Former long-time Kailua High football coach Alex Kane called him "one of the top (athletes) he's ever seen."

Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, who was his college teammate and later a more-than-worthy adversary in the NFL, said he was "just a phenomenal athlete."

Late sportscasting legend Howard Cosell called him, "All-World."

Russ Francis, who was 6 feet 6 and weighed 242 pounds during his playing days, could arguably be one of the best athletes ever to come out of Hawai'i.

He played end and quarterback at Kailua High and, after transferring to Pleasant Hill High School in Oregon during his senior year, established a national high school javelin record in 1971 that stood until 1988.

Despite playing just one full season at the University of Oregon and quitting the team his senior year, Francis' abilities as a tight end (he reportedly ran the 40 in 4.6) could not be overlooked by the NFL. He was selected 16th overall in the first round of the 1975 draft by the New England Patriots. He would play 13 seasons in the NFL, making three Pro Bowls with the Patriots and helping the San Francisco 49ers win a Super Bowl.

"To have a tight end like that is so rare," Fouts told The Advertiser. "Russ was the prototype (tight end). When draftnicks get together, they say, 'We have to get somebody like Russ Francis.'

"His pro career is good enough for consideration for the Hall of Fame."

Fouts said he and Francis were on the field together at Oregon, though briefly.

"He was a sophomore when I was a senior," Fouts said. "We were playing Oklahoma and he was going to be our secret weapon. They ran a two-deep coverage and we were going to run him right down the middle."

But Francis broke his ankle in the first quarter and missed the rest of the season.

Kane, who was with Kailua from 1962 to 1994 as a football coach and athletic director, also saw Francis as a jewel of an athlete.

"He was big and fast for that age level," he said. "His junior year he played end for us. But his senior year, (he) moved to quarterback because no one could throw the ball to him."

It was an odd sight at the time to see a 6-foot-6 quarterback trying to be tackled by head-hunting 5-foot-6 linebackers.

What Francis would remind local reporters later was that despite all his large-scale success afterward, he couldn't beat out 5-foot-5 quarterback Joe Lee from Kaimuki High for the 1970 O'ahu Interscholastic Association all-star football team.

"We couldn't compete because he was the only athlete, per say, we had," Kane said.

But Francis would go from non-all-star to all-pro once he hit the NFL, prompting Cosell to dub him an "All-World" tight end during Monday Night Football telecasts. It was during those games that Francis would become one of the first athletes to flash the shaka sign on national television.

Francis also was known as a free spirit, taking part in pro wrestling — his father, Ed, was the promoter of 50th State Big Time Wrestling, and his brother, Billy, wrestled professionally — and enjoying skydiving, base jumping and piloting — passions he continues to pursue to this day.

"I chose these different activities because I've often said I'm more comfortable in the air or in the water than I am on the ground," he said in an article on 49ers.com in March. "The only time that wasn't the case was in a football game."

"I used to watch him wrestle as a youngester and to get a chance to be his teammate for 3 to 4 years was a great, great thing," said Jesse Sapolu, a former Farrington High and University of Hawai'i athlete who played 15 years with the 49ers.

According to 49er writer Taylor Price, Francis still flies a couple of times a week, operating planes — old and new — helicopters, jets and props.

"If I can't fly that day, I may make a paper airplane and fly that," he told Price.

At a recent 49ers Foundation Winter Wine Festival, Francis reportedly donated a bird hunting trip to Mexico with airfare and also offered a ride in a biplane, with a playful threat that he would roll the winners over while flying.

"Russ was always a maverick type of guy in a fun way," said Sapolu.

But Francis also was a complex person who some described in another way — an enigma.

After the 1980 season, Francis went into voluntary retirement after six seasons with the Patriots. He reportedly had philosophical differences with the game of football and said he had a "dislike for the malicious intent of violence rather than just good, clean hard-hitting football." Francis' roommate at New England was Darryl Stingley, who was paralyzed after a hit by Jack Tatum on an overthrown pass during a 1978 preseason game. Stingley died in 2007.

It took 49ers coach Bill Walsh to persuade Francis to return to the game in 1982. San Francisco, already loaded with stars Joe Montana, Wendell Tyler, Roger Craig and Ronnie Lott, made a trade for Francis, who said then that part of the reason for his return was that "I just wanted to be closer to home."

In 1985, Francis reached the height of his playing career, being the starting tight end in Super Bowl XIX in which the 49ers beat Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins, 38-16, at Stanford, Calif.

"He was always independent in his thinking," Sapolu said. "Things I remember about Russ was when he would fly his little plane (for preseason games) from Sacramento to San Francisco. He gave Joe (Montana) and another key player a ride to San Francisco for a preseason game and Bill Walsh found out. Bill put a stop to it. (Bill said) 'Don't you dare put my quarterback in there.'

"He's still a maverick and still the same."