Felice Angelo "Felix" Russo (10 June 1926 – 15 February 2005) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). He had a son, father-in-law, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren who have all played VFL/AFL football.

Biography

Football

Educated at De La Salle College, Russo captained his school to a premiership in 1944. He was recruited to locally from Elwood. As well as playing for Elwood CYMS he also played some of his early football for Footscray Technical School Old Boys. Russo, who worked as a physical education instructor, debuted for St Kilda at the age of 23 in the

1950 VFL season The 1950 VFL season was the 54th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 22 April until 23 September, and comprised an ...

. Used as a wingman, he played eight games in his first season of VFL football. In the 1951 season he made six appearances for St Kilda. Following his two seasons at St Kilda, Russo played with

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA) club

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

. He won the club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award in the 1953 VFA season. Under the coaching of

Tommy Lahiff Thomas 'Tommy' 'Turk' Lahiff (31 July 1910 – 8 December 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon, South Melbourne and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football A ...

, Russo captained Sandringham in 1954.

Personal life

Russo is of Italian descent. His father was born in Italy, as were his maternal grandparents. He is related to many past and present league footballers. His son,

Peter Russo Peter Russo (born 29 October 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1980s. After a 1988 season where he played only eight senior games, Russo, alongside Paul ...

, was a member of two Hawthorn premiership teams and also played for St Kilda. One of his daughters, Bernadette, married Hawthorn player John Kennedy, Jr, who is the son of legendary Hawthorn coach John Kennedy Sr. John and Bernadette had a son, Josh Kennedy, who plays for the Sydney Swans. Another daughter, Jenny, also married a footballer, Richmond and South Melbourne defender Ray Ball. Two of Ray's sons,

Luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

and

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

, played in the AFL.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Felix 1926 births 2005 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) St Kilda Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players Australian people of Italian descent