{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1961)}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox basketball biography | name = Russell Cross | image = | width = | caption = | number = 40 | position = Center | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 10 | weight_lb = 215 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|09|05}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | high_school = Manley (Chicago, Illinois) | college = Purdue (1980–1983) | draft_year = 1983 | draft_round = 1 | draft_pick = 6 | draft_team = Golden State Warriors | career_start = 1983 | career_end = 1990 | years1 = {{nbay|1983|full=y}} | team1 = Golden State Warriors | years2 = 1985–1986 | team2 = Louisville / LaCrosse Catbirds | years3 = 1986–1987 | team3 = Alfasprint Napoli | years4 = 1989 | team4 = Granollers | years5 = 1989-90 | team5 = Cirsa L'Hospitalet | years6 = 1990 | team6 = Breogán | highlights = * McDonald's All-American MVP (1980) * First-team ''Parade'' All-American (1980) | bbr = crossru01 }}
'''Russell Cross''' (born September 5, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the National Basketball Association's Golden State Warriors in the first round (6th pick overall) of the 1983 NBA draft.
==College career==
Russell Cross attended and played basketball at Manley High School,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/dam/allamerican/pdfs/2014Game.pdf|title=The Next 48 are up|accessdate=2018-01-29|archive-date=2018-01-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130091446/https://www.mcdonaldsallamerican.com/dam/allamerican/pdfs/2014Game.pdf|url-status=dead}} 1980 game and rosters at page 68.</ref> located on the West Side of Chicago. He led Carver to an Illinois state title; he was selected to the McDonald's All-American team and was also a first-team ''Parade'' All-American; he was also the ''Parade'' Player of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://basketball.realgm.com/highschool/awards/4/22|title=Parade Player of the Year Awards - RealGM}}</ref> The 6'10" center moved on to attend Purdue University, where he played his freshman season under first year head coach, Gene Keady. In his first season as a Boilermaker, he set a freshman record with 540 points on the season and led Purdue to an NIT third-place finish and to a 21–11 record. In his sophomore season, Cross helped lead them to the NIT Finals with All-Big Ten teammate, Keith Edmonson. In his junior season, he led Purdue to a 21–9 record and onto a Second Round NCAA Tournament appearance. Russell was named ''First Team All-Big Ten'' his junior year.
==Professional career==
Russell Cross skipped his senior year at Purdue to enter the 1983 NBA draft, where he was selected as the 6th pick in the first round by the Golden State Warriors. Cross played in only one NBA season, averaging 3.7 points in 45 games for the Warriors in the 1983–84 NBA season. Cross then signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets, but did not appear in a game and was waived late in the 1984–85 season. He spent the remainder of the 1984–85 season and the 1985–86 season with the Louisville Catbirds and then moved to Europe, where he spent the next seven seasons in the Italian and Spanish Leagues.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Russell-Cross/Summary/49441|title=Russell Cross Player Profile, Denver Nuggets, NBA Stats, NCAA Stats, Events Stats, Game Logs, Bests, Awards - RealGM}}</ref>
==Career statistics== {{NBA player statistics legend}}
===NBA===
====Regular season==== {{NBA player statistics start}} |- | style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|1983}} | style="text-align:left;"|Golden State | 45 || 0 || 7.9 || .571 || {{sort|-|—}} || .418 || 1.8 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 3.7 {{s-end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/crossru01.html Career statistics]
{{McDonald's All-American Game Boys MVP}} {{1983 NBA draft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Russell}} Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain Category:American men's basketball players Category:S.S. Basket Napoli players Category:Basketball players from Chicago Category:CB Breogán players Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Golden State Warriors draft picks Category:Golden State Warriors players Category:La Crosse Catbirds players Category:Liga ACB players Category:Louisville Catbirds players Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Category:20th-century American sportsmen
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