John Russell
John
Russell

Born
02 April 1885
Date of passing
08 August 2022 (Age 137)
Birthplace
Edinburgh, SCO
Where they grew up
Edinburgh, Scotland

Bio

John Russell

John Russell... he was 20 years old when he moved to Vancouver in 1905... married to wife Margaret McKerrell (they had one son Ian Russell in 1924)… he was 78 years old when he passed away in Vancouver, BC on 21 June 1963... worked at the Vancouver Daily Province newspaper... he was presented with a gold watch from the Dominion of Canada Football Association after their 1927 annual meeting...

served as the eighth President of the Dominion of Canada Football Association (1926-31)... honoured as a Canada Soccer Life Member... posthumously honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame.. honoured as a BC Soccer Life Member... posthumously honoured by the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...

wrote Roy Jukich in 1958, Russell was “a tireless worker in local and Canadian soccer circles for 50 years”... said Russell in 1958 upon his retirement from BC Soccer at age 73, “this is one of the saddest days in my life, but youth must be served; I’ll be around to help in any small way I can. You just can’t quit something that’s been part of your life”... said Frank Bain in 1958, “John’s shoes are going to be awfully hard to fill. He devoted most of his life to Canadian soccer and was a tireless worker”... as noted by George Anderson in Canada Soccer’s 1965 minutes and reports, Mr. Russell was “an encyclopedia of information on soccer matters and had a wonderful retentive memory”...

For Sport

served as eighth President of Canada Soccer (1926-27 to 1930-31), then known as the Dominion of Canada Football Association... served as a Canada Soccer Council Member (1921-22 for British Columbia; 1922-23 to 1925-26 as a Canada Soccer Vice-President)... succeeded as acting president of the DCFA after John Easton’s resignation in 1925; was then elected president at the next DCFA annual meetings in September 1926... served as the fifth secretary of the Canadian Soccer Association (1946), then known as the Dominion of Canada Football Association...

served as Secretary of Vancouver Athletic Club... served as a member of the Vancouver and District Referees Association... served as president of the British Columbia Football Association (1920), at the time not a member of the Dominion of Canada Football Association...

served as President of BC Soccer... served on the BC Soccer Commission (from 1933 to 1958)...

Individual Honours