John Rudometkin (June 6, 1940 – August 4, 2015) was an American professional basketball player, formerly of the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

and

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 1 ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). He was selected in the second round as the 11th pick in the

1962 NBA draft The 1962 NBA draft was the 16th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 26, 1962, before the 1962–63 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pla ...

by the Knicks and spent three seasons playing in the league. Rudometkin was nicknamed "the Reckless Russian" by

Chick Hearn Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn (November 27, 1916 – August 5, 2002) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association for 41 years. Hearn is remembered for his rapi ...

, the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

broadcaster who used to broadcast USC men's basketball games before transitioning to the NBA.

College

Before attending the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, Rudometkin spent one year playing basketball at

Allan Hancock College Allan Hancock College is a public community college in Santa Maria, California. History In 1920 Allan Hancock College was started by the Santa Maria High School District. Originally called Santa Maria Junior College, classes were held until ...

, a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in ...

located in his hometown of

Santa Maria, California Santa Maria (Spanish for "St. Mary") is a city near the Central Coast of California in northern Santa Barbara County. It is approximately northwest of Santa Barbara and northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Its population was 109,707 at the 202 ...

. He averaged 18.2

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

(ppg) in 30 games during the 1958–59 season. Rudometkin then enrolled at USC in the fall of 1959 to play for the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

. As a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

, he went on to have a highly successful career in college. In his three varsity seasons at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

institution, Rudometkin held career averages of 18.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in 79 games played. He scored 1,434 points, which stood as the school record for 23 years, and his 18.8 average is still the best career average at USC. In 1961, he led the Trojans to an outright conference title, which through 2009–10 remains their most recent outright conference championship. In all three seasons Rudometkin led the team in scoring and was named the team MVP, and as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 1961–62 he was named a consensus second-team All-American.

Professional

After his college career ended, Rudometkin was selected in the second round as the 11th overall pick by the

in the

. He spent the , , and part of the seasons playing for the Knicks until he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

on February 2, 1965, by the

, with whom he subsequently finished the season (and his career). Although Rudometkin played the center position in college, he was moved to play forward in the NBA. In three professional seasons, Rudometkin averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.

Personal

After only three seasons, Rudometkin was forced to prematurely retire from basketball. His stamina weakened noticeably and doctors could not initially determine the cause. He was diagnosed with

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of hematological malignancy, blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever ...

, a diverse group of

blood cancers Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...

that include any kind of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include en ...

except

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...

. He spent years in treatment, which caused total hair loss, temporary paralysis and the need to learn to walk all over again. Rudometkin eventually went into

remission Remission often refers to: *Forgiveness Remission may also refer to: Healthcare and science *Remission (medicine), the state of absence of disease activity in patients with a chronic illness, with the possibility of return of disease activity *R ...

and cited both medicine and his faith as reasons why he was able to survive the tumor which had encircled his lungs and heart. After his ordeal, Rudometkin married, had three sons, wrote a book about his experiences and traveled the country as a motivational speaker. He also spent time as a real estate investor and minister. Towards the end of his life, he resided in

Newcastle, California Newcastle is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, Placer County, California. Nestled in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada foothills, Newcastle is located northeas ...

with his wife of roughly 50 years, and required an oxygen tank to help him breathe. Rudometkin died on August 4, 2015 from chronic lung disease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rudometkin, John 1940 births 2015 deaths All-American college men's basketball players Allan Hancock Bulldogs men's basketball players American men's basketball players American people of Russian descent Basketball players from California New York Knicks draft picks New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Newcastle, California San Francisco Warriors players Small forwards Sportspeople from Santa Maria, California USC Trojans men's basketball players