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14
SPORTS
Former Cedarville Star Back on Campus
By Jesse Silk
K
en Rucker never envisioned going from
the streets of Philadelphia to the corn-
encompassed town of Cedarville, but
that is exactly how his journey unfolded.
Though he had heard of Cedarville
through his high school, Rucker said, “I had
no intention of actually attending Cedarville. I
didn’t even apply to go to Cedarville.”
Considering that Rucker not only attend-
ed Cedarville as a student but now works here
in Career Services, things must not have gone
according to plan.
Coming out of high school, Rucker was
seeking to fulfill his dream of playing Divi-
sion I basketball. As time passed, however,
the once-ringing phones of Rucker’s residence
were no longer receiving calls from schools
after the high school season had ended. Just
when he was seemingly out of options, Liberty
University called and told Rucker they would
like to give him one of two remaining basket-
ball scholarships.
The other scholarship was reserved for a
6-foot-10 Canadian player, but when Liberty
was scouting that player in Canada, they found
another player they preferred over Rucker.
After they called back Rucker to give him the
bad news, he thought, “What am I going to do?
How am I going to go to school? I can’t afford
to pay for it.”
Dave Lesko, Rucker’s high school coun-
selor, was familiar with Cedarville and brought
Rucker to work out with the Yellow Jackets.
Though Rucker admits he wasn’t high on
coach Don Callan’s list of recruits at the time,
Callan’s wife thought Rucker would be a good
fit for the team, and Rucker was soon a Yellow
Jacket.
“It was quite a bit of a culture shock when
I got here,” Rucker said. “I never planned on
it, but the Lord knew this was where I needed
to be. If I wasn’t here, there’s no telling what
would have happened to me back on the streets
of Philadelphia. It was meant to be.”
Rucker went on to star for the Yellow Jack-
ets, becoming the first player in school history
to post 2,000 rebounds and 1,000 points. Dur-
ing his freshman season, the Jackets finished
second in the NCCAA National Championship.
He was named team MVP three consecutive
seasons and averaged 24.5 points and 12.2 re-
bounds his senior season. Rucker graduated in
1993 and was inducted into Cedarville’s Hall
of Fame five years later, the minimum amount
of time for an athlete to be named to a hall of
fame.
“That was awesome,” he said. “It was one
of those things like, ‘Wow, they really recog-
nized my accomplishments.’ I was really hon-
ored.” Rucker’s No. 51 is now retired.
After attending Cedarville, Rucker became
a math teacher at Simon Gratz High School in
his hometown of Philadelphia and earned the
Male Outstanding Teacher of the Year award
during the 2001-2002 school year. He then be-
came involved in the transportation industry,
working as a contractor for FedEx and Wheels
Courtesy of Cedarville University
Ken Rucker, right, is back at Cedarville working in the Career Services office as the assistant to director Jeff Reep, left. Rucker is a 1993 graduate.
Ken Rucker’s journey from Cedarville student to employee
December 2011
