Malaka M. “Tookie” Russell not only loved coaching athletes at Maine Central Institute for 30 years, but had a passion for playing golf as well.
“She had a compassion for the youth not only in golf, but in all sports,” said former Maine State Golf Association president Helen Plourde, who played in multiple tournaments throughout the summer with Russell.
Russell, who served as MSGA president for a couple of years in the 1970s, died on Saturday at the age of 90.
Russell, who was born in Philadelphia, coached the MCI field hockey team for 30 years, starting in 1958, while also coaching girls’ basketball at the Pittsfield school for 22 years and the softball squad for 27 seasons.
In addition, she helped start Pittsfield’s Little League program, was honored with MCI’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 2002 and was inducted into the Maine Field Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.
Plourde recalled Russell as a classy golfer and a person who had an open mind.
“She was a straight-shooter, you always knew where Tookie stood on anything you wanted to talk about,” said Plourde, who lives in Rockland and plays golf every day during the summer.
Russell retired from coaching softball after the 1985 season while giving up her basketball post in 1981 and retiring from coaching field hockey in 1988.
She also served as MCI’s athletic director from 1974-75.
Beth Staples, a 1982 MCI graduate, played three years of field hockey and softball for Russell and two seasons of basketball.
“As a player I certainly learned a lot and, as a person, I certainly learned a lot. She was like a second mother to me,” said Staples, the editor at the Village Soup newspaper’s Augusta office.
“I think at that time there weren’t a lot of female coaching role models, and she certainly was all that.”
Russell was also a role model to Julie Treadwell, a longtime coach and administrator at MCI who is now the director of physical education and athletics at the Holton Arms School in Maryland.
“You won’t find a person that is or was more genuine,” said Treadwell, who coached soccer, basketball and softball at MCI and worked at the school for 24 years.
“Tookie was Tookie, she didn’t want to be someone else, she didn’t want you to be someone else other than who you were,” Treadwell added.
Russell was one of the first people Treadwell met when she was hired at MCI, and from there, the two formed a friendship and often played golf together.
“I met her when I signed my contract, and the AD, Jim Archer, at the time, wanted me to play golf with Tookie,” Treadwell said. “From that point on, Tookie came to all my tryouts. Anything I coached there, she always came to tryouts and games and gave input on everything and anything. When Tookie spoke, you listened.”
Staples went on to play basketball and softball at Colby College in Waterville, and remembered Russell as a competitive coach who was able to keep things in perspective.
“She was the epitome of good sportsmanship,” Staples said. “She strove to be the best she could as a coach.”
Russell was also humble.
When she retired from coaching basketball in 1981, she wasn’t even sure what her overall record was, telling the Bangor Daily News “I don’t even keep track of that stuff.”
“We knew at the time we were in the presence of a pioneer in women’s athletics. She was so humble and didn’t talk about the great experiences she had as a player,” Staples said.
Russell, who coached her three daughters and granddaughter in field hockey, also cared about her players like they were her own kids, Staples said, often inviting them to her house for team dinners.
Russell was a 1938 athlete graduate of Haverford High School (Pa.), went on to attend Bryn Mawr College (Pa.) and played with a professional women’s softball team in Miami, where she met her husband, Jack.
Russell and her husband settled in Norwalk, Conn., after marrying in 1940 before relocating in 1956 to Pittsfield where Russell would begin her coaching career at MCI.
Russell and her husband enjoyed hitting the links so much that they had a putting green outside their Pittsfield home.
“We’d go up for a weekend and play golf with her and her husband, and we’d putt out there until dark,” Plourde said.
Russell played regularly in WMSGA tournaments, and often spent winters in Florida with her husband when she no longer coached basketball.
“[She was] just a fantastic person that memories will be everlasting [with] as far as I’m concerned,” said Plourde.
At Russell’s request, there will be no public visiting hours or funeral service. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Maine Central Institute’s Athletic Fund, 295 Main St., Pittsfield, ME 04967.
