Robert Gruenig
(1913-1958)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1963
Card Shown:
1986-2002 Basketball Hall of Fame
Metallic Card
Position: C
Height: 6’8″
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Bob “Ace” Gruenig was one of the top basketball players in the 1930s and 1940s. At 6’8″ and 230 pounds, he was one of the first true big men to play the game. Gruenig was an effective scorer and rebounder who used his patented hook shot to score with either hand from distances of up to twelve feet from the basket. After high school, Bob began a long and distinguished career in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball.
Awards and Honors
- Bob played basketball at Crane Tech High School in Chicago where he was an all-state selection. Although he started as an awkward athlete, hard work and practice eventually led Bob to lead the league in scoring during his last three years.
- During his career, Bob made the AAU All-America team an astounding ten times between 1937 and 1948.
- Gruenig led his AAU teams to three national titles with the Denver Safeway Stores in 1937, the Denver Nuggets in 1939, and the Denver American Legion in 1942.
- In 1943, Bob won the Los Angeles Sports Award Medallion which recognized the country’s best basketball player.
- Gruenig was named to the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in 1957.
Points of Interest
- Although he never played college basketball, Gruenig became a star in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). He enrolled at Northwestern College but he never played basketball there as he left before the season started due to financial reasons.
- After beginning his AAU career in Chicago, Gruenig was recruited to play AAU basketball in Denver with the Safeway Piggly-Wiggly team. In Denver he teamed with Hall of Fame basketball player Jack McCracken to form one of the best front lines in basketball. The Denver teams were strong in an era where the AAU Championship tournament was held in Denver for a period of over thirty years.
- Ace came out of retirement in 1948 to play one season of basketball in the National Basketball League (NBL) with the Denver Nuggets. He finished the season in the top ten in scoring before retiring for good at the end of the season.
- In addition to the championship teams listed above, other AAU teams that Gruenig played for included the Chicago Rosenberg-Arvey, Chicago Fast Freighters, Denver Ambrose Jellymakers, and Denver Murphy-Mahoney.
- In 1968 Gruenig and McCracken, who had been so closely connected throughout their AAU basketball careers in Denver, were inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Robert Gruenig Videos
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