Erskine "Erk" Russell (July 23, 1926 – September 8, 2006) was an American football, basketball, track and baseball player and coach.

[1] As the first head coach of Georgia Southern Eagles football team after a 40-year dormancy, Russell established a standard of excellence during his tenure, bringing them to three NCAA Division I-AA championships.

After talking with a fan, Jimmy Matthew, Erk decided to use the phrase “Junkyard Dawgs” as motivation for his defense after an uncharacteristically poor season in 1974.

We had three walk-ons, four QBs, and three running backs in our original Junkyard Dog starting cast, which averaged 208 pounds across the front.

During the 17 years that Erk served as Georgia Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, the 'Dawgs played 192 games and held the opposition to 17 or fewer points in 135 of them.

The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, even recorded "Dooley's Junkyard Dawgs", and belted out the tune during the half time of the Florida-Georgia game in the Gator Bowl Stadium.

He was known for sending out calendars to his players over the summer, reminding them to be in shape for the start of practice and suggesting a humorous workout regimen that would include entries such as: "Run three miles, hate Georgia Tech four times."

Perhaps the most lasting impression was Russell ramming his bald dome into a helmeted player to celebrate a turnover or key play, leaving his forehead drenched in blood.

Coach Russell was a master motivator who did not forget that, as someone who molded young men in a university setting, he was a teacher first and foremost.

While Vince Dooley was still contemplating the dismissal of several Bulldogs after the infamous hog incident of 1980, Coach Russell was the one who saw how it could be used to bring the team together.

[4] Russell appeared in line to take over as Georgia's head coach when Dooley got a lucrative offer from Auburn, their alma mater.

With no money for transportation to home games, the Eagles had to make do with surplus school buses bought from Bulloch County for only a dollar apiece.

He entered the 1989 season as America's winningest coach, orchestrator of two national championships, 68 wins and 14 All-America selections—all during a seven-year period.

[5][6] Georgia Southern University and thousands of friends, family, and fans gathered at Paulson Stadium to mourn the passing of Erk Russell, one of America's most exciting and successful college football coaches.

The cause of death was a stroke while pulling out of a gas station (The Country Store) on the west side of Statesboro off of Cypress Lake Road.

In 2007, the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution[7] which included the designation of a section of State Route 26 coming into Statesboro as the "Erk Russell Highway."