Rusty LaRue loves a challenge.

As a college freshman, they told him that athletes have a hard time playing more than one sport in the ACC, so he played three.

They told him that Division I quarterbacks don’t choose challenging majors, so he signed up for computer science.

And to everyone who laughed at the notion that he could make it in the NBA, he’s happy to show them the championship ring he won playing alongside a guy named Michael Jordan.

Now, some 15 years after an almost too-good-to-be-true college career, LaRue has come full circle, returning to Wake Forest this past fall to launch a college coaching career and help his alma mater rejoin the college basketball elite.

As we meet at the Miller Center practice facility, our conversation is something of a family affair. LaRue’s four children — furloughed from school on a snow day — are shooting baskets.

Their fit dad looks like he could still suit up at guard in tonight’s game versus Miami. His wife, Tammy, is working out on a stairclimber. She’s come back home, too. After all, Tammy was there years ago, rebounding for LaRue as he practiced shooting many late nights in Wake’s gym.

Family and sports have always filled LaRue’s life. Sandwiched between a brother, Chan, five years older, and a sister, Katie, five years younger, he fell in love with competitive athletics at a young age.

“My earliest memories of playing ball were at the Kernersville YMCA,” LaRue says. “I was about 6, and followed Chan all over the gym. I remember that it was my dream to be able to go to the Wake Forest Basketball Camp, and one of my biggest thrills was winning a trophy as the one-on-one champion of my age group.”

Despite excelling in athletics, LaRue recalls adolescent years that were anything but smooth. “My mom would tell you that I was pretty high-strung and temperamental. I was so darn competitive, and that seemed to help me find trouble. My grandfather was the chief of police in Sanford, North Carolina, and he would kid my mom that I’d end up in jail someday. I think a big part of it was that I was always trying to measure up to Chan.”

Wake Bound
Wake Forest seemed an obvious choice for LaRue, who grew up idolizing Deacon legends like Muggsy Bogues and Sam Ivy. Head football coach Bill Dooley offered him a scholarship at the end of his sophomore year in high school, with Wake Forest being one of the first schools to offer an opportunity to play two sports. Head basketball coach Dave Odom saw more than superior athletic ability in the young high-school star.

“When we recruited Rusty, his athletic abilities were as obvious to us as they were to a number of coaches,” Odom says. “But beyond an incredible skill set, the way Rusty interacted with his family and the presence he had and respect he earned from his friends really set him apart.”

As Bob Plemmons, professor of mathematics, tells it, LaRue was one of those rare students who excelled both on the field and in the classroom. Plemmons, himself a former Wake Forest star pitcher and Baltimore Oriole farmhand, immediately connected with LaRue.

“I had some National Science Foundation research grants and asked Rusty if he wanted to work in my lab in the summer, which he did for four years. I remember watching the team play a game in Chapel Hill one afternoon on television, and late that night, I walked to campus to pick up some materials. When I arrived at the lab, there was Rusty working on a project he needed to complete. He was a good student, but what sticks in my mind was how hard a worker he was.”

Odom remembers a similar scene. “Rusty wanted to come to evening basketball practices while he was still in football season. He didn’t like my saying that I thought he should wait until after the last football game before he joined us. So one night I came back to the office after a recruiting trip, and there’s Rusty working on his shooting with Tammy doing the rebounding.”

A three-year starter on the gridiron playing under current Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, LaRue still holds numerous Wake Forest and ACC passing records. But if not for a bit of serendipity, his football career would have ended on a sour note.

“The first game of my senior year, I was benched at halftime and lost my starting job. I was really upset and frustrated, but continued to prepare as if I were the starter. When the guy who replaced me broke his arm, I got another shot, which allowed me to set a bunch of records. It was an important lesson about perseverance. Sometimes things go against you and sometimes things don’t seem fair, but you deal with it and keep moving forward.”

On the hardwood, LaRue was a key member of two ACC championship teams, including the 1995–96 squad that was defeated in the Elite Eight by eventual national champion Kentucky. He played in the NCAA Tournament for four consecutive seasons.

Odom recalls LaRue’s selfless side surfacing during the title run. “We had a legitimate chance at the national championship and then our point guard, Tony Rutland, went down with a knee injury in the ACC championship game. We didn’t really know what we were going to do, and then Rusty came in and volunteered to play the point. He helped get us through three games, including a great win over Louisville.

“Not many guys would put themselves in that kind of position, but one thing about Rusty was that he was never afraid to fail. Where others see obstacles, he sees solutions.”

Going Pro
After graduating with a degree in computer science, LaRue had his pick of job opportunities, but the basketball bug still had him.

“Tammy and I agreed that as long as we could pay the bills, we would give pro ball a shot,” he says.

After playing for a year in Paris, LaRue returned home and worked part time for AG Edwards while Tammy waited tables at Greensboro’s Cardinal Country Club.

“Our money was just about gone, and I had a terrific offer from Andersen Consulting in Charlotte. We were in Charlotte and had pretty much decided to call and accept the job when I stopped at a pay phone to check my messages. Clarence Gaines [scout for the Chicago Bulls and son of legendary Winston-Salem State Coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines] had called to say that the Connecticut Pride of the Continental Basketball Association [CBA] needed a guard, and we were off to Hartford.”

From there LaRue went to the Bulls summer camp and, after a brief stint with the Idaho Stampede, he was signed by the Bulls. While on the team, he was part of their 1998 NBA championship run.

Transitioning from college star to professional role-player presented new challenges. But Phil Jackson, who was then the coach of the Bulls, says he appreciated LaRue’s “team first” attitude.

“Rusty was a very good basketball reserve teammate,” Jackson says. “His role was not large, but it was still an important one to us.”

LaRue’s five-year odyssey in the pros also included stints with the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors. He even spent a season in Moscow playing in the SuproLeague, where he says he spent the “loneliest six months of my life.” It was the life of a basketball gypsy, chasing a dream with the perhaps-predictable highs and lows. So when the LaRues — now with three children in tow and another on the way — were ready to jump off the roller coaster, the choice was easy: Home was North Carolina’s Triad.

Coming Home

Before joining the Wake Forest staff, LaRue spent four years coaching highly successful teams at Forsyth Country Day School, doubling as the athletic director since 2007.

“I loved my time at Forsyth Country Day, and it was certainly special to work at a place where my [own] kids went to school. But honestly, the competitor in me yearned to get to the next level.”

LaRue knows his life has been blessed, and he’s committed to giving back to the community. He started the Rusty LaRue Charity Golf Classic in 2001, with all the proceeds benefiting The Children’s Center for the Physically Disabled of Winston-Salem — a public/private partnership to help young children born with physical disabilities.

“Rusty LaRue is one of the kindest, gentlest spirits I’ve ever known,” praises Mike Britt, the school’s executive director, who adds that LaRue is far more than a figurehead. “He attends the great majority of our planning meetings and is very hands-on, including making it a point to interact personally with every single person who participates,” Britt says. “But the beauty of it is that he maintains a low profile. He doesn’t want or need any credit; his focus is on helping the school and our children.”

Similarly, accepting head coach Dino Gaudio’s offer to join the Demon Deacon coaching staff meant a chance to give back to his alma mater.

LaRue remembers a lesson he learned early on from Bulls coach Phil Jackson.

“The first game I got in, I had an open shot but passed off. Phil took me aside and told me that if I passed up an open shot again, I would sit. The confidence he showed in me meant a lot, and I try to do the same for our players here at Wake.”

Gaudio points to LaRue’s standing in the eyes of team members and recruits. “Rusty comes to the job with instant credibility. Our kids know his story, what he’s done both on the court and in the classroom, and you can’t manufacture the kind of respect that brings.”

Or, as senior captain L.D. Williams puts it, “It’s pretty amazing to think about coach’s impact, and not just in basketball but on the whole university. He has our respect because he’s been where we want to go; [he’s won] an ACC championship.”

One sure way to get there again? Try telling Rusty LaRue they can’t.

Rusty Records

*He helped lead the Demon Deacons to two straight ACC championships and an Elite 8 appearance in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.