“I do something every day to sell a brick,” Greg Owens says. “I don’t want to miss anyone.”
Owens is not in the brick-laying or construction supply business. Instead, he is a tireless, unpaid advocate for the Russellville Independent School District, especially when sports projects are involved.
A leader of starting and maintaining the Russellville Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame, of the Kelly Russell Classic and the 75th Anniversary of Rhea Stadium Celebration, he is now working on the R Club Memorial with great energy.
The R Club Memorial is a planned brick layout near Rhea Stadium which will feature a big R inside the shape of a football with bricks surrounding it proclaiming the names and a brief bio of many of those who have been involved in the 80 seasons (so far) of Russellville football.
“The R Club is proud to offer you the chance to purchase a little piece of history and to give an opportunity for any football player, coach, manager, cheerleader, Homecoming Queen or proud supporter to have a lasting memory. 300 bricks are available for sale to be placed at the Summer Street entrance to Rhea Stadium. The money raised from this project will support special needs for the Russellville (KY) High School football program and the construction of the memorial,” Owens wrote while creating the R Club Facebook page.
The bricks come in two sizes. For $75, purchasers are entitled to a 4 X 8 inch brick with three lines of engraving with up to 18 characters (including spaces) on each line. For $100, an 8x8 inch brick can have up to six lines of engraving.
Superintendent Leon Smith is providing bricks, which have been saved since the razing of the long-time three-story classroom building which was on the south side of the current Central Office, to be used for the project. Bricks are being sent off for engraving 20 at a time.
Matt and Cody Costello, whose family has been involved in brick laying for generations, will do the construction. They are from families with football histories. In fact, Cody’s dad Billy was an all-state lineman for Coach Jim Gladden’s Panthers in 1970. “They are excited about the opportunity to build this lasting memorial which will be visible to Russellvillians for many years to come,” Owens says,’
Artistic renderings as the memorial was planned have been painstakingly designed by Russellville artist Sonny Greene, who was an all-state kicker for Coach Ken Barrett’s state champion Panthers of 1983 during a 24-game win streak that year and in 1984. He went on to kick for Morehead State University while earning his degree.
Bricks have been ordered for every decade of Russellville football history, including Granville Clark and Bill Noe of the first Panther team in 1935 to William Owen Chapman and John Williams on the first team that played in newly constructed Rhea Stadium in 1939 to Barrett Croslin and Christian Naylor, who played their final seasons in 2013.
Owens says that Rep. Martha Jane King plans to order a brick in honor of her dad, Clarence ‘Soup’ Kurtsinger, who was a starter on that 1939 team and then went to Texas along with fellow Panther great Homer Chapman to play sports at an academy there.
Marc Sanford, who was a standout lineman for Coach Stumpy Baker in the late sixties, has ordered bricks for himself and in memory of his dad, Jimmy “Big Train” Sanford, star running back in the late forties and then on the undefeated 1950 team, which was ranked second in the state overall.
Jo Anne Bennett Russell has ordered a brick to honor both her dad, Joe Russell, who coached the Panthers in 1951 and then became commissioner of the Western Kentucky Conference, and her late brother, Kelly Russell, who played football in the early seventies before losing his life while wearing a Panther baseball uniform.
Mayor Mark Stratton, who is Coach Baker’s brother-in-law, has indicated the city will relocate a fire hydrant to add visibility to the site,
Many of the bricks which have been purchased are for coaches like Gladden, Russell and Barrett and many players, but Owens emphasized that they also can be purchased to honor cheerleaders, support personnel and fans,
2) Purchase a 8X8 Brick personalized with up to eight (8) lines of 18 characters per line (including spaces) for $100.00.
“As I get calls, messages, and emails daily from people interested in purchasing our bricks one thing keeps coming up. RHS Panther Football is not just about the young men that put on the Black and Gold on Friday night,” Owens wrote last week. “Just think of all the support the players have gotten all these years from their parents, cheerleaders, coaches, teachers administrators, band members, boosters, and alumni.
“ALL these people have contributed to the rich tradition and success we have enjoyed here in Pantherland. They deserve to be a part of this memorial as well. Please tell a friend, teammate or classmate that time is running out, so get your order in to have your personalized brick displayed at our awesome memorial.”
Owens has been calling and visiting families that he wants to make certain know about this planned memorial. The deadline for ordering is nearing, since construction is expected to begin in April.
“We have enough bricks ordered to be able to construct it and provide funding for RHS football, but we want to give everyone a chance to be part of this. Once it’s built, there won’t be any way to add more bricks,” Owens says.
To order a brick or get more information about it, either contact Owens on his Facebook page or the R Club Facebook page, Ann Page Province McReynolds at the Logan County PVA office, Mary Celsor at Russellville High School, or Patsy Hendrick at the Central Office.