Richard “Rick” Brueckner, 74, of Nokomis, died on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, at HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.
Visitation will be held Wednesday, July 14, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Stiehl-Dawson Funeral Home in Nokomis.
Mr. Brueckner was born April 12, 1947, in Springfield, to Melvin and Dorothy (Nicol) Brueckner.
He graduated from Nokomis High School with the class of 1965.
During his high school basketball career, Mr. Brueckner held the scoring record of 1701 points (before the 3-point line) for over 30 years at NHS. He also has the single game point record of 41 points against Mt. Olive; most points in a season (598 points in 1963-64); most points averaged in a season (24.1 in 1964-65); total points in a high school career (1701 in 84 games, better than 20 points per game average); and most rebounds in a varsity game with 1024 points in 84 games for an average of 12 per game.
He went on to attend Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, where he played on the 1967 Saluki team that won the NIT (National Invitational Tournament) which was held at Madison Square Gardens. He also played and coached fast pitch softball for many years, culminating in a 1983 State Championship.
Mr. Brueckner was a school teacher and coach. He coached freshman football and J.V. basketball for many years. He retired in 2004 after 26 years with the Nokomis School District. During his career, he taught at Nokomis Grade School, South Middle School and Nokomis High School.
He was a member of Nokomis Sportsmans Club and United Methodist Church. He will always be remembered as an avid outdoorsman, loyal St. Louis Cardinals fan and fisherman, who fished in many ponds without permission.
Mr. Brueckner is survived by his cousins, Tammy (Terry) Richmond and Sharon Sanders, both of Hillsboro.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and cousin-in-law, Rich Sanders.
Online condolences to the family may be left at www.stiehldawsonfh.com.
