Joe Ruklick left his mark as the greatest player in the history of Princeton High School basketball. Next month, he will be recognized as one of the best to ever play the game in Illinois.

The Tiger great will be among 25 players to be inducted into the second Hall of Fame Class in the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum. Hall of Fame ceremonies will take place today at the I Hotel Conference Center in Champaign.

Ruklick came to Princeton to live at the Covenant Children's Home in January 1950 at age 9 when his mother was hospitalized in the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Chicago. She was to be released in four months, but his stay at the children’s home lasted through high school.