Russell Cross (born September 5, 1961) is an American former professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player who was selected by the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
's
Golden State Warriors in the first round (6th pick overall) of the
1983 NBA draft.
College career
Russell Cross attended and played basketball at
Manley High School, located on the
West Side of Chicago. He led Manley to an Illinois state title; he was selected to the
McDonald's All-American
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...
team and was also a first-team
''Parade'' All-American; he was also the ''Parade'' Player of the Year. The 6'10" center moved on to attend
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...
, where he played his freshman season under first year head coach,
Gene Keady
Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American basketball coach. He is best known for his 25 years serving as the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana. In his tenure leading the Boilermakers from 1980 to 2005, he went ...
. In his first season as a
Boilermaker
A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US De ...
, he set a freshman record with 540 points on the season and led Purdue to an
NIT third-place finish and to a 21–11 record. In his sophomore season, Cross helped lead them to the
NIT Finals with All-
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
teammate,
Keith Edmonson. In his junior season, he led Purdue to a 21–9 record and onto a
Second Round NCAA Tournament appearance. Russell was named ''First Team All-Big Ten'' his junior year.
Professional career
Russell Cross skipped his senior year at Purdue to enter the 1983 NBA draft, where he was selected as the 6th pick in the first round by the
Golden State Warriors. Cross played in only one NBA season, averaging 3.7 points in 45 games for the Warriors in the
1983-84 NBA season. Cross then signed a contract with the
Denver Nuggets, he did not appear in a game and was waived late in the 1984–85 season. He spent the remainder of the 1984–85 season and the 1985–86 season with the
Louisville Catbirds and then moved to Europe, where he spent the next seven seasons in the Italian and Spanish Leagues.
References
External links
Career statistics
1961 births
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Italy
American expatriate basketball people in Spain
American men's basketball players
Basket Napoli players
Basketball players from Chicago
CB Breogán players
Centers (basketball)
Golden State Warriors draft picks
Golden State Warriors players
La Crosse Catbirds players
Liga ACB players
Louisville Catbirds players
McDonald's High School All-Americans
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players
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