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John Jr. cut his own path on the gridiron, playing minor football for the Alta Vista Raiders and then in high school for St. Pat’s, as a running back and linebacker. At Carleton University Ruddy was renowned for his devastating hits from the cornerback position.

As a boy, Ruddy already had ties to the CFL Rough Riders. Ruddy’s second family residence in Ottawa was on Chalmers Road, near the Billings Estate, a few doors down from legendary Riders head coach Frank Clair. The Clair and Ruddy families were close, and John Jr. met numerous Rough Riders players from the family association.

On Friday, Ruddy and his four OSEG partners were inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame for their role in reviving Ottawa’s CFL franchise and revamping the Lansdowne district.

One of six children — three boys, three girls — born to Georgina and John Ruddy, John Jr. remembers a home where kids were challenged to excel.

“My parents led by example,” Ruddy says. “They encouraged individuality — wanted us to find our own way.”

Over the years the family endured more than its share of tragedy. All three of the Ruddy sisters died prematurely, two of them of their own will. Julia ended her life in 1983 and Christina in 2007. Gina died of cancer in 2013. In a small mercy, Georgina wasn’t alive to see the last of her girls pass. John Sr. died in 2009 in his 87th year, after suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Losing two daughters to suicide was catastrophic for a mother, and no less for the whole family.