Reggie Rucker's story is in print
By NANCY WHITAKER
The Review
Nadine McIlwain, left, a former Stanton Middle School principal, and former professional football player Reggie Rucker have co-authored a book about Rucker's life and his conversion to Christianity.
Nadine McIlwain knows a good life story when she hears one.
When the ending is written, chapter by chapter by God, it has to be a first-rate story.
It was a meeting of souls - meant to be - the night several years ago when McIlwain, a former Stanton Middle School principal, heard former professional football player Reggie Rucker speak about his new found faith.
Rucker was guest speaker at a Christian Hall of Fame induction in Canton. McIwain's mother -in-law, Edna McIlwain, was being inducted.
Rucker's microphone kept fading out, McIlwain recalled. "Every time he started to speak about his acceptance of Jesus, the microphone went bad," she said. "This happened four times."
By then, McIlwain really wanted to hear what Rucker, who had played football for the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns, had to say.
By the conclusion of his talk, McIwain, former principal at Stanton Middle School in Alliance, knew Rucker had a story that "needed to be told to everyone."
That story is now in print.
Reggie Rucker, former Cleveland Browns wide-receiver from 1975-81, and educator Nadine McIlwain, will be at Waldenbooks at Carnation Mall on West State Street from 2-4 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of "From Ghetto To God: The Incredible Journey of NFL Star, Reggie Rucker," which they co-authored.
The book traces Rucker's life, beginning with childhood poverty and homelessness in a Washington D.C. ghetto, where food was often at a premium, but rats that bit through Rucker's skin were not.
Learning the ways of the street at an early age, Rucker grew up not knowing his father. He was initiated into a gang around the age of 11, abused by an aunt, and while playing football for Boston University, Rucker began forsaking his marriage vows, a pattern that would continue throughout the marriage. A professional football career resulting in a "swollen ego," a time when he was down and out with only $3 in his pocket, to repenting of his life lived away from God and becoming a born-again Christian, are all markers in Rucker's life.
Rucker's one regret is that he didn't know Jesus Christ when he was playing professional football. "I wish that I had done more to further His cause when I had that stage," he writes in the book.
Rucker, 54, says he has moved beyond the fame and money that professional football provided.