Michele Lo Russo, also referred to as Michele Lorusso, (1 February 1947 – 2 December 1983) was an Italian
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who played as a
defender. He played 418 matches for
Lecce
Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...
between 1970 and 1983, the most of any player in the history of the club.
Lo Russo began his career at
Bernalda, before joining
Venosa two years later. After two years there, he joined Lecce, where he broke the club's all-time appearance record, which still stands today.
His career was cut short due to his untimely death in 1983 aged only 36. He died along with his team-mate
Ciro Pezzella in a car accident whilst travelling to an away match against
Varese. Lo Russo and Pezzella were driving to catch a train from
Bari
Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...
, as they had a fear of flying.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lo Russo, Michele
1947 births
1983 deaths
Italian footballers
Association football defenders
U.S. Lecce players
Road incident deaths in Italy