{"id":1402,"date":"2018-02-19T12:27:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T17:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2018-02-19T12:27:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T17:27:14","slug":"voice-of-the-titans-cliff-russell-is-silenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2018\/02\/19\/voice-of-the-titans-cliff-russell-is-silenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice of the Titans, Cliff Russell, is silenced"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cliff
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cliff Russell, the Voice of the Titans, has died; he was 61.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The voice of the Detroit Mercy men\u2019s basketball team, Cliff Russell has passed away at the age of 61.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department of athletics is devastated by the news of Cliff\u2019s passing,\u201d said Detroit Mercy Director of Athletics Robert C. Vowels. \u201cHe was a prominent media fixture in the Detroit area for more than 35 years. He was the Voice of the Titans and provided our women\u2019s and men\u2019s sports programs a platform to share their accomplishments with the community. The Monday night coach\u2019s show had developed a following. Our prayers and thoughts go out to Cliff\u2019s family and the 910 AM Superstation and the WADL family. Cliff will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2016, Russell has been the voice of the men\u2019s basketball team on\u00a0910 AM Superstation<\/em>. He also worked with the University of Detroit Mercy\u2019s basketball programs hosting the coaches show each week live from Dino\u2019s Caf\u00e9 from Ferndale.<\/p>\n

“Our Detroit Mercy family and the city of Detroit mourns the loss of a great friend, mentor and the Voice of our Detroit Mercy Titans in Cliff Russell,\u201d said Detroit Mercy head men\u2019s basketball coach Bacari Alexander ’99. \u201cCliff was a great husband, father, and community leader. We pray for strength and guidance for his family during this difficult time.”<\/p>\n

A news anchor, political analyst, sports commentator and columnist in the Detroit area for more than 35 years, he became Detroit\u2019s first African-American press secretary to the Mayor, appointed to the position by former Mayor Dennis W. Archer in 1994 and hosting \u201cAmerican Black Journal\u201d on Detroit Public Television for several years. In December 2002, Russell was named senior director of communications for the Detroit Tigers, the first African-American to hold the position in Major League Baseball history.\u00a0 Russell has worked at a number of local radio stations including\u00a0WJR<\/em>,\u00a0WDET<\/em>,\u00a0WJZZ<\/em>,\u00a0WCXI<\/em>,\u00a0CKLW<\/em>,\u00a0WWJ<\/em>,\u00a0WCHB<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0WQBH<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in complete shock over this loss,\u201d said Detroit Mercy head women\u2019s basketball coach Bernard Scott. \u201cWe lost a great friend and supporter in Cliff Russell. He was a kind, caring and generous man who made everyone around him feel special. Monday nights will never be the same. Rest In Peace Cliff, you will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Russell family.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of Detroit, Russell graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast communications.\u00a0 He is survived by his three sons, three daughters, two step-sons, seven grandchildren and his wife. His brother, Greg Russell, is a University of Detroit Mercy graduate and also a prominent member of the media and has served as the public address announcer at men’s and women’s basketball games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The voice of the Detroit Mercy men\u2019s basketball team, Cliff Russell has passed away at the age of 61. \u201cThe department of athletics is devastated by the news of Cliff\u2019s passing,\u201d said Detroit Mercy Director of Athletics Robert C. Vowels. \u201cHe was a prominent media fixture in the Detroit area …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,30],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-mC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1404,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}