James Craig Ruby (May 30, 1896 – September 9, 1980) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player and coach. A two-time All-American and All-

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

forward at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

, he took over the head coaching position of his alma-mater in 1920. Ruby coached the Tigers for two seasons, compiling a record of 33 wins and only 2 losses. Both of Ruby's Missouri teams were retroactively named national champions by the

Premo-Porretta Power Poll The Premo-Porretta Power Poll is a retroactive end-of-year ranking for American college basketball teams competing in the 1895–96 through the 1947–48 seasons. The Premo-Porretta Polls are intended to serve collectively as a source of informa ...

. Ruby was subsequently recruited by

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

athletic director George Huff to take over the

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

’s men's basketball coaching duties. Beginning in 1922 and continuing on for the next 14 years, Ruby compiled a record of 148 wins and 95 losses. While playing in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, Ruby's teams recorded 94 wins and 74 losses and won the conference championship 2 times. Ruby left the program in 1936 with coaching duties given to

Douglas R. Mills Douglas Raymond "Gaga" Mills (April 9, 1907 – August 12, 1993), a native of Elgin, Illinois, was a high school and college basketball player and coach in the state of Illinois. During high school, Mills was the first player in the state to lead ...

. Ruby and legendary Kansas coach

Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

(NABC).NABC Presidents List
/ref> Ruby retired from coaching to pursue a career with the Kansas City-based,

Hallmark A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''hallmark'' can al ...

greeting card company at the age of 39. He died in 1980 in Johnson County, Kansas at the age of 84. Ruby married Dorothy Whitney on August 11, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. They had a daughter, Joyce, and son, Jay Whitney.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, J. Craig 1896 births 1980 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Missouri Basketball players from Missouri Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches Missouri Tigers men's basketball players People from Van Buren County, Iowa American men's basketball players