Russell Cross (born September 5, 1961) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who was selected by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in the first round (6th pick overall) of the

1983 NBA draft The 1983 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1983, in New York City. A total of 226 players were selected over 10 rounds by the league's 23 teams. The first overall pick of this draft was 7’4” center Ralph Sampson, predicted as an NBA supersta ...

College career

Russell Cross attended and played basketball at Carver Military Academy, located on the South Side of Chicago. He led Carver to an Illinois state title; he was selected to the

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...

team and was also a first-team ''Parade'' All-American; he was also the ''Parade'' Player of the Year. The 6'10" center moved on to attend

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, where he played his freshman season under first year head coach,

Gene Keady Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American Hall of Fame basketball coach. He is best known for his 25 years serving as the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana. In his tenure leading the Boilermakers from 1980 t ...

. In his first season as a

Boilermaker A boilermaker is a Tradesman, tradesperson who Metal fabrication, fabricates steels, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bure ...

, he set a freshman record with 540 points on the season and led Purdue to an NIT third-place finish and to a 21–11 record. In his sophomore season, Cross helped lead them to the NIT Finals with All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

teammate, Keith Edmonson. In his junior season, he led Purdue to a 21–9 record and onto a Second Round NCAA Tournament appearance. Russell was named ''First Team All-Big Ten'' his junior year.

Professional career

Russell Cross skipped his senior year at Purdue to enter the 1983 NBA draft, where he was selected as the 6th pick in the first round by the

. Cross played in only one NBA season, averaging 3.7 points in 45 games for the Warriors in the 1983-84 NBA season. Cross then signed a contract with the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

, he did not appear in a game and was waived late in the 1984–85 season. He spent the remainder of the 1984–85 season and the 1985–86 season with the

Louisville Catbirds The Louisville Catbirds were a basketball team of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) who played in the mid-1980s. History The Catbirds played two seasons in 1983–85 in Kentucky before moving to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in which the team ...

and then moved to Europe, where he spent the next seven seasons in the Italian and Spanish Leagues.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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References

External links

Career statistics
1961 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players S.S. Basket Napoli players Basketball players from Chicago CB Breogán players Centers (basketball) Golden State Warriors draft picks Golden State Warriors players La Crosse Catbirds players Liga ACB players Louisville Catbirds players McDonald's High School All-Americans Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen {{1960s-US-basketball-bio-stub