and during class the next day he would talk to them about upcoming games. I actually think he would make a damn good sports journalist.

One day, when I was a freshman, and it was a few hours before I was about to play in my first playoff game, he could tell I was zoning out during class. Instead of embarrassing me or asking for my attention in front of the class, he just talked to me afterward. He wasn’t mad at all and wanted to make sure my lack of focus was about the big game instead of a bigger issue.

Seeing teachers have that attitude about sports affirmed to me that sports are something worth caring about. It’s something I think about now as I’m writing for the sports section of the Review and also when I think about what I want to do with the rest of my life as I pursue journalism.

Volume 151, Number 19

Spring Athletes Remain Flexible in Face of COVID-19

Zoë Martin del Campo

Contributing Sports Editor

Illustration by Clair Wang

The College reinstated the indoor mask mandate last week in response to increased COVID-19 cases on campus. While this has not been the first COVID-19 wave to hit the College community, the jump in cases has presented unique challenges for spring teams that have had to navigate smaller rosters and canceled games.

College second-year on the lacrosse and soccer teams Maya Blevins explained that team activities had to be adjusted in accordance with ObieSafe regulations. Specifically, the women’s lacrosse team had to forfeit a game this past week due to an abnormally low number of field players, as some players were in isolation for COVID-19 exposure and others had injuries.

“We had to cancel a game this past Saturday against DePauw,” Blevins wrote in an email to the Review. “We also had to miss two days of practice and made lift optional. Usually, we do film all together in the gym classroom, but instead, we were sent times to watch individually. Of course it has been very disappointing to lose time to be together, especially so close to the end of our season, but fortunately, the majority of our season was unaffected by COVID-19.”

Fourth-year lacrosse player Kiernan Stone believes that his team hasn’t been extremely affected by the rise in COVID-19 cases on campus, though a couple players on the roster tested positive.

“COVID’s affected our season a little bit this semester, but we’ve been pretty lucky so far,” he said. “We’ve only had a couple cases recently, so we missed a couple guys here and there, but we’ve been fortunate enough to not have widespread numbers throughout our team.”

In December 2021, when cases were rising on campus due to the Omicron variant, the team was worried that they wouldn’t be able to start their preseason practices. Fortunately, by the time the squad returned to campus in January, the numbers had dissipated.

In response to the rise in cases, Oberlin Athletics will continue to uphold the ObieSafe regulations implemented April 21, keeping athletic facilities open with social distancing. The mask requirements from earlier this year were put back in place, with student-athletes required to wear masks during indoor meetings and in the weight room. However, student-athletes are still exempt from wearing masks during practice and competition.

Delta Lodge Director of Athletics & Physical Education Natalie Winkelfoos added that Oberlin Athletics will not be adding additional testing and will try to reschedule games that are canceled as a result of