Written by Dynamis Ministries | August 11, 2022
Everyone loves a good underdog story, and possibly one of the greatest underdog stories that nobody has heard of is that of the “Mighty Mites.” This story is told by author Jim Dent in the book Twelve Mighty Orphans¹ and recounts the rise of a football team of lowly orphans that become a perennial championship contender in Texas high school football during the 1930s. This team became a beacon of light to people living in the dark days of the Great Depression. What’s more inspiring than the story itself is the example of what kind of impact a life of generosity can create!
Rusty Russell was a young and upcoming coach at a respectable Texas high school when he and his pregnant wife left their life of comfort to teach and coach at an orphanage school for a $30 per week salary. He inherited a football team that was in shambles. When he arrived at the school he discovered that the players didn’t own shoes, the football field was just a bare lot littered with gravel and cactus and the football program didn’t even have a football! Within years, however, the team was competing for a state championship despite the fact that they only had 12 players on the team and were regularly far outweighed by their opponents. The team’s success could be attributed to Russell’s play calling and strategy, but in reality, the inspiring story of the Mighty Mites is all about Russell’s generous living.
Rusty Russell saw potential in a place that everybody else disregarded. His passion for football, his compassion for kids and his vision for what could be all intersected to lay the foundation for this inspiring story. Russell poured his time into the children in the orphanage, making himself available nearly 24 hours a day, mentoring and caring for kids that most people neglected. He developed and applied his God-given gifts as a leader, educator and coach to create opportunities for kids to who were denied access because of circumstances outside of their control. Lastly, despite his measly salary, he regularly invested his own money into the school and football program to give his athletes the best experiences possible.
The life of Coach Russell is an example that we can all be inspired to follow. Russell fully integrated himself into his vocation as a coach and teacher. He was a man of integrity, one who was aligned in who he was and what he did. As a result of his integrous living, unexpected things happened. He gave a team of kids hope who came to the orphanage feeling hopeless, and he used the very same kids to bring hope to a nation that desperately needed it. When we integrate the different parts of ourselves into what we do in a generous posture, we too can have an amazing impact. We can write our own inspiring stories of how our generous living made a difference in the world. Some of our stories may never make it to a bookshelf, but they will be recorded and celebrated by our Heavenly Father!
¹Jim Dent, Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007).
