 Rucker at the 2011 Greater Cleveland Sports Awards | |||||||||||
| No. 88, 83, 33 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | (1947-09-21)September 21, 1947 (age 77) Washington, D.C., U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Anacostia(Washington D.C.) | ||||||||||
| College: | Boston University | ||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 1969 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Reginald Joseph Rucker (born September 21, 1947) is an American former professionalfootball player who was awide receiver in theNational Football League (NFL) for theDallas Cowboys,New York Giants,New England Patriots andCleveland Browns. He playedcollege football for theBoston University Terriers.
Rucker attendedAnacostia High School before moving on toBoston University.[1] He was a four sport athlete (football,baseball,track andbasketball), making him the school's first four sport athlete in more than 20 years.[2]
In football, he contributed to an undefeated season by the freshman team.[2] As a sophomore, his first play in a varsity game was a 71-yard punt return for atouchdown against theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst.[3] He went on to break a New England major college record with three punts returned fortouchdowns in a season.[2][4]
In his final year, his team includedBruce Taylor,Pat Hughes,Fred Barry and Barry Pryor, who would go on to play in theNFL.[5]
In 1978, he was inducted into theBoston University Athletic Hall of Fame.[2]
Rucker was signed as anundrafted free agent by theDallas Cowboys after the1969 NFL/AFL draft. As a rookie, he spent the season in thetaxi squad until being activated for thePlayoff Bowl against theLos Angeles Rams.[6]
The next year, he broke his left wrist during preseason, which forced the team to place him again in thetaxi squad.[7] He eventually was promoted to the active roster and became a starter in place of the troubledLance Rentzel for the last two games of the regular season (ahead of former first round draft choiceDennis Homan), including the Cowboys' playoff drive and its narrowSuper Bowl V loss to theBaltimore Colts.[8]
In1971, the Cowboys traded Rentzel and in a separate deal obtained future hall of famerLance Alworth as part of the "Bambi trade" in May. The move would eventually force the team to waive Rucker on October 2, opting to keepwide receiverGloster Richardson instead.[9]
Rucker was claimed off waivers by theNew York Giants On October 3,1971.[10] He was released on November 1.
On November 3,1971, he was claimed off waivers by theNew England Patriots.[11] The next year, he became a starter and finished with 44 receptions for 681 yards.
In1973, he had a breakout performance with 53 reception (sixth in the league) for 743 yards (eighth in the league).
After breaking his right wrist in the fourth game of the1974 season against theBaltimore Colts, he played the next six games with a cast until being placed on theinjured reserve list on November 18,1974.[12]
It was reported that a disagreement betweenhead coachChuck Fairbanks and Rucker about being placed on injured reserve,[13] was the reason that led the Patriots to trade him to theCleveland Browns on January 28,1975, in exchange for a fourth-round draft choice (#86-Allen Carter).
In1975, he finished with 60 receptions, ranking second (first amongwide receivers) in theNFL, even though he played with cartilage damage in his knee (suffered in training camp), that required offseason surgery the following year.[14]
In the1976 opening game against theNew York Jets, he recorded three receivingtouchdowns, becoming only the fourth player in franchise history to achieve this feat.[15]
In1978, he was one of the people that recommended the hiring of newhead coachSam Rutigliano to team ownerArt Modell.[16] That season, he finished sixth in theNFL with 893 receiving yards and fourth with 20.8 yards per catch.
Rucker became part of the "Kardiac Kids" teams, which won numerous games in dramatic fashion, during the1979 and1980 seasons.
At the end of the1981 season, knee injuries made him lose his starting job toRicky Feacher. On September 2,1982, he announced his retirement rather than accept a backup role.[17][18] He registered 310 receptions (at the time third most in franchise history) in 103 games (seven seasons) with the Browns, for 4,953 yards (16 yards avg.) and 32touchdowns.
Rucker has been a part of theCleveland media since his retirement.[19] He was acolor analyst for theCleveland Indians baseball team from 1982 to 1984.[19][20] He also served as an analyst forNBC's NFL coverage from 1983 to 1988.[19]
He hosted a nightly sports talk show onWKNR AM 1220 in the early 1990s.[21] After a hiatus, Rucker returned to the Cleveland airwaves as a football analyst forWEWS Channel 5 covering the Browns and theOhio State Buckeyes since 2004.
Rucker’s son,Derek, played professional basketball in Australia, England and the Philippines.[22][23]
Rucker attracted ridicule when he claimed during a 1984 NBC broadcast (Cleveland vsCincinnati) that he had dinner the night before with Bengals coachSam Wyche and had done an interview with the coach; Wyche later stated he did not have dinner with Rucker while also calling him a "blatant liar." Rucker later admitted he had made up the dinner and interview. This incident tarnished his broadcasting career, and Rucker gradually slid down the broadcasting hierarchy, until he was relegated to only the least important games each week, with no hope of recovering his once burgeoning post-playing career, and eventually left TV broadcasting in 1988.[24][25]
In August 2016, Rucker was sentenced to 21 months in prison forembezzling money from the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance and other nonprofits.[26][27] He was released in May 2018, and filed forChapter 7 bankruptcy in November 2018.[28]