Russ Bruce - Class of 2006

(Sault Ste. Marie)

A three-year letterman in football and track at Cornell, Ia.  College, Russ Bruce earned Midwest Conference all-star honors as a linebacker and was co-captain of the 1952 football team.  In track he set the Cornell high jump record of 5-feet-11 3/4 inches.  He was head football coach at Iron Mountain High School (1958-61) and was U.P.  Class B football coach of the year in 1959.  Iron Mountain won conference championships in 1959-61.  Bruce earned a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin and taught physical education at Eastern Michigan University (1964-67) and at Northern Michigan University (1967-76).  He was head of the physical education department at Lake Superior State University (1976-87).  Bruce founded the Northwoods Orienteering Club at LSSU in 1976, and the LSSU team won the United States Federation (USOF) Intercollegiate Championship in 1977.  An active participant and organizer of orienteering, Bruce was a USOF board member for nine years and received the coveted USOF Silva Award in 1987.  He was a member of the organizing committee for the 1993 World Orienteering Championships in New York state.