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(Newspaper clipping courtesy of Minard Coons)

The above faded newspaper article mentions that the Downie Brothers Circus will be performing on Monday, May 31. A calendar check shows that this article references a performance on Monday, May 31, 1937. The next Monday on a May 31 occurred in 1943.



The 9 Reb Russell / Willis Kent epics of the range are:

THE MAN FROM HELL (Kent, 1934)
FIGHTING THROUGH (Kent, 1934)
OUTLAW RULE (Kent, 1934)
RANGE WARFARE (Kent, 1935)
ARIZONA BAD MAN (Kent, 1935)
BLAZING GUNS (Kent, 1935)
BORDER VENGEANCE (Kent, 1935)
CHEYENNE TORNADO (Kent, 1935)
LIGHTNING TRIGGERS (Kent, 1935)



Wasn't Reb Russell a wrestler? Nope!
Wasn't Reb Russell a baseball player? Nope!

The Wrestling Classic website includes a number of mentions of Reb Russell. An article reprinted from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper of September 16, 1936 notes that "Vic Christy, handsome heavyweight, tamed "Bad Man" Reb Russell, former Northwestern fullback star, in the semi final. The match was a wild affair with Russell living up to every letter of his nickname. He did everything to Christy but hit him with the corner stool. The villain took the first fall in the fourth but Christy pinned him in the fifth to even the score. In the seventh, Christy lost all patience with his opponent and landed a flock of haymakers on Russell's jaw, scoring a knockout to win the match. This free for all affair had the fans shrieking hoarsely throughout.": http://www.wrestlingclassics.com/wawli/Nos.031-040.html

That wasn't our Hollywood cowboy Reb Russell. It was Bob "The Rebel" Russell who was known as "The Newport Terror" and he wrestled from the 1930s - 1950s:
https://classicwrestlingarticles.wordpress.com/?s=bob+russell
https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Bob_Russell

And don't confuse our western movie hero Reb Russell with Ewell Albert "Reb" Russell (1889 - 1973), who was a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and later, played outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/russere01.shtml



Reb Russell Links

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on:

Reb Russell: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0751402/
Sol Lesser: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504344/
S. Roy Luby: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0523994/
Willis Kent: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0448883/

Death and funeral notice for Reb Russell in the March 17, 1978 Wichita, Kansas Eagle newspaper: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98542656/the-wichita-eagle/

The Kansas State Historical Society collections include Reb Russell movie photos, circus photos, and a leather jacket given to Reb by Tom Mix: https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/214527
https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/223876

The Walter Camp Football Foundation has Russell on their All-American team for 1930. On this webpage, check the year 1930: https://waltercamp.org/walter-camp-all-america-team-by-year-copy/

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has the official records of college football All-Americans, and that information has been published in Football's Finest (NCAA, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2002). The book includes First Team All-Americans through year 2000 and there are about 2900 names on the list. In the listing for First Team All-Americans, you'll find Fayette Russell, Northwestern, fullback, 1930. An Adobe Acrobat pdf file listing the First Team All-Americans from the book is available at the following link. Russell is on page 164 under Northwestern and 1930: http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/football_records/2001football_finest.pdf

Northwestern University has a page on their football All-American Reb Russell: https://nusports.com/sports/2015/3/18/GEN_20140101264.aspx

During Reb's 1930 and 1931 seasons, the Northwestern teams were 7-1-0 (1930) and 7-1-1 (1931), they were co-Big Ten champions for both years, and total points scored for the two seasons was 320 (vs. a total of 76 for their opposition). Their wins, losses, game scores and "power rating" are listed at James Howell's football statistics website:
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Northwestern.htm
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1930.htm
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1931.htm

Reb played (briefly) for two NFL teams during the 1933 season, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. The National Football League website has a mention of Reb as a halfback, but no details on his teams and stats: https://www.nfl.com/players/reb-russell/stats/career

Visit Coffeyville, Kansas, the home of Reb Russell and the place where the Dalton Gang met their demise in the 1890s.
Coffeyville Chamber of Commerce: https://coffeyvillechamber.org/
Coffeyville Government website:http://www.coffeyville.com



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