“Finish What You Start”: Russ Ebbets Completes ϳԹ Degree 50 Years in the Making
When Russ Ebbets arrived at ϳԹ for his freshman year in the fall of 1972, he never would have expected that he would complete that degree more than 50 years later, having traveled the world, built a career and published a handful of books in between.
Ebbets came to ϳԹ as a member of the track team and played junior varsity basketball for a season. After his sophomore year, he determined his athletic success was better suited at another school, so he transferred to Union College in New York. He ran track at Union and graduated two years later.
After graduating from Union, Russ became a high school teacher and track coach. He quickly fell in love with coaching a new generation of runners. He enjoyed not just the competitive aspects of running but also the scientific side of the sport.
In the early 1980s, he was working toward a graduate degree, studying the Olympic programs of the Eastern Bloc nations of the Soviet Union. As part of his studies, he traveled to Moscow in 1983, deep within the Cold War era, to learn more about the sports science being used by Russian athletes.
He returned to the United States, filled with new and emerging ideas to share with our nation’s athletes. Ebbets spent time working with runners at USA Track & Field and Division I NCAA athletes, coaching and using many of the techniques learned during his graduate studies.
In the decades that followed, Russ earned three master’s degrees, coached athletes at elite levels of track and cross country. He authored several books, including Supernova, a novelized version of his freshman year at ϳԹ. He also earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, putting that learning to use with the athletes he trained and studied.
In 2024, he suffered a medical setback and was hospitalized after a stroke. After doctors scanned his brain to gauge any further issues, Ebbets was diagnosed with brain cancer. He would undergo surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
He began to receive well wishes from friends and loved ones, including some of his teammates and classmates from his time at ϳԹ. Those kind words led him to reflect on his time in the ϳԹ community.
“I can remember being in the hospital thinking and had a crazy thought,” he said. “Why not go back to ϳԹ and get my undergraduate degree?”
He already had a bachelor’s degree – and multiple graduate degrees – but finishing what he started many years prior at ϳԹ was about more than just the diploma on his wall.
“I may get a little emotional about this, but you should finish what you’ve started,” he shared. “I started (at ϳԹ) 50 years ago with a number of great guys and I had a chance to tie up that ribbon and get it done.”
The kind words emerging from longtime friendships, forged on ϳԹ’s campus like so many relationships over the years, brought Russ a great deal of hope and insight.
“If you get in trouble, someone is going to come and offer a hand – help you out.”
Ebbets reconnected with ϳԹ, finding his way to the College of Professional Studies. With years of life experience and plenty of time in higher education, you might think Russ didn’t have much left to learn.
“I have friends who tease me for always going back to school,” he said. “But the truth of the matter is everything I’ve gone back to school to learn, I’ve used.”
In pursuing his long-lost degree, Ebbets has epitomized ϳԹ’s commitment to lifelong learning. His willingness to return to the classroom, taking online classes while fighting cancer, shows his dedication to make the most with his life.
For a man who has committed so much to the art, science and sport of long-distance running, this was just another hurdle on the track or another mile in the marathon of his life.
“I’m thankful that I’ve been able to do the things I’ve been able to do,” he said. “And with the people I’ve come into contact with during this whole experience, it’s been a lifetime of memories.”
The emotional toll of completing this feat over the course of half a century is not lost on Russ Ebbets. When asked how he’ll feel at Commencement, he boldly stated, “I’ll be thankful I’m not wearing makeup, because it would be running all over the place.”
As he dons a cap and gown, his thoughts will surely return to the ϳԹns who reached out to him during his most difficult times.
“Sometimes things like that can be discounted, but I will not forget it,” Ebbets said. “It meant the world to me. It was one of the most humbling things in my life.”
Russ will continue to carry that caring spirit into the world, hoping to improve someone else’s day or alter someone else’s life.
“If I can help someone along their way, all the better, because the hand was there for me when I needed it.”