Since the dawn of man, communities have been bound together by storytellers. From a bearded man in a cave to a mustached man in a uniform, the tradition of tall tales lives on today in the lively and loud conversation of Russ Motta. Security man in title and wise elder in practice, Russ is one of the defining faces of Grinnell staff.
Russ is recognizable to students in many different situations: protecting the sidelines at basketball games, giving students rides in a Security truck or officiating Relays. A fixture at the college, Motta's time long predates any student, shrouding his past in a haze to most students.
Russ' career in law enforcement originally stretches back to his high school days. An avid rock climber from east of San Diego, he had a defining moment when he and a friend were climbing in the Sierras and were beckoned by shouts from a police officer below them. "This was '68," said Russ. "When a deputy sheriff starts yelling at you while you're on a rock, you think 'Oh my God, we're in trouble.'"
But instead of searching for drugs or slapping the two with trespassing charges, the officer asked for help in a search for a missing child. Trekking over the top of the mountain, Russ and his friend found the child stranded between a steep, dry waterfall and a high cliff. After his impromptu service, San Diego County quickly hired Russ as a deputy sheriff specializing in rock climbing. Two years of search and rescue in the Sierras left Russ desiring more, and so he packed up and took off for the Flatirons in Colorado's Rockies.
While obtaining his bachelor's degree, Russ worked for the University of Colorado Police Department, until accepting a job at the Vail Police Department. Even though he was eventually appointed Chief of Police, as his children grew up, he began to realize there were healthier places than Vail to raise a family.
"Children learn how to be adults by watching adults behave," said Russ. "If you're living in a recreational area, [adults] are doing adult recreation. They do too much alcohol, they don't sleep, they make loud noises ... sounds just like college, but it's a ski resort." Russ and his wife, who is originally from Grinnell, ultimately made the decision to move to Grinnell.
Russ's Grinnell career did not begin in the security office, but instead at the circulation desk in Burling library. His antics proved to be too much for the silent confines of the library, and continuous complaints from the third and fourth floors began to roll in soon after his hiring. "A library job shouldn't be boring; it should be exciting and fun," said Russ. "Everyone at Burling was having a great time while I was there and so was I. We'd get to singing, telling stories and dancing, and then the students would join in."
Russ was quickly moved out of the circulation desk to interlibrary loan, where he worked until he was offered the job of building Grinnell College's first security department with current Director of Security Stephen Briscoe.
Since the birth of Grinnell's security department, Russ has dealt with smiling students and tall tales more than suspects and threats, and he sometimes takes on unconventional roles. "I am a fully accredited, official keg toss referee," said Russ. "Me and the other security guys are so totally arbitrary that no one argues with what we say: I have the final word."
Beyond keeping college students safe and fair, he keeps alive the tradition of facially-haired story-tellers, having sported his signature, bushy mustache since his late teens. "His mustache," said Charles Netzer '11, "is simply majestic."
