Racine Sun

Long-time basketball coach Rudy Collum on Oct. 28 was honored with the Deep Roots Award by the Racine County Hall of Fame. 

Receiving the honor that recognizes devotees to the community, Collum's recognition is fitting as he has dedicated countless hours to young Racine players during his career that lasted over 30 years.

"We award that annually to somebody in our community who has gone beyond the normal achievements and Rudy's been a pillar in this community for decades," Founding Member of the Sports Hall of Fame Governance Committee Gary Woelfel said. "He has kept, I would safely say, thousands of young kids through various programs in the community and obviously, a lot of those kids have been steered in the right direction because of his leadership."

Collum coached athletes like Abdul Jeelani, who went on to the NBA, saying that he could see their talent, but also what they needed to work on. 

“Abdul Jeelani, he had a tremendous shooting touch, but there were things he needed to work on," Collum told The Journal Times. "He needed to work on his ball-handling and his defense. He had certain things that were God-given, but I just saw he needed to complement those God-given skills with other ones. Those were the kinds of things I did with each and every player I worked with. I didn’t attempt to change anything. I just tried to add on to what they already had.”

Woelfel described Collum as always going above and beyond for his players and the Racine community. One moment in particular of Collum's career stuck out to selection committee members. 

"There's a lot of qualified nominees but Rudy, several years ago, he put together a youth basketball team and he and a couple (of) other individuals took them to Russia," Woelfel said. "That was when Russia was under communist rule and at that time was a daring endeavor because the relationship between the countries wasn't all that great. But they went there and they were able to interact with the Russians and kids from other countries and they came back with the championship trophy and it was just a wonderful experience for everyone involved." 

Collum has seven children and coached all five of his sons. His leadership and direction weren't wasted on them either, as several received state titles and victories in their own sports careers. 

Collum's passion to see children succeed wasn't bound to just his bloodline.  

"He's conducted countless camps in the city for underprivileged kids and he has also established a youth basketball tournament and you would see kids come in from all over the Midwest. You talk about 1,000 kids per tournament with families, obviously, that's a boom for the local economy." 

The Chicago native stuck to a guiding principle to help each youth that he coached and improve their game.

“What I attempted to do was help them dream a little big bigger, which meant they had to work a little bit harder,” Collum told The Journal Times. “I challenged them to step beyond their belief level and trust me. They basically trusted me and believed in me and that’s what I really appreciated.”

Those interested in nominating someone to the annual Racine County Sports Hall of Fame can do so by calling or emailing the Racine County Heritage Museum. Nomination submissions come at no charge.