On the plaque: He was the University's Director of Athletics from 1985-94 and then Director of Special Gifts Development before spending 11 years as Executive Director of the Big 5. A basketball and baseball letter winner as a student, he also was a coach on the basketball staff for three years. A University employee for nearly 50 years, he worked in admissions, as Director of Conferences, and spent more than a decade as Director of Alumni Affairs for the Wharton School.
 
When Paul Rubincam got the call to inform him that he was going into the University of Pennsylvania Athletics Hall of Fame, he had a, well, different kind of immediate reaction.
 
Allow him to explain, as only he probably can.
 
"I turned around and said to my wife Penny, 'I think they want me to be the (Master of Ceremonies) at the (induction) event,'" Rubincam recalled, with a chuckle. "The Athletic Director (M. Grace Calhoun) is a lovely woman, so I guess I just wasn't getting it. But then I finally thought like, 'OK, I'll do it.'
 
"Turns out I was wrong."
 
For all the right reasons. But you have to forgive him. Because in his world, for all the good he's done for so many over all the years, it's never been about him. Nonetheless …
 
"It's a nice honor, for someone who spent his whole career at Penn," he quickly, sincerely added.
 
Indeed. Yet he didn't do it for this.
 
When Decker Uhlhorn, Penn's Senior Advisor, heard the story, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. Maybe because he understood how Rubincam came to that initial confusion.
 
"A lot of what he did was behind the scenes," said Uhlhorn, who was the person most responsible for bringing Rubincam up for consideration. "And that's how he wanted it. But his work was so important. I can't even imagine how many student-athletes he impacted, in any number of ways. And nobody ever had anything bad to say about him. He just went about being who he was and getting things done.
 
"If you're going to make a statement to define him, in my mind it would be (him saying) 'How can I help you?' and 'What can I do to make your job easier?' He didn't care about getting his name in the lights. He just had a passion for the University. And that was enough. He was a factor in countless lives, through his relationships and his work. That's his legacy. That's a good way to put it. And how do you put a true value on that?
 
"When you look at the essence of this (Director's) Award," he concluded, "it's about service and achievement. He's done that for a lifetime."
 
So what else is there to compute?
 
Still, the man who came to Penn as a basketball and baseball player over six decades ago and later became the AD for nine years beginning in 1985 can be excused for perhaps asking why him. But those who got to know him best don't have to be convinced.
 
"It's humbling," Rubincam acknowledged. "I mean, I've always been connected to Penn. But you don't think about it as it's happening. I didn't want to be anywhere else.
 
"When I was the Assistant Dean of Admissions I traveled a lot. And a lot of trips were to the West Coast. Howie Dallmar was the (basketball) coach when I came here. He was an All-America at Stanford, and then Stanford hired him back. And he wanted me to go out there with him (to be an assistant). I often wonder whether that would have been a good choice or not. But I was happy where I was at."
 
And Penn was just as glad to have him. Funny how that works out sometimes.
 
Oh, by the way, it's not Paul. Call him Herky. That's his nickname. But it's become the way most everyone refers to him. Including Rubincam. He's nothing if not unassuming.
 
"It's an interesting story, to me anyway," he said. "At age 3, I called myself Hercules. And the family went, 'Uh, I don't think that's going to fly.' At that point I had this fascination with Hercules. So they just changed it to Herky. And I've been Herky ever since. That's how I introduce myself. I don't say Paul. So it's been with me just about forever."
 
Rubincam was an all-state basketball player at Coatesville High School. For awhile he was leaning toward going to Penn State or Syracuse on a partial scholarship. That was before he spent two years at Lawrenceville (N.J.) Prep.
 
"I had to get three years of Spanish," he noted. "I didn't like my teacher (at Coatesville). It was very short-sighted. I made a lot of mistakes like that. But then Penn was where I wanted to go. And at that time you needed to have a foreign language to go there. So one year at Lawrenceville turned into two."
 
And the rest … well, not so fast. Turns out the journey wasn't without its detours. The biggest of which came right in the middle of him getting his college education.
 
He spent two years in the Army, after getting drafted. The first two months were at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Then it was off to Germany. Along the way, his athletic talent served him well.
 
"I was on the post's basketball team, so we traveled all over the Southwest," Rubincam said. "We had a nice bus, we had civilian clothes. And we played a lot. There was nothing going on. After that I got transferred overseas with my company. It was fun, a great experience. I think we were the best baseball team in Europe. I was a pretty good shortstop."
 
After he returned to Penn, he would have been the captain of the basketball team as a senior. There was only one problem. Since his military service had gotten in the way, he was out of eligibility. Don't ask.
 
"All they could say was 'sorry,'" Rubincam, who graduated in 1960, said matter-of-factly.
 
The basketball coach was one-time Quaker Jack McCloskey, who would go on to win back-to-back NBA championships as the general manager of the Detroit Pistons (with another former Penn coach, Chuck Daly, directing the "Bad Boys" on the court). While Rubincam was working in the admissions department, the future "Trader Jack" asked him to join his staff. Who knew?
 
Eventually, Herky became the AD. Uhlhorn was on the selection committee, just before he left to work for the Eagles for a decade. Rubincam would make the two most influential decisions that shaped the modern era of Penn athletics. In 1989 he promoted assistant Fran Dunphy, who had been at Penn for one season, to be the basketball coach. How'd that work out? Three years later he brought in Al Bagnoli from Division III Union to run the football program. Rubincam couldn't possibly have scripted it any better.
 
"Yes, they were my decisions," he said. "They were two really good hires. But I also hired Roger Reina (in 1986) to be the wrestling coach. I'm just as proud of that. Some people thought he was too young to get the job. He turned out to be an outstanding coach for us.
 
"I think most people were satisfied (with me). But there's some that probably thought I didn't do such a great job. I had nine great years. And then some people thought there should be change, because our president (Sheldon Hackney) was leaving. The same thing was going on at Yale, Princeton and Cornell. So everyone made changes, and we were all gone."
 
After that he spent 11 years as the Executive Director of the Big Five, when it was going through some difficult times. But Herky helped hold it together. Again, in a largely quiet manner.
 
"I didn't know what I was going to do, but Steve (Bilskly, who succeeded him as AD) asked me if I'd be interested," said Rubincam. "It was different. I thought (his predecessor) Dan Baker did a great job. It was challenging. There was a lot of pressure. I guess I did sort of handle it. There was some talk about trying to get Drexel in, but the other five schools weren't going to do it."
 
Whatever else he was doing, there was usually room for fundraising, which was something he could do forcefully enough albeit with a smile on his face.
 
"Yeah, you'd go after some big donors," he acknowledged. "It was sort of natural for me. I was such a Penn person. I'd tell people they should step up, send money. And I did enjoy it. But I wouldn't be asking somebody for money if they didn't have it. I could do some of my best work on the golf course."
 
Fair enough. These days he spends half of the year in Florida. And he and his Penny love the game. When Herky was AD he even got the sport reinstated at Penn. When they're not trying to break a course record they're often spending time with their three children (all highly successful in their own endeavors) and five grandchildren. No one has to remind him that he has it good. And always has. On that there is no room for any confusion.
 
"Penn is a very special place," Rubincam stressed. "It pretty much gave me everything. There are so many memories. Now they tend to blend together. I was just happy to be involved. That's certainly a nice way to think about it."
 
You think?
 
"He had the whole package," said Uhlhorn. "He was dedicated. You need that sense of tradition. He had great insight. Looking back, the decisions to hire Dunph and Bagnoli weren't easy. And there was so much more. Even with the Big Five. That means a great deal to Penn, too. We can't thank him enough."
 
Now they have, by officially making him a recognizable part of the history. That's forever.
 
Only thing left now is to see how he does with that MC gig.