Bill Russell is one of my favorite Community of Christ historians. He taught at Graceland University, and told Bruce Jenner to train hard for the 1600 meters in the Olympic Decathlon. We'll learn about RLDS history, and his unorthodox beliefs. Check out our conversation...



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Coaching Bruce Jenner at Graceland?

Introduction



I'm excited to have one of my favorite RLDS historians, Bill Russell from the Community of Christ. We're going to talk about some of his days at Graceland University and find out that he actually coached Bruce Jenner, the Olympic decathlete, now known as Caitlyn Jenner. So, that'll be a lot of fun. Check out our conversation….



Interview



GT  01:07   Welcome to Gospel Tangents. I'm so excited to have, can I call you one of the premier historians in the Community of Christ?



 



Bill  01:16   You might be lying, but, no. I think that would be okay.



 



GT  01:22   All right. Well, tell us who you are.



 



Bill  01:23   I'm Bill Russell and I have sort of specialized in Latter-day Saint history since about 1970.



 



GT  01:35   Okay, so tell us a little bit about your academic background. I understand you're a JD. You're a lawyer, I guess. But I know you taught at Graceland.



 



Bill  01:44   Yeah.



 



GT  01:45   Tell us about all your degrees, bachelor's, stuff like that.



 



Bill  01:48   I took a religion major at Graceland, undergraduate. Then I got my Master of Divinity. That's a three-year degree from the Methodist Seminary in Kansas City. I loved it. I mean, it's just some of the best professors I've ever had. Lindsey Farrago in New Testament, I've often thought of him as the best professor I've ever had.



 



GT  02:14   What was the name of that seminary?



 



Bill  02:16   St. Paul School of Theology, a Methodist Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. I just loved it there. So, I graduated there. Then Graceland said, 'Well, we really need somebody to teach Bible and history of Christianity. And that's kind of your strength from seminary. Come on, up to Graceland and teach." So, I said, "Sure." I had always been kind of a goal of mine to eventually teach at Graceland, although early on I thought, I would love to teach something and coach at Graceland. But that now had long, left my objectives by this time. I did coach cross country three times during my career, three times each, for a total of nine years. But that's just because I had a record running cross country and had been pretty successful at it. So, they roped me and the first time that I coached cross country, this is off above the subject.



 



GT  03:23   We're all into tangents on Gospel Tangents. So that's okay.



 



Bill  03:25   So, the first time I coached cross country was I came to Graceland as a freshman. The coach and athletic director said, "Russell, I understand you were successful running cross country at Flint Northern High School in Michigan. I would like you to start the cross-country program at Graceland. So, I did, as a freshman. I went around the men's dormitories and got about five or--we got about six or seven guys.



 



GT  03:51   Because you need at least five.



 



Bill  03:53   At least five. Some meets I only had five, but I think I had a maximum of like a six or seven. I did that for three years and then my senior year,