Joe Ruklick has held the Princeton High School’s boys scoring record for 68 years, scoring 1,306 points as a member of the Tigers’ 1953-54 and 1954-55 state basketball teams.

Princeton senior Grady Thompson has taken aim on Ruklick’s record. Through Tuesday’s game, Thompson now has 1,254 career points, standing third all-time at Princeton.

A prep All-American, Ruklick scored 944 points in his senior season alone, leading the Tigers to a fourth-place state finish in the one-class system. He called playing basketball at Princeton High School as “Mecca.”

He went to become an All-American at Northwestern and played in the NBA. He is most famous for recording the assist on Wilt Chamberlain’s 100th-point basket for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1962, a “footnote” in history, he liked to call it.

BCR Sports Editor Kevin Hieronymus will continue to chronicle Thompson’s chase to the record each Wednesday until he overtakes Ruklick,