Robert F. "Ace" Gruenig was a United States amateur basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 player during the 1930s and 1940s.

The 6 ft. 8 in. (203 cm) Gruenig is considered as one of the game's first great big men. The Chicago, Illinois native led his high school, Crane Tech, to the Chicago Public High School League

Chicago Public High School League

The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League , is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools...

 championship in 1931. He attended Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, but withdrew after his freshman year without having played for the varsity. While playing for several AAU

Amateur Athletic Union

The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...

 teams in the following decade, Gruenig was named AAU All-America 10 times (1937–40, 1942–46, 1948). Furthermore, he led the Denver Safeway (1937), Denver Nuggets (1939) and Denver American Legion (1942) teams to AAU championships. On August 11, 1963, Gruenig was enshrined to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Basketball Hall of Fame

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...

.