Ralph Law:  

Russ Attis passed recently, and was the symbol of Arlington High School. Russ was my athletic mentor. Met him as a kid at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights when I was 12 in 1956. He was bench pressing weights where he checked out sports equipment to use. Heck, The Chicago Bears didn't even have a weight room back then. Later he would ask me how many push-ups and pull-ups I could do. Eventually I would do 306 in high school PE where coach Bob Baker came in to see if I was cheating in some way. I ran cross country and track. Russ never put pressure on people. He let you make choices about your commitment and effort. I wasn’t all that committed but not too many years later I was. I still talk about and describe Russ even now to people. When I coached high school baseball and also coached basketball in California I was a combination of trying to be like Russ Attis and Bob Baker at the same time. Firm but fair…?? My nickname became Mr. Fit as an adult, and I owe that to Russ Attis. Russ knew about Isometrics, weight training, and Fartlek workouts 60 years ago. Russ was ahead of his time. In the late 1990’s Russ sent me some Arlington Cardinals me...Expand for more