Edward Anthony Rucinski (July 12, 1916April 22, 1995) was a professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player who played

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for six seasons for the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

and "

Card-Pitt Card-Pitt was the team created by the temporary merger of two National Football League (NFL) teams, the Chicago Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, during the 1944 season. It was the second such merger for the Steelers, who had combined with ...

" of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

. Rucinski was named to the 1939 College Football All Polish-American Team. He played college football at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

where he was a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

fraternity. He died in

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on April 22, 1995. He was drafted in the six round of the 1941 NFL Draft by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Career

Rucinski played in sixty NFL games, starting in forty-one of them. He scored eight career touchdowns (all as a receiver) and averaged 14.2 receiving yards per game. In his career he had ninety-nine receptions for 1408 yards. He also had eighteen career rushes for eighty-five yards. He was selected to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

in 1942 and named All-Pro in 1943.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

Rucinski was married to Mae Tilly. He had a daughter named Suzie and a stepson named John. After leaving football he moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In the 1970s he moved to

Indian Rocks Beach, Florida Indian Rocks Beach, or IRB, is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Indian Rocks Beach is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located on the barrier island Sand Key, it has over two mile ...

, where he was a member of St. Jerome's

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, and opened a medical supply business in

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References

1916 births 1995 deaths American people of Polish descent American football ends Card-Pitt players Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) players Chicago Cardinals players Indiana Hoosiers football players Players of American football from East Chicago, Indiana American Catholics Sigma Pi members {{tightend-1910s-stub