June 2024 Athlete of the Month
By Del Moon, NSGA PR Specialist
Bruce Rubin, 80
Lansdale, Pennsylvania
Photograph courtesy of Fox 29/WTXF.
Bruce Rubin believes 30 years of basketball playing helped him in two ways to overcome a cancer that is rare among men.
After a tumble on the court at his all-ages league practice last year, Bruce went to the hospital when his backache did not get better. “While I was waiting to be seen I found a lump on my right breast, and they referred me to a doctor. It turned out to be stage 3B breast cancer.”
Male breast cancer represents less than 1 percent of all breast carcinomas. Most men, including Bruce, do not have checking for it on their radar and find it in later stages. “If I hadn’t been playing basketball and gotten knocked down by a couple of young men, I may not have found it in time,” he says flatly.
Last August, Bruce’s right breast and four lymph nodes were removed, and he is convinced basketball put him in the best physical shape to take on and survive cancer. Now 80, Bruce wasn’t a natural athlete in youth and did not get active in sports until midlife. “I played on the schoolyard like most kids and wasn’t in good enough shape to make any of my school teams,” he explains. “I’ve been serious about basketball for the past 30 years.”
Bruce started dabbling with roundball at a local school district’s evening league in 1977, but his career in supply chain, global sourcing and product development and pursuit of a master’s degree limited his activity. “A workmate and I would go to lunch and then weigh ourselves in the shipping department,” he says. “When I hit 210 pounds, I told my wife to cut out the junk and went on a diet. I started to run as well as playing more ball to get into shape.”
“I still play in that school league,” he adds. “The youngest is 19 and most are in their 30s and 40s. I am now the oldest by far,” he says. “The only time I play people my age is at Senior Games. I think it makes me a better player.”
The Senior Games Journey
A friend introduced Bruce to local Senior Games in 2008 and connected him with two other players, Rob Berry and Dave Marovich. The three formed the core of the Bux Mont Warriors, which has stayed together since they began competing at the 2009 National Senior Games in Palo Alto.
“It was just the three of us when we started, and we pretty much got beat up and didn’t win a single game that first trip,” he recalls. “But the highlight of the games was us going to watch Dave throw the discus. He’s also a decathlete. It was there I witnessed a 102-year-old man twirl around and toss that discus. It was just a few feet but who cares? Just getting upright at that age is an achievement. I knew at that moment I wanted to keep going for as long as I can.”
The Bux-Mont Warriors Men’s 70+ Bronze Medal team, 2015 National Senior Games presented by Humana. Front row (L to R): Rob Berry, Dave Maravich, Bruce Rubin. Back row: Steve Lawrence and Roger Raspen.
The Bux-Mont Warriors captain brought in additional regular members, and the team won a Men’s 70+ Bronze Medal in 2015. “We recruited a couple of good players that year, including a tall guy. Every team we play seems to have one except us. We’re still looking for a tall guy to join us when we enter the 80+ level in 2025.”
Bruce is always on the lookout for new team members. “When I moved to this 55+ community where I live people asked if I did it to meet more ladies since I am a widower. I said no, I have lady friends. I’m hoping to find guys to play basketball with me!”
The octogenarian has done some competitive running, including five Penn Relays, but his main love is basketball, which brings in the dynamics of team play working with others. He treasures having kept mostly the same members for nearly two decades and has found a wider circle of friends in sport. “It’s nice to get to see the same people come back every two years and in the regional games. I’ve got a group I can grow old with.”
“I also enjoy traveling to parts of the country I may never go to, like Albuquerque in 2019,” he adds. “I decided to fly to Denver and rent a car to tour down through Taos and Santa Fe, and then I picked up my team at the airport. I also found an old friend from my Brooklyn days who lived there, and he came out to watch us play and visit with me.”
Bruce never felt stressed about the stigma often associated with being a man with breast cancer. “That doesn’t matter. We’re all going to get something, and it’s often cancer,” he says. “My best advice is that if you get into shape and keep active, you’ll be able to get through the worst of it. You need to be aware of your body.”
Bruce’s only stress seems to be finding a tall guy to complete his team. Something tells us he will!
