Billington Presented With The KRES Legends Award

Our latest Legends Award recipient coached teams in six different decades. Russell Billington, who served six different school districts as basketball coach over a 33-year career, was presented with the honor at the KRES All-Star Banquet Wednesday night. Billington said he caught the coaching bug while playing college ball….

Billington had coaching stints at Bucklin, Milan, Silex, Keytesville, Brookfield, and Brunswick. His longest tenure was 14 years at Keytesville. Billington’s most memorable season was leading a 12-18 Keytesville boys basketball team to the state quarterfinals in 1991.

He was named the KRES Coach of the Year after that run. Billington won over 500 games. His teams played in 17 district championship games and won 11 titles. He said there is one empty spot on his resume….

Billington’s other passion is cattle. He said the two worked together well, even though it made for late nights….

Billington also spent one year as an assistant for his son, Wade, on the Salisbury Lady Panthers bench. He also umpired area softball and baseball for over a decade.