If you walked into Ed Ruisz’s classroom, you were going to be engaged and entertained.
If you signed up to be coached by Ruisz in football or track and field, you were going to become a better athlete and person.
If you committed to strength and agility training, Ruisz was one of the nation’s best instructors.
Ruisz was a lot of things to a lot of people: teacher, coach, instructor, father figure, brother, friend. To those who knew him best, he had a special gift no matter which hat he wore.
“He was a dynamic social studies teacher who brought history to life by simply telling the story in a way a textbook could not,” said Bob Brittain, who was taught and coached by and later coached with Ruisz. “You never had to take a note in his class, but you always knew the answer for the test because of the way he presented the information. And he never needed to refer to a note because he had the information down rock solid.”
Brittain was among the lucky ones. He had Ruisz in many facets of his life.
Brittain and thousands of others who crossed paths with Ruisz were devastated earlier this month when they learned of Ruisz’s passing at age 70.
Though the Riegelsville resident retired more than a decade ago from teaching and coaching, and gave up the business he created, Speed Advantage Training, his presence and influence remained immeasurable until his death.
“I’m devastated but so blessed to have spent so many hours with him,” said Eric Markovcy, Lehigh’s director of strength and conditioning who interned with Ruisz more than two decades ago while working toward his exercise science degree at East Stroudsburg University.
“He taught me so much. I got to share so much of my life with him. I refuse to be disappointed, upset and feel sad anymore. I feel so lucky. I’m lying a little bit. I’m talking now and getting a little emotional because he was so important. But then I switch back to the great memories and it brings a smile to my face.”
Ruisz graduated from Parkland in 1973 and Muhlenberg in 1977. He began his teaching career at Palisades in 1977. He later was the head football and track and field coach there.
The Bronx, N.Y., native had tremendous knowledge in everything he taught in the classroom, on the track, on the football field and in realm of athletic training. But his people skills elevated him above most everyone else.
“I thought I knew how to train people,” Markovcy said. “The one thing he taught me was that one size doesn’t fit all. He helped me evolve as a coach. He coached the person as opposed to the sport. He extracted so much from people because of the respect he earned by building the relationship.
“A lot of that happened on the front or back end of training by casually talking with athletes. Some skills are learned skills. He just had this God-given gift to meet people and connect to them because he had a good heart and was doing it for the right reason. People were able to see that.”
Ruisz the teacher spent 35 years growing the students’ love for learning. He grew the advance placement history program at Palisades. There were 18 AP history students when he took over. There were 52 a few years later.
The Pirates football program won 20 games in its first 15 years of existence and owned the state’s longest losing streak in the mid-1980s. Ruisz took over in 1986. By 1988, the team had a winning record.
Riusz built Palisades’ track and field program into one of the state’s best. The girls team still owns the region’s longest winning streak at 166 consecutive dual meets.
He did it all with knowledge and the ability to grow relationships while pushing athletes and students to their physical and emotional limits.
Early in Ruisz’s coaching career, he met Johnny Parker, the New York Giants’ strength and conditioning coach from 1984 to 2007. Parker took Ruisz to Russia for a two-week graduate course in strength and conditioning. It changed the direction of Ruisz’s career path as well as that of the teams he mentored at Palisades. He brought back Soviet techniques in plyometrics and interval training.
The results spoke for themselves. Ruisz’s influence on young coaches also became evident.
Brian Gilbert was a rising teacher and football coach at Palisades when he met Ruisz. Gilbert deferred to him regarding strength and speed training. He leaned on him for advice in coaching and teaching.
Years after Ruisz retired, he remained a contributor for Gilbert, who stepped down from coaching football and is Palisades’ athletic director.
“Each spring, including last spring, he would come to every track meet to announce,” Gilbert said. “He was still so sharp. He knew the records of every event, which school had them, the times, etc. His passion for track, football and coaching in general was infectious.
“As a young coach looking for an edge in strength and speed training, I would refer to Ed and his team. They were truly pioneers in that industry.”
Ruisz eventually created a business from his strength and conditioning knowledge, Speed Advantage Training. It continues to thrive today through Markovcy, who inherited the company when Ruisz retired.
Markovcy went from intern to employee to owner. Out of respect and love for Ruisz, Markovcy never changed the name of the company when he took it over.
“We had a hybrid relationship,” Markovcy said. “He was a father, brother, friend to me, a mixture of so many different aspects. Our relationship went far behind a working relationship. That’s how he connected with everybody he worked with.
“It was never about a paycheck, never about training the highest-profile person. He treated a 10-year-old with the same amount of respect and energy as he did world-class athletes.”
Ruisz also never got stale. He changed with the times. He adapted his teaching, coaching and training to what was best for the students and athletes.
That is what allowed Ruisz’s company to flourish decades after he took what he learned in Russia and brought it to American athletes.
“We never duplicated a [training] program once dating back to 2000,” the 46-year-old Markovcy said. “[The company] continues to evolve relative to the need of the athlete. Ed put so much time and energy into what he learned, what was needed.
“Last year, we won a championship at Lehigh for football. The [training] program this year is completely different because the guys are different. It has evolved. It’s a continual evolution.”
Former Palisades students, athletes and assistant coaches two months ago petitioned the school board, one Ruisz once served as president of, to name the Palisades Fitness Center in his honor.
Those who knew Ed Ruisz could not think of a better way to pay tribute to his memory.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
