Stebbell Russell "Russ" Saunders (January 1, 1906 - April 29, 1987) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

fullback in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played with the Green Bay Packers during the

1931 NFL season The 1931 NFL season was the 12th regular season of the National Football League. The league decreased to 10 teams due to financial hardships caused by the Great Depression: while the Cleveland Indians joined as an expansion team, and the lea ...

. He was an All-American at USC and was one of the models for the Tommy Trojan statue. He was

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

in the

1930 Rose Bowl The 1930 Rose Bowl was the 16th Rose Bowl game, an American post-season college football game that was played on New Year's Day 1930 in Pasadena, California. It featured the Pittsburgh Panthers against the USC Trojans.Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

. After playing football, Saunders went on to a career in Hollywood. He was one of 11 All-American football players to appear in the 1930 film '' Maybe It's Love''. In 1938 he was nominated for an Oscar for best Assistant Director for '' The Life of Emile Zola''. He was assistant or Second Unit director on more than 85 films including '' PT 109'', ''

Hatari! ''Hatari!'' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, G ...

'', '' Arsenic and Old Lace'', '' High Sierra'' and production manager for ''

Stripes Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to: Decorations *Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface *Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration *Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military Entertainment ...

'', '' The Amityville Horror'' and '' Bonnie and Clyde'' among others. His first screen appearance was in the 1927 movie ''

The Drop Kick ''The Drop Kick'' (also known as ''Glitter'' in the UK) is a 1927 silent film directed by Millard Webb written by Katherine Brush about a college football player (Richard Barthelmess). It was one of the early films of John Wayne who was only a ...

'' in which the 1927 USC team appeared. In that film, Saunders appeared along with John Wayne—a teammate from the USC team—and worked on many of Wayne's movies over the following decades.

References

1906 births 1987 deaths American directors American football fullbacks Green Bay Packers players USC Trojans football players People from Ardmore, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma Male actors from Oklahoma {{runningback-1900s-stub