The Santa from Sumiton
How Russell Gann built a decades-long career in media while finding joy in an unexpected role at Children’s of Alabama.
Words by Reagan Young | Image by Ryan McGill
One 1980s Sunday in Sumiton, Alabama, a mother glanced at her 14-year-old son, Russell Gann, dozing in the church pew. Deciding that would be the last time he slept through a sermon, Mrs. Gann pulled a few strings. Weeks later, Russell was perched behind a camera, filming the preacher. Though his first exposure to media wasn’t by choice, the experience sparked a passion that grew into a career spanning more than 40 years in media, broadcasting, and digital content creation.
After graduating from Corner High School in 1989, Russell enrolled at Walker College. His quick wit and talkative personality inspired a classmate to suggest, “As much as you talk, I bet you could get a job in radio.” The idea stuck. On Christmas Eve that same year, Russell walked into a local station for his first shift as a part-time host.
“They just basically took me in the studio and said, ‘This is the mic you use, you hit this to talk, and here’s how this works. See you later!’” Russell recalls. Operating the equipment came naturally. Even now, in his role as an instructional designer at Children’s of Alabama, Russell enjoys figuring out new software and tools.
After a few semesters at Walker, he transferred to UAB to study broadcast communications. Eventually, he left school, working in the bar scene until the lifestyle wore him thin. “I had just become miserable in all that, and my cousin had invited me to go to church because I had not gone to church in three or four years,” Russell says.
That invitation refreshed his faith and opened a new path. The same cousin encouraged him to attend an interest day at Lee University. “I put out a fleece,” Russell says. “I said, ‘Well if everything I’ve ever taken transfers and I don’t lose any hours, then I’ll transfer to Lee.’”
He didn’t lose a single hour. Russell graduated from Lee in 1996 with a degree in broadcast communications. He went on to youth pastor in Alabama and North Carolina before stepping into nearly two decades of roles in digital media. He produced commercials, filmed a church TV program, launched his own media company, taught at Sumiton Christian School, and worked as a website coordinator at Bevill State. Always ready to meet a need, he even helped start the first Spanish-speaking church service in Walker County with his cousin.
In 2010, Russell earned his master’s in instructional design and educational technology from Troy University. That training prepared him to take subject material and transform it into digital educational content. Children’s of Alabama hired him in 2017 to do just that.
A month into the job, his manager introduced a project to bring joy to bed-bound children during Christmas: livestream Santa from a studio onto portable TVs in
patient rooms. When the hospital decided it needed both an English- and Spanish-speaking Santa, word spread that Russell spoke Spanish—and could grow a beard. “So, I was Spanish Santa, and that was 2017,” Russell says. “Well, in 2018 they determined they did not need to purchase or pay for a professional Santa, and I have been bilingual Santa Claus at Children’s of Alabama since.”
Since then, the experience has grown more interactive. Parents now provide details about their children through a hospital website, and Santa uses that information to personalize conversations. Russell’s dry wit and creativity shine as he improvises Christmas-themed dialogue, bringing laughter to children, families, and staff alike.
Being Santa comes with quirks. He must maintain his Spanish fluency, keep his beard snowy white with theatrical makeup, and avoid shaving. “The best I can do is go down to a three guard in January and keep it trimmed through August. But from August forward I can’t touch it,” he said with a laugh.
Each year, Russell and the IT crew visit around 70 children over three to four days. The staff dress as elves, escorting Santa through the hospital halls. After nearly nine years in the role, Russell admits: “I guess I am a professional virtual Santa Claus. I never set out to do that!”
For Russell, the joy of working at Children’s goes far beyond Santa duties. “I think seeing the Lord work through people and seeing a child healed is a miracle,” he said.
From sleeping through sermons, to shaping a career in media, to spreading joy as Santa Claus, Russell Gann has always used his talents for good and for God. The Santa from Sumiton has brought smiles to countless faces, and he has no plans to slow the sleigh down any time soon. 78