Dick Ruback was born in Amsterdam on November 29, 1925. He was an honors student and a good athlete at Wilbur Lynch High School, from which he graduated in 1943. After serving in the military he attended Springfield College and earned his teaching degree in Physical Education. He became a physical education instructor with the Greater Amsterdam School District in the early 1950’s and was assigned to the Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School, where he would teach Gym and Health to seventh, eighth and ninth grade students for most of the next three decades. He was also a long time coach of the High School’s Junior Varsity basketball team, working with both John Varsoke and Tony Greco when each man headed the school’s Varsity hoops program.

I was a student of Ruback’s in the second half of the 1960’s. I can honestly say he was the most prepared and capable gym teacher I ever had. He…

You can read the rest of my story about Dick Ruback in my new book “A Year’s Worth of Amsterdam Birthdays.” To order your copy, click here.