A pair of Sachem alums are embarking on a book project to tell the life story of Jeff Ruland, a former two-time NBA All-Star.
Ruland, Sachem’s only alumnus to play in the NBA, will partner with Chris Vaccaro, an author, professor, and media executive, who is also the president/founder of the Sachem Alumni Association and publisher of Sachem Report.
“I am so excited to work on my story with a great author and a fellow Sachem grad!” said Ruland. “It was a fun ride with a lot of interesting moments. We’re ready to work on telling the story of my life.”
One of the NBA’s premier big men in the 1980s and early 1990s, Ruland played for the Bullets, 76ers, and Pistons. He was a McDonald’s All-American at Sachem, and his No. 43 is retired. Ruland played for the legendary Jim Valvano at Iona College.
He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors but opted to play in Barcelona for his first pro season. By 1982, he made the NBA All-Rookie team with the Bullets and established himself as a bruiser in the paint and a strong shooter with the 10th-best field goal percentage in the league.
He was an NCAA head coach for 12 seasons. He spent 9 seasons at Iona, where he led the Gaels to three NCAA Tournaments and two top 25 wins, and later at the University of District of Columbia, where he took them to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 25 years.
Vaccaro, a two-time Emmy Award and nine-time Murrow Award winner, is the author of 10 books on various topics. His most recently published work was also a partnership with another Sachem alum, Louie Gregory, which debuted on top of Amazon’s best-selling new releases in the law enforcement category.
He has also written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press, and hundreds of magazines and newspapers worldwide. He oversees the Sachem Athletic Hall of Fame and is the president of the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame, each of which Ruland is an inductee.
“Growing up in Sachem, you always heard three names: Jeff Ruland, Jumbo Elliott, and Neal Heaton,” said Vaccaro. “That’s our Mount Rushmore of athletes who all reached the pinnacle of their sports. I have been writing about Jeff and his basketball career for more than 20 years since high school, and we have a strong bond thanks to our shared roots. This process will be fun since Jeff has played with and against some of the biggest names in the game.”
The Sachem duo has already begun researching, interviewing, and writing, but they have not yet defined a release timeline.