title: Honey Russell
text: John David "Honey" Russell (May 31, 1902 – November 15, 1973) was an American basketball player and coach who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964. He turned professional after his sophomore year of high school, and for the next 28 years he played for numerous early 20th century pro teams, including many in the American Basketball League. His career included over 3,200 pro games (a number that would take a modern NBA player 30–40 years to equal). He was the first coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics (1946–1948).
  
  Russell coached basketball at Seton Hall University from 1936 to 1943 and again from 1949 to 1960. His teams won 294 games and lost 137. In 1940 and 1941, Seton Hall ran its winning streak to 43 games, a national record at the time. The 1952–53 team won the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That team won 31 games, including 27 in a row, while only losing 2 games.
  
  Russell also was a scout in professional baseball, working for the Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos and Chicago White Sox. Of the many players he signed, 23 made it to the major leagues, including the Joe and Frank Torre, Don McMahon, and Earl Williams.
  
  Head coaching record
  
  NCAA
  
  BAA
  
  |-
  | align="left" |Boston
  | align="left" |1946–47
  | 60||22||38||||align="center" |5th in Eastern||—||—||—||—|| align="center" |Missed playoffs
  |-
  | align="left" |Boston
  | align="left" |1947–48
  | 58||20||38||||align="center" |3rd in Eastern||3||1||2|||| align="center" |Lost in Quarterfinals
  |-
  |-class="sortbottom"
  | align="center" colspan="2"|Total
  | 118||42||76|||| ||3||1||2||||
  
  References
  
  External links
   
   John Russell @ basketball-reference.com
   Honey Russell @ ProBasketballEncyclopedia.com
  
  1902 births
  1973 deaths
  American Basketball League (1925–1955) coaches
  American men's basketball coaches
  American men's basketball players
  Atlanta Braves scouts
  Basketball coaches from New York (state)
  Boston Celtics head coaches
  Chicago Bruins coaches
  Chicago Bruins players
  Chicago White Sox scouts
  Cleveland Rosenblums players
  College men's basketball head coaches in the United States
  Manhattan Jaspers men's basketball coaches
  Milwaukee Braves scouts
  Montreal Expos scouts
  Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
  New York University alumni
  Original Celtics players
  Paterson Crescents players
  Player-coaches
  Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball coaches
  Seton Hall University alumni
  Basketball players from Brooklyn
  Wilkes-Barre Barons players