| One of the driving forces behind
the success of the National Invitational Soccer Tournament, now called the Marriot Soccer
Classic, has been Joel Russell. For his work on the tournament committee, he is being
honored with the George Wibby Award. Now in
his 24th year at Oakland University, Joel has been involved with the soccer
tournament since its inception. Joel has run the youth portion of the soccer tournament,
which has helped to insure the success of the tournament both financially and in
attendance. The youth tournament has brought almost 2,000 young soccer players and their
families to the Oakland campus, certifying the tournament as the premier soccer weekend in
the state.
A professor of chemistry at Oakland, Joel has also spent
four years as the interim Dean of Health Sciences and another year as the interim Graduate
Dean. He has also been active for several years in the Association of University
Professors as a board member and a negotiator. He received a B.A. from Northwestern
University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkley.
Joel and his wife, Christine, have been active in the
Michigan soccer community for several years. Joel is currently President of the board of
Michigan Youth Soccer League, and he and Christine served as tutors for the United States
under-16 soccer team that played in Trinidad.
Joel and Christine live in Rochester Hills and have five
children-daughters Andrea, Theresa and Natalie, and sons Joel, and Ethan. |
