Russ Francis Takes Free-Spirit View

Russ Francis is in his 13th season in the National Football League. An All-American tight end at Oregon, Francis--6 feet 6 inches and 242 pounds--was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 1975 draft.

He made the all-pro team three times in six seasons with the Patriots, but Francis, a free-spirit who marches to the beat of his own Walkman, left pro football at 28 to become a pro wrestler.

His matches were promoted by his father, Gentleman Ed Francis, who had made a fortune staging wrestling matches in Hawaii.

“My dad was in wrestling for many years,” Francis said. “So it’s sort of a family tradition that once every couple years I get in the ring.”

Francis quit the wrestling game and returned to the NFL in 1982. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers, where he spent 6 seasons. New England re-acquired him when he was waived by the 49ers in the final week of the 1987 season. At 35, Francis has been used sparingly this season and is expected to retire at the end of the year.

Francis’ hobbies include hang gliding, sky diving, and motorcycle riding. A licensed pilot, he also operated an air charter business in Hawaii, where he claimed to have once wrestled a shark. He rode rodeo broncos after his family moved from Hawaii to the mainland.

“When Russ left Oregon to go play for the Patriots, he told me to throw all of his trophies away,” his mother, Arlene Francis, said. “He had a whole room full of trophies and I wanted to keep a couple for myself, but he had me throw them all away because he said that they were yesterday’s news.”

So what does Russ think of his mother’s relationship with Houston McTear?

Francis said he didn’t know of their marriage plans until a reporter told him.

“They’re talking marriage? That’s good for her,” Russ Francis said. “I haven’t spoken to her. We don’t always brief each other on our private lives. She’s like anybody else. She’s free to do whatever she wants to do.

“She raised five boys and a girl and the main thing that she told all of her kids is that happiness comes before anything else. She’s a very outspoken lady.”

Said Arlene Francis: “Russ hasn’t said anything one way or the other. He’s too busy doing his own thing. Every time I call him, he tells me to call back. And when I call again, he’s not in.

“But I’ve reached a point where I don’t care what anybody says because I know who I am and what I’m doing.”