Leopold Victor Rucka (August 18, 1931 – January 4, 2016) was an American professional football player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

during the 1956 NFL season and for the

Rice Owls The Rice Owls are the sports teams representing Houston's Rice University in college sports. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of the American Athletic Conference, Rice sponsors ...

, earning first-team All-Southwest Conference honors. He was selected by the 49ers in the second round of the 1954 NFL draft. Leo was born in Wooster, an area of Baytown, TX, on August 18, 1931, and graduated from Crosby High School in 1950, where he excelled in football, basketball, and all other major sports. He went to college at Rice University where he played for 3 seasons and was a co-captain of the 1953

team that won a share of the Southwest Conference title tied with

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and then beat Alabama in the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic to finish the season ranked 6th overall. It would be the last bowl game victory for the Owls until 2008, the last Cotton Bowl victory ever and the last time the team was ever ranked as high as 6th. That season he was named 1st Team All-Southwest Conference as a center. Rucka missed the 1954-55 NFL seasons because he was drafted into the Army, where he served as an aviation engineer. He served in

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during the Korean War for 20 months during which he continued to play football and was named to the All-Service Team. After returning from service, Rucka played in 5 NFL games in 1956. He had one documented fumble recovery. His teammates nicknamed him "the Quiet Man". Rucka was inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996. Rucka was married to his wife of over 60 years, Lillian Rucka. They had 5 children, 11 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren. After football, he worked for Rohm & Haas for many years. Rucka died on January 4, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rucka, Leo 1931 births 2016 deaths Rice Owls football players San Francisco 49ers players Players of American football from Harris County, Texas Players of American football from Baytown, Texas People from Crosby, Texas