Nearly 50 years after crossing the stage as a high school graduate, Robert Rucker returned to Roosevelt High School, but this time as a member of the Indiana Supreme Court. Instead of wearing a cap and gown and carrying a diploma, he wore his judicial robe and carried a gavel.
Sitting on the stage in the Gary high school’s auditorium with his colleagues, looking out in the audience replete with judges and high school students from across Northwest Indiana, Rucker had to get something off of his chest. “Go Panthers!” Rucker said paying tribute to his alma mater’s mascot.
For Rucker, 70, the event at Roosevelt – the justices heard oral arguments in a case – had special meaning.
Rucker is a part of Roosevelt’s laundry list of notable alumni, which ranges from members of The Jackson 5 to several former professional athletes to Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson.
But Rucker attributes the roots of his success to his father.
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From the time he can remember, Rucker’s father talked about the importance of getting a quality education.
“The only thing was drilled into me and my siblings from the time I can remember is my dad insisting, ‘Son, go to school, get a good education, because you don’t want to dig ditches like me,'” Rucker said in an interview.
And the day, more than 50 years ago, when he enrolled at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Rucker appeased his father’s lifelong demands.
“I didn’t enroll at IU Northwest because I was hankering to go to college,” Rucker said. “I went because I didn’t want to disappoint my dad.”
With a dad who was a factory worker and cab driver, attending college far surpassed Rucker’s childhood goals.
“Coming from where I came I was thinking I’m going to get a job, buy a car, and have some cool clothes,” he said. “That’s where I was. So going to college was the absolute last thing on my mind. But I knew he would be disappointed because of his teaching all of those years.”
Before completing his undergraduate coursework at IUN Rucker was drafted into the Army, where his military career included earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam.
“I like to tell people I went there, did my job and I came home,” he said.
After the service, Rucker finished his undergraduate studies at IUN before attending Valparaiso University School of Law. He graduated in 1976.
Rucker spent nearly 15 years as a deputy prosecutor and a city attorney for Gary before becoming the first African-American judge to be appointed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
In 1999, Rucker became only the second African-American appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court.
“In some ways I had to pinch myself,” Rucker said, referring to when he first heard about his selection to the Supreme Court. “There’s absolutely nothing in my background that could’ve anticipated that result. I was from a family that had no political clout. There were no professionals in my family.”
But it was Rucker’s legal career and childhood, when he began working at age 11 selling fruits and vegetables out of the back of a truck, that prepared him for the unforgiving work ethic that is required to sit on the bench of state’s highest court, he said.
“There’s no such thing as a 9-to-5 day,” Rucker said. “As my grandmother would say, ‘We work from can to can’t, which means we work from the time you can see in the morning to when you can’t see at night.'”
Throughout his storied career, Rucker’s ability to influence those around him transcended the courtroom.
“Justice Rucker is one of the great figures in the history of the state of Indiana,” Justice Mark Massa said. “I think it really needs to be said. Particularly after we celebrated our bicentennial. You think about what he’s accomplished, from where he came, he’s one of the great figures in the 200-year history.”
Freeman-Wilson said Rucker’s journey is “real source of inspiration.”
“I considered him a mentor and certainly a role model for myself and many, many lawyers,” she said. “And for him to bring one of his final days back to where he started as a high student speaks volumes to who he is and what he’s done on the court to open doors for so many of us.”
Whether it’s fishing, ballroom dancing with his wife, or “trying to develop his green thumb,” Rucker, who announced he will officially retire on May 12, said he looks forward to his retirement.
But one thing’s unanimous among his colleagues on the bench: he will be missed.
“We’re going to miss him tremendously,” said Chief Justice Loretta Rush. “He’s been such a big asset to the Indiana Supreme Court.
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