Princeton loses a legend

PRINCETON - Joe Ruklick rose out of the Covenant Children's Home to become the greatest basketball player in the history of Princeton High School, leading the Tigers to back-to-back state tournament appearances in 1954 and 1955.

From PHS, he went on to become an All-American for Northwestern University and played professionally for the NBA's Philadelphia Warriors.

Wherever his many travels took him, Ruklick, who passed away Thursday afternoon, always called Princeton home. He was 82.

"The beauty of Princeton it seems is that it's natural to feel like you're around friends," Ruklick told the BCR when his uniform was retired in 2010. "It was thrilling to stand at mid court and feel the affection coursing through the stands and the pride that citizens feel about their town and its history. The school is the center of things, the town's pride, the source of its hope."

Ruklick came to Princeton to live at the Children's Home as an eighth-grader. John Smith, who was two years behind Ruklick in school, said he "was such a nice kid and had a great attitude. He thought the world of Princeton."

Bob Hudson, the PHS team manager who remained in close contact over the years with Ruklick, called him a great friend.

Ruklick often referred to playing Tiger basketball as Mecca. But had it not been for the late Tiger coach, Don Sheffer, Ruklick's career would not have ever launched at PHS.

A tall and lanky, but awkward teenager, Ruklick was cut from the freshman team at PHS. Sheffer seeing the raw potential in Ruklick, then 6 feet 4 inches tall, took him under his wing, teaching him how to shoot a hook shot.

"He worked with him nearly on a daily basis and really made him what he became," Smith said. "Coach Sheffer could hook with either hand, too. He played at Southern. Shef was a great coach and disciplinarian. You better do what Shef said, or you'd be in the dog house with him.

"Joe was the best hook shot artist, bar none, whether it was high school, college or pro. Of course being 6-8 in high school, that was pretty tall at that time. He could catch the ball at the free throw line, and pivot left or right, and still bank the hook shot off the backboard. He was very good around the basket, too."

Ruklick cracked the Tiger starting lineup his junior year, because of an injury to senior Fred Bohr, and never left.

He led the Tigers to state in the 1953-54 season, reaching the Sweet 16 in Champaign. Ruklick poured in a school record 905 points as a senior, leading the Tigers to a fourth-place finish in the one-class system, earning All-State, All-American honors. He remains as the school's all-time boys scoring leader with 1,306 career points.

Recruited by many colleges, some of which he said offered under-the-table deals, Ruklick chose to attend Northwestern University. He led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding all three seasons he played (freshmen were ineligible at the time. He scored a record 39 points in the first half at Illinois' old Huff Gym and held the NU record at career scoring average 19.9 ppg on the way to All-American honors.

Drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors in the 1959 NBA draft, Ruklick's professional career lasted three years, stuck as the back-up for the legendary Wilt Chamberlain. He always liked to joke he was a footnote to history, credited with the assist on Chamberlain's 100th point basket in March 1962. Ruklick was put in the game late, at Chamberlain's request, because Chamberlain knew Ruklick would pass the ball to him unlike some of his other white teammates.

When the Warriors moved to California, Ruklick decided to hang up his sneakers and moved into the business world. He later wrote for the Chicago Defender before becoming a freelance writer.

A charter member of the Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984, Ruklick was a Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame inductee, both with his teams in 1995 and individually in 2002. He was also to be inducted into the NewsTribune's Illinois Valley Hall of the Fame this year, which was postponed by the pandemic.

With Ruklick's death, three of PHS "Famous Five" from the Tigers state teams, including Dick Hult and Gary Mulally, have now passed. Only Lew Flinn and Forrie Finn are living.