JACKSON – Former Jackson Memorial High School (JMHS) football players from the Class of ‘89 recently visited their former head coach at his Toms River home on the occasion of his 90th birthday.
Coach Bill Ruddy served as coach in Jackson beginning in 1976, a run that would last for 17 years in the district. His career started in the mid-1960s with his first head coaching position at Palmerton High School in Pottsville, Pa.
Ruddy is still only one of six head coaches in the program’s history and he also held head coaching positions at PS Dupont High School in Wilmington, Delaware; Williamsport, Pa.; and Elwood City, Pa.
He and his wife were vacationing and visited his wife’s family in Jackson when he found out that Jackson Memorial High School (JMHS) was in need of a new head coach.
Ruddy accepted the job for the start of the 1976 season, and moved his wife Marilyn, five sons and two daughters, to the township. All seven of Ruddy’s children graduated from JMHS.
The coach also had a career as a math teacher. He taught geometry and trigonometry at JMHS and he often explained hard-to-conceive math like the Pythagorean Theorem by using local people and places that Jackson students could relate to like the Cassville section of the township. Students would claim years later that they could only remember the nuances of the theorem because of Ruddy’s “stories” and how he explained the lesson.
Ruddy went on to coach multiple A South Championship teams including the 1980 team that would end the season with an 8-1 record and ranked #1 in the shore. Ruddy had two teams that would finish the season ranked #1, which were two of the five teams in Jaguar history that would be ranked #1 in the Shore at season end, placing Jackson Memorial’s football program third in the last 50 years with the most #1 season rankings.
Over his career, Ruddy would coach four players that would reach the National Football League. He encouraged discipline with a “yes sir, no sir” focus, and getting as many of his players noticed by college scouts as possible.
Ruddy told his players, “Look them in the eye and give a firm handshake and remember ‘Yes sir, No sir.’ In that time, he coached many standouts in Jackson Memorial history including quarterback Tom Tarver, who led the 1985 championship team, and still holds multiple records at JMHS including most passing touchdowns (29) and career passing yards (3,607). Tarver would go on to be a two-season starter for Rutgers and in 2015 was named one of The All-time Greatest Quarterbacks in the Jersey Shore.
The 1989 graduating class that Ruddy coached, and who visited with Ruddy on his birthday, also had a standout as well as multiple players that would go on to play sports in college. Julius Blackwell, who also still holds multiple records at JMHS including combined touchdowns rushing/receiving/returns (24). Like Tarver, Blackwell would go to Rutgers on a full scholarship and be a standout as well. In addition to Blackwell, close to a dozen other players from that class would go on to play in college.
Those visiting Coach Ruddy on his birthday, in addition to Blackwell were fellow 1989 JMHS graduates Chris Kaldrovics, Michael Cybulski, and Alex Sauickie.
Kaldrovics would go on to play rugby at Rutgers, while Cybulski and Sauickie would go on to play football for NCAA Division III Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).
During their time together on his birthday, the group looked at schedules and pictures of multiple teams from the 1980s. Ruddy reflected back on “war stories” of games where Ruddy still recalls the exact plays he called, the players that took the handoff or blocked the extra point, and the final scores on games that took place decades ago. In addition, Ruddy talked about the laundromat business in Jackson he and Marilyn ran together, as well as the house he rebuilt on Second Avenue in Spring Lake, that many of his football players over the years may have helped in the demolition work.
After a celebratory cupcake with ‘9’ and ‘0’ candles lit on top, singing of Happy Birthday, and multiple calls from his children and a visit from one of his daughters during the time together, the 90-year-old coach thanked God for all of the blessings in his life.
Ruddy reflected upon a picture on his wall that a professional news photographer took of Ruddy, his wife of nearly 65 years who passed away two years ago, and their seven children, when Ruddy’s Dupont team played at the University of Delaware. It captured two of his greatest blessings together, his family, and his love for the game.
The group of former players and their coach are planning to get together in the fall at the coach’s house for a day of college football where no doubt there will be additional stories from their time together back in the day.
12th District Assemblyman Alex Sauickie provided the background information for this article.
