Tag Archives: Bruin Stories

story of support: he built his dream with the support of others. now this $100,000 endowment is his way of returning it

Giving back usually comes later: after the career is built and the legacy secured. For Russell Stong IV, later has never been part of the plan. He's a 20-something from Northridge, two years out of UCLA, working at Holman Growth Ventures in Philadelphia on investments in AI, robotics, and green energy. For Stong, a boundary has never been a wall. It's just a defender, and he's spent his whole life finding the way around.

"Even with all that hard work, I still need a support system," Stong says. "I still need an avenue toward my opportunities. And I recognize that for others as well. If the only thing limiting [an incoming student] is their financial means, I don't really think that's fair."

It is worth noting that Stong has never once told this story as something he did alone. For all his tenacity, he is the first to point to the people who made it possible. When asked why now, his answer is characteristically direct: "Why wait? My platform is hot." It's the same logic he has applied to every chapter of his life: don't wait for permission, don't wait for perfect conditions. Find the window and go.

Stong grew up in the San Fernando Valley dreaming of two things that rarely go together: Division I basketball and an engineering degree. He attended Crespi Carmelite, made straight A's, and watched his teammates get recruited while his own phone stayed quiet. So he applied to UCLA through regular admissions, got in, and called the basketball coach. Cold.

That call got him a job offer as team manager. Stong turned it down, respectfully but without hesitation.

"My dream is to be a UCLA basketball player," he told the coach. "So that's what I want to do and how I want to do it."

Tenacity is part of the game. He followed up for a month and finally, one afternoon in Powell Library, mid-Physics midterm prep, his phone rang.

"They called me when I was in the middle of Powell Library and told me to come to practice the next day," he says. "I was on the team ever since."

But nothing is ever that simple. Stong has elevated blood pressure; genetic, monitored,and managed. Under normal circumstances this is a non-issue, but UCLA's medical staff—operating during the same period as Shareef O'Neal's heart condition—wasn't taking chances. So came more tests, more waiting, and another hill to climb. Which, if you know Stong, is just an average Tuesday.

The approval still hadn't come by the exhibition game. He sat on the bench in street clothes and was told before tipoff that his blood pressure would be taken after the final buzzer. That number would decide his fate.

"First I'm going to be watching this game, hype and nervous on the bench, and then you tell me this is going to decide if I'm on the team?" he says. "Of course it's going to be high!"

The final buzzer rang and they took the test. The results were in. The first people he needed to tell were the ones who had gotten him there. He walked out into a strange night, the marine layer dropped low, fog sitting just above the ground. His parents were somewhere outside waiting. He called their names into the dark.

"I remember running to them," he says. "And I told them I was approved to play."

The support that carried him to that foggy night outside Pauley is exactly what he is now building for someone else. His parents are one of the reasons he fought so hard to get there. And why he is now fighting to make sure the next Bruin gets the same chance.

Stong stayed at UCLA for six years, coming out the other side with dual degrees, a master's in autonomous systems, and several rings. At the Final Four, NCAA representatives walked onto the court and presented him with the Elite 90 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA across all 90 NCAA championship sports. He hadn't known it existed before he won it.

Reflecting back, he’s aware that many attempted to ground his dreams. But that’s not in Stong’s vocabulary.

"’Getting into UCLA—good luck. Oh, you want to be a basketball player? Good luck. But you won't stay an engineer. Now you finished your undergrad—you won't double major. Done. Now you want your master's?’ Did that too."

He pauses. "So really, when I look at raising this endowment—yeah, it's not normal."

But nothing about Stong’s journey has been. And he's not about to start now.

The Russell Stong IV Scholarship at UCLA Samueli is for engineering students who have everything it takes to be a Bruin, except the financial means to walk through the door. He has raised $43,000. He needs $57,000 more. He has until April 15th and once fully funded, the endowment exists in perpetuity. Not a moment, but a mechanism. One that will outlast his legacy.

"If a financial barrier is the only thing deterring them from being a Bruin," Stong says, "then they should be a Bruin. We're just here to give them that yes."

The next Bruin engineer is waiting.

To support the Russell Stong IV Engineering Scholarship at UCLA Samueli, visit here. Gifts can be made as multi-year pledges or stock donations.

For questions, contact Gustavo Callejas in Engineering External Affairs at gcallejas@support.ucla.edu.