Hammond girls basketball coach Joe Russo, whose teams played in a record-tying five straight Class 2A state championships and won three of them, has resigned after 12 seasons.
The Golden Bears were state finalists from the 1991-92 through 1995-96 seasons, and captured crowns in 1992, 1994, and 1995. They also were county champions in 1994 and 1995.
"I just felt like it was time for me to stop," said Russo, a fiercely competitive coach who, in years past, would bite down on a towel to lessen his bark at the referees. "I told the girls [Friday] and it was pretty sad."
Russo, a media specialist who will start his 23rd season in the fall coaching varsity football, said his fondest memory in basketball came in the 1991-92 season.
His Golden Bears -- using two freshmen, two sophomores and one junior, upset Mount Hebron in the regional final, then went on to beat Glenelg for their first state title.
"Beating Mount Hebron was the biggest thrill, and winning that first state championship was next," Russo said.
"The third one," Russo said, "was beating Western [in 1994] at the Baltimore [Arena]. It was the Fuel Fund game and it was a packed house. Western was the No. 1 team and we were No. 2 and Kellye Townsend won it for us at the buzzer."
The 1993-94 team finished 26-1 and was ranked No. 1 in the Baltimore/Washington area and 23rd in the country by USA Today. The Golden Bears had six Division I players on that team -- Kacy Williams, Sonia Keiner, Tameka Harrison, Tiki Nicholson, Townsend and Rene Hines.
Russo's overall record was 181-119, but during the five-year span that his team reached the state finals he was 109-17. This year's team, which was very young, was 8-14.
Russo said "you have to have good people helping you to be successful" and that assistants Al Moraz (now the boys varsity coach at Long Reach) and Chuck Spalding (now coaching the Long Reach JV girls) had a lot to do with the program's many achievements.
"We became lifelong friends," Russo said of his relationships with Moraz and Spalding.
Russo said "the administration always was supportive of me and my program" and thanked the "loyal parents who did all the things that made our program better."
And, of course, there were his players.
"The best thing a parent has said to me was. 'Thank you for touching my child's life,' " said Russo, who is running for president of the Howard County Educational Association. "I've had a lot of wonderful kids and that makes it worthwhile being a coach. They hug you, say they love you. Nothing can top that."
Pub Date: 3/07/99