Legends of the Precipitous Fall: Russell Cross

You might have forgotten about him, but Russell Cross was a beast who could terrorize Big Ten opposition during his hoops playing career at Purdue.

The Chicago native arrived in West Lafayette the same year as Gene Keady, 1980, and the 6-10, 242-pound center would help the Boilermakers to a couple of NIT appearances and an NCAA berth in his three years on campus.

Perhaps no game exemplified his play better than a tilt against Wisconsin during his junior season.  In the matchup against Badger 7-footer Brad Sellers, Cross dunked 12 times en route to 31 points.  He also collected 12 rebounds and five blocked shots in the 80-64 win.

Granted, Sellers (who would later transfer to Ohio State) was as soft a big man as I’d ever seen, but at least he parlayed his jump shot into an NBA career that lasted six seasons.  Cross didn’t come anywhere near matching that kind of tenure.

Russell C's who've had varying degrees of success

After a 1982-83 campaign that saw him average 17.7 points and garner First Team All-Big Team status, Cross made himself eligible for the NBA Draft.

If you’ll recall, the 1983 draft wasn’t exactly brimming with future Hall of Famers.  Amazingly, Clyde the Glide lasted until the 14th pick, with luminaries like Darrell Walker and Ennis Whatley getting taken right before him.

Golden State was the team sitting on the sixth pick that year.  The franchise hadn’t seen playoff action since 1976-77 and was in the market for a center to help turn things around.

With Ralph Sampson and Steve Stipanovich having already been taken, the Warriors surveyed a bleak landscape at the position that included walking stiffs like BYU’s Greg Kite and Minnesota’s Randy Breuer.

Unbeknownst to them at the time, the Warriors got the biggest stiff of all when they selected Cross.  He averaged 3.7 points and 1.8 rebounds his rookie season and was out of basketball after that.

Hell, at least Breuer and Kite each spent more than a decade in the Association.  Cross was out of the NBA after ONE YEAR.

I can’t find anything detailing what’s become of him since his the mid-80’s.  Who knows, maybe he’s selling cars with Alfredrick the Great.

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