Rusty LaRue
Encyclopedia
Rusty LaRue is an American
former multi-sport athlete who played basketball
, baseball
, and football
at Wake Forest University
. He later played for the Chicago Bulls
team that won the 1998 National Basketball Association Championship
. He was listed at 6'3" (1.90 m) and 185 pounds (84 kg).
in Greensboro, North Carolina
, where, in addition to being an honors student, he earned All-State honors in baseball, basketball, and football. As a senior in 1991, he was named North Carolina Athlete of the Year, and he attracted the attention of many colleges before choosing to attend Wake Forest, where he planned to play both basketball and football in the ACC
. LaRue would also play collegiate baseball for one season, becoming just the second player in ACC history to play three sports in the same year.
LaRue arguably had his most collegiate success on the football field. As a freshman quarterback
in 1992, he led Wake Forest's football team to an Independence Bowl
victory, and during his senior year he would break eight NCAA
records for passing, including the record for most completions in one game (55). However, LaRue was a solid basketball player, as well, as he helped his teammates reach the NCAA Tournament
for four consecutive seasons. He also finished second in school history in three-point field goal
s made, and he finished first all-time in three-point field goal percentage.
team, he earned a spot on the Chicago Bulls' roster in 1997 after honing his craft in the minor leagues for one season. During the 1997–98 NBA season, LaRue averaged 3.5 points per game in limited playing time and earned an NBA Championship ring in the process. He would receive more minutes during the next season after Michael Jordan
, Scottie Pippen
, Dennis Rodman
, and Steve Kerr
left the team, and he averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 assists per game while making 33.7% of his three-point field goal attempts. However, the Bulls cut ties with LaRue during the 1999–2000 NBA season as they continued their post-dynasty rebuilding process, and he returned to the minor leagues before signing with the Russia
n team CSKA Moscow
in 2000.
After a year in Russia, LaRue returned to American and briefly played for the NBA's Utah Jazz
during the 2001–02 NBA season (signed January 28, 2002) before going back to the European leagues, where he joined the Italian
team Pallacanestro Varese
. In 2003, he returned to the NBA once again, this time as a member of the Boston Celtics
, but he was waived before appearing in a regular season game, although he would appear in four games for the Golden State Warriors
towards the end of the season.
in 2004-05 and later was athletics director and basketball coach at Forsyth Country Day School
in Winston-Salem.
In 2009, he re-joined the Wake Forest men's basketball program as an assistant coach under Dino Gaudio
.
| style="text-align:left;"| 1997–98
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
| 14 || 0 || 10.0 || .408 || .250 || .625 || .6 || .4 || .2 || .1 || 3.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998–99
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
| 43 || 6 || 17.0 || .359 || .337 || 1.000 || 1.3 || 1.5 || .8 || .1 || 4.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
| 4 || 1 || 32.3 || .349 || .143 || .714 || 2.5 || 2.8 || 1.8 || .0 || 9.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001-02
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 33 || 0 || 16.4 || .395 || .340 || .857 || 1.5 || 2.2 || .5 || .2 || 5.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2003-04
| style="text-align:left;"| Golden State
| 4 || 0 || 5.5 || .333 || 1.000 || .500 || .8 || .5 || .5 || .0 || 1.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Career
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 98 || 7 || 16.0 || .376 || .318 || .841 || 1.3 || 1.6 || .6 || .1 || 5.0
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001-02
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
| 4 || 0 || 13.3 || .375 || .400 || .600 || 1.5 || 1.5 || .2 || .0 || 5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Career
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 4 || 0 || 13.3 || .375 || .400 || .600 || 1.5 || 1.5 || .2 || .0 || 5.0
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former multi-sport athlete who played 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...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, and football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
at Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
. He later played for the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
team that won the 1998 National Basketball Association Championship
1998 NBA Finals
The 1998 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1997-98 National Basketball Association season. The Chicago Bulls of the Eastern Conference played against the Utah Jazz of the Western Conference, with the Jazz holding home-court advantage with the first 2 games in Salt Lake City...
. He was listed at 6'3" (1.90 m) and 185 pounds (84 kg).
High school and college
LaRue attended Northwest Guilford High SchoolNorthwest Guilford High School
Northwest Guilford High School is a public high school in Guilford County, North Carolina. The school currently has an enrollment of 1,947 students in grades 9 through 12, making it the public school with the largest enrollment in Guilford County....
in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, where, in addition to being an honors student, he earned All-State honors in baseball, basketball, and football. As a senior in 1991, he was named North Carolina Athlete of the Year, and he attracted the attention of many colleges before choosing to attend Wake Forest, where he planned to play both basketball and football in the ACC
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
. LaRue would also play collegiate baseball for one season, becoming just the second player in ACC history to play three sports in the same year.
LaRue arguably had his most collegiate success on the football field. As a freshman quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
in 1992, he led Wake Forest's football team to an Independence Bowl
Independence Bowl
The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976....
victory, and during his senior year he would break eight NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
records for passing, including the record for most completions in one game (55). However, LaRue was a solid basketball player, as well, as he helped his teammates reach the NCAA Tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
for four consecutive seasons. He also finished second in school history in three-point field goal
Three-point field goal
A three-point field goal is a field goal in a basketball game, made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc radiating from the basket...
s made, and he finished first all-time in three-point field goal percentage.
Professional playing career
After college, LaRue decided to focus exclusively on basketball. Though he was not drafted by an NBANational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
team, he earned a spot on the Chicago Bulls' roster in 1997 after honing his craft in the minor leagues for one season. During the 1997–98 NBA season, LaRue averaged 3.5 points per game in limited playing time and earned an NBA Championship ring in the process. He would receive more minutes during the next season after Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
, Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen
Scottie Maurice Pippen is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association . He is most remembered for his time with the Chicago Bulls, with whom he was instrumental in six NBA Championships and their record 1995–96 season of 72 wins...
, Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The...
, and Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr
Stephen Douglas "Steve" Kerr is a retired American professional basketball player. He shot .454 from three point range over his career and currently holds the record as the most accurate three-point shooter in NBA history...
left the team, and he averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 assists per game while making 33.7% of his three-point field goal attempts. However, the Bulls cut ties with LaRue during the 1999–2000 NBA season as they continued their post-dynasty rebuilding process, and he returned to the minor leagues before signing with the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n team CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow
PBC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional basketball team that is based in Moscow, Russia. The club is a member of the VTB United League. It is often referred to in the West as "Red Army" for its past affiliation with the Soviet Army. CSKA has won two titles between 2006 and 2009 in Europe's...
in 2000.
After a year in Russia, LaRue returned to American and briefly played for the NBA's Utah Jazz
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
during the 2001–02 NBA season (signed January 28, 2002) before going back to the European leagues, where he joined the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
team Pallacanestro Varese
Pallacanestro Varese
-Notable players:-Notable coaches: Aleksandar Nikolić Nico Messina Sandro Gamba Edoardo Rusconi Joe Isaac Carlo Recalcati Valerio Bianchini Ruben Magnano-Sponsorship names:Through the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as:...
. In 2003, he returned to the NBA once again, this time as a member of the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
, but he was waived before appearing in a regular season game, although he would appear in four games for the Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
towards the end of the season.
Coaching career
LaRue served as head men's basketball coach at Greensboro CollegeGreensboro College
Greensboro College is a four-year, independent, coeducational liberal-arts college, also offering four master's degrees, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1838...
in 2004-05 and later was athletics director and basketball coach at Forsyth Country Day School
Forsyth Country Day School
Forsyth Country Day School is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian, college-preparatory day school, established in 1970, and located in Lewisville, North Carolina...
in Winston-Salem.
In 2009, he re-joined the Wake Forest men's basketball program as an assistant coach under Dino Gaudio
Dino Gaudio
Dino Joseph Gaudio is the former head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University. He previously served as the head coach at the United States Military Academy and Loyola College in Maryland....
.
Regular season
|-| style="text-align:left;"| 1997–98
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
| 14 || 0 || 10.0 || .408 || .250 || .625 || .6 || .4 || .2 || .1 || 3.5
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1998–99
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
| 43 || 6 || 17.0 || .359 || .337 || 1.000 || 1.3 || 1.5 || .8 || .1 || 4.7
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 1999–00
| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago
| 4 || 1 || 32.3 || .349 || .143 || .714 || 2.5 || 2.8 || 1.8 || .0 || 9.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2001-02
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
| 33 || 0 || 16.4 || .395 || .340 || .857 || 1.5 || 2.2 || .5 || .2 || 5.8
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2003-04
| style="text-align:left;"| Golden State
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
| 4 || 0 || 5.5 || .333 || 1.000 || .500 || .8 || .5 || .5 || .0 || 1.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Career
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 98 || 7 || 16.0 || .376 || .318 || .841 || 1.3 || 1.6 || .6 || .1 || 5.0
Playoffs
|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2001-02
| style="text-align:left;"| Utah
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently a part of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
| 4 || 0 || 13.3 || .375 || .400 || .600 || 1.5 || 1.5 || .2 || .0 || 5.0
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| Career
| style="text-align:left;"|
| 4 || 0 || 13.3 || .375 || .400 || .600 || 1.5 || 1.5 || .2 || .0 || 5.0
External links
- Official site
- Wake Forest profile
- Career stats at Basketball-Reference
- NBDL stats at Basketball-Reference