Ruklick's life is a story from rags to basketball riches

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Coming to stay at the old Covenant Children’s Home in Princeton in the early 1950s could have been unsettling for any 11-year-old boy, forced to live away from his family when his mother developed tuberculosis. But what was supposed to be a short stay lasted five years, turning out to the best thing for the young boy.

Five years later, that boy, Joe Ruklick, grew into becoming the best basketball player to ever don the Tiger uniform at Princeton High School. From PHS, Ruklick went on to become an All-American at Northwestern University, where he still holds school records decades later, and later played in the NBA.

Ruklick, 71, will return to where it all started Saturday evening when PHS and the PHS Booster Club will salute him for his accomplishments in the game prior to the Tigers’ game with Streator.

Superintendent Kirk Haring said PHS is proud to be recognizing Ruklick,whom he calls a great role model for what a student-athlete should be.

“While his athletic accomplishments are phenomenal, the fact that he graduated from Northwestern University with honors speaks volumes about Joe and the education he received at PHS,” Haring said.

Just 12 years old when he entered Princeton High School — he had been placed in the seventh grade at Princeton Logan rather than the sixth grade when he came to town because of class sizes — Ruklick stood 5-foot-11, was skinny and gangly.

He did not make much of an impression on his coach and was cut from the freshmen basketball team.

His career could have ended right there had it not been for a chance encounter in the hallway shortly after with varsity coach Don Sheffer.

Not knowing the boy, Sheffer asked if he played basketball. When Ruklick informed the coach he had just been cut, Sheffer invited him to come to the gym early in the mornings to practice with the JV team if he wanted to work.

“I guess my head was sticking above everybody else,” Ruklick says. “He probably thought I was going to grow, and I did, and coming from the children’s home, I wouldn’t hang around the Chocolate Shop and would probably work hard.

“What he did was he gave me a chance to have a genuine life. What would have become of that 12-year-old if I hadn’t made the basketball team. I don’t have any talent for anything else. He gets all the credit.”

Sheffer, who lives in downstate Herrin, taught Ruklick, who couldn’t chew gum and walk at the same time, how to shoot the hook shot. Every day, Ruklick practiced the hook shot, perfecting the shot equally with both the left and right hand.

He continued to grow, reaching 6-8 by his senior year. It took an ankle injury to senior teammate Fred Boher, however. around Christmastime during Ruklick’s season before he cracked the varsity lineup. Once he got there, he never left.

Ruklick sparked the Tigers to their first regional championship in nine seasons and first sectional crown in school history in 1954, defeating Ottawa 54-46.

The Tigers embarked on a magical trip to Champaign to play in the old Sweet 16 state tournament format at Huff Gym. Ruklick remembers it as if it was yesterday.

“Sheffer didn’t want us sitting in the stands and took us to a handball court at Huff Gym before we were to play Quincy. I remember the song playing, ‘We three, we’re all alone ... my echo, my shadow, and me,’ he said, “And I’m thinking, ‘My God, I’m going to go out to that court and play that game.’”

The Tigers took on the Quincy Blue Devils, falling in defeat 64-60 in their state debut. Ruklick scored 24 points.

Tiger Town awaited the next season, 1954-55, with much anticipation with the return of Ruklick and teammates, Lew Flinn, Forrie Finn, Gary Mulally and the late Dick Hult, aka the “Famous Five.” And the Tigers didn’t disappoint.

Sheffer’s Tigers won their first 23 games of the season before falling to Peoria Woodruff 64-60. PHS repeated as regional and sectional champions, launching another return trip to Champaign, accompanied by a long convoy of Tiger fans.

PHS downed Moline 60-58 in first-round play at Huff Gym and took down undefeated Shawneetown 66-48 in the quarterfinals. Ruklick says the gym was relatively quiet during the Shawneetown game, where all you could hear was the squeak of the sneakers on the gym floor.

And then, late in the fourth quarter, from way up in the stands, Ruklick says you could hear “Schmittie the tailor” from Princeton yell, “It’s Showtime Lewie, it’s Showtime Joe.”

The Tigers would see their state title dream dashed with a 71-66 loss to Elgin before falling to Pinckneyville 58-53 in the third-place game. Ruklick finished the tournament with 104 points in four games. Over his senior season, he poured in 944 points (27.0 ppg) and tallied 1,306 for his career, both PHS school records.

Courted by the likes of Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and DePaul’s Ray Meyer, among other college coaches offering many lavish offers that would rattle NCAA regulations, Ruklick chose Northwestern.

In the era of freshman ineligibility, Ruklick became the Wildcats’ two-time MVP and All-American his junior season in 1958. He left as the school’s all-time leading scorer and stands 51 years later 11th overall with 1,315 career points. He still holds school records for career scoring average (19.9 ppg) and rebounds in a single season (13.9 rpg).

The Philadelphia Warriors selected Ruklick in the 1959 NBA after taking Kansas’ Wilt Chamberlain. They became etched together into NBA lore when Ruklick was credited for the assist on Chamberlain’s famous 100-point basket in 1962.

Ruklick became lifelong friends with Chamberlain until his death in 1999, but saw limited playing time serving as the Big Dipper’s back-up. He elected to retire from the NBA after three seasons when the Warriors moved from Philadelphia to California. Ruklick moved into the business field and later became a journalist, writing for the Chicago Defender.

Saturday he returns to his roots, where he says everything he did in life is directly resulted in growing up in Princeton and playing basketball for the Princeton Tigers.

Kevin Hieronymus is the BCR Sports Editor. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com.