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15
December 2011
SPORTS
of Wellness, an organization that helped trans-
port dialysis patients and those with mental
disabilities to their treatments. Subsequently,
Rucker started a business called Prison Runs,
which provided transportation to and from
prisons for the friends and family members of
those who were incarcerated.
“That entrepreneurial bug kicked in and
was running at full force,” Rucker said. “Grow-
ing up in poverty, you never want to go back; I
often tell people that I was chasing the dollar.”
Though he was financially stable, Rucker’s
work schedule was a strain, with seven-day
work weeks and little time spent with his fam-
ily.
“I overheard my daughter saying to my
wife, ‘How come Dad never goes on vacation
with us?’ and that’s when it really hit me,” he
said. “I grew up in a single-parent home; I nev-
er knew my dad, and here it was, although I
was providing financially for my family, I really
wasn’t there as much as I should have been. I
said, ‘You know what, this needs to change.’”
So Rucker sold off his ownership of his
business and stayed at home with his family.
He and his family enjoyed the time together,
but eventually, he realized he needed to get
back to work. Rucker envisioned teaching as
the next step in his life, but in his first time
teaching, he was operating under a temporary
teaching certificate, and one could not be of-
fered to him again. Rucker wanted to complete
his masters in education at Temple, but the
university denied all his prior credits because
too much time had passed since he had last
taken classes there. Frustrated and discour-
aged, he turned to God in prayer and earnestly
sought the Lord’s guidance.
Seemingly “out of the blue,” Rucker said,
Dave Lesko, his high school counselor who had
first brought him to Cedarville, called Rucker
and asked him if he would be interested in
working with Jeff Reep at Cedarville.
“I told Dave that I would consider it, but
really only because I was honored,” Rucker
said. “I never really planned on doing it. But
it was one of those things where I said, ‘This
can’t be a coincidence.’”
Rucker consulted the Lord and his family,
and he eventually accepted the position as as-
sociate director of Career Services.
In his new job, Rucker says he enjoys in-
teracting with students. He seeks to be posi-
tive and encouraging to those students who
need career guidance, and encourages them
first and foremost to “pray about it and just be
open and honest with yourself.” Also, Rucker
advises students to realize they are not entitled
to anything. They are not above a particular
occupation, and a job can serve as a “stepping
stone” to another path in life.
The various stages of Rucker’s life are
a testament to that ideology. “My desire for
years and to this very day has been to own my
own clothing store,” Rucker said. “I don’t know
when that’s going to happen, but it will happen
at some point.”
