By Woodrow Carroll
Some of us have the ability to be in the right place at the right time to watch the pages of history, mostly sports history in this case, unfold.
Former Northwestern University basketball star Joe Ruklick was so fortunate. Ruklick died last week at the age of 82. Early and late he was in contact with some notable sports figures.
Ruklick played three seasons in the NBA (National Basketball Association) all with the Philadelphia Warriors now Golden State Warriors.
In 1962, in an NBA regular-season game played in Hershey, Pa., teammate Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points. Ruklick played eight minutes.
Ruklick did not score. What Ruklick did was assist on Wilt’s last basket to bring Chamberlain 100 points, a single-game record today. It was a lasting memory and notable footnote. There is more to the story for Ruklick.
Living in Chicago, Ruklick ended up in the Covenant Children’s Home in Princeton, Ill. at age 11. Ruklick’s mother contracted tuberculosis and it was off to Bureau County for young Joe. It led to some of the finest moments in Princeton High School basketball history.
Ruklick eventually grew to be 6-9. Clearly, he had the makings of a basketball center.
Both his junior and senior seasons at Princeton, Ruklick helped lead the Tigers to the Sweet 16 of the Illinois Boys Basketball State Tournament.
One of Ruklick’s teammates at Princeton was Lew Flinn, today in the Northern Illinois University’s Hall of Fame for his basketball, football and track exploits.
Ruklick’s years at Princeton were the final years of the Sweet 16 in the State tournament. Back then, 16 sectional champions gathered in Champaign to do battle for the high school State championship. The year after Ruklick was graduated, the State tournament went to the super-sectional format and eight schools went to the State tournament.
Princeton, a sectional champion in 1954, opened in the Sweet 16 with Quincy. Ruklick bumped up against history. Quincy center Tom Payne was a sophomore in 1952, and replaced Quincy all-State starting center, Bruce Brothers, in Quincy’s legendary State championship game against Hebron after Brothers fouled out.
It was one and done for Princeton in 1954 after Quincy edged Princeton, 64-60. Ruklick, Flinn, and team were back in 1955. This time the Tigers stayed around until the final day by beating Moline and Shawneetown then lost to Elgin, 71-66, in a semifinal game. A loss to Pinckneyville, 58-53, in the third-place game closed out Ruklick’s high school career. The Tigers were 28-4 and 32-3 Ruklick’s junior and senior seasons at Princeton.
Colleges and universities coveted Ruklick. The Wildcats of Northwestern won out.
Ruklick’s sophomore and junior years in Evanston were solid, but, unspectacular! His final year with the Wildcats became the stuff of lore.
Under head coach Bill Rohr, Northwestern ended the 1958-1959 season with a 15-7 record. Along the way the Wildcats beat national runner-up West Virginia and fourth-place finisher Louisville. The victory over West Virginia and star Jerry West was a double-overtime, 118-109, thriller at the Chicago Stadium.
In the Big Ten, the Wildcats finished with an 8-6 record and tied with Michigan for second place. Two losses to Michigan State doomed Northwestern in the Conference race. Conference champion Michigan State was the only Big Ten team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Michigan State was knocked off in the tournament by Louisville, which Northwestern had beaten on the road.
Northwestern ended up with road victories over Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois at the end of Ruklick’s senior season.
Ruklick averaged 23 points per game his senior season and was a third team All America selection. It led to his ninth overall pick in the NBA draft. Ruklick’s teammates, Nick Mantis and Willie Jones played in the NBA.
From Princeton High School to Northwestern to the NBA Joe Ruklick experienced it all!