Penn Athletics Mourns the Passing of Former Director of Athletics Paul (Herky) Rubincam
 
PHILADELPHIA – Penn Athletics was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Paul (Herky) Rubincam, a former Director of Athletics and a Penn Athletics Hall of Fame member.
 
Rubincam was the University's Director of Athletics from 1985-93 and then Associate Vice President/Director of Special Gifts before spending another 11 years in the Penn Athletics footprint as Executive Director of the Philadelphia Big 5. A basketball and baseball letter winner as a student—he graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 1960—he also was a coach on the basketball staff for three years. Rubincam was inducted into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of Class XI in 2019, the first recipient of the HOF's Director's Award. (Read Mike Kern's HOF profile on Herky here)
 
"I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Paul Rubincam," Alanna Shanahan, the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation said. "Herky's impact on the University, Penn Athletics and the Big 5 was profound and his induction into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019 was so well deserved. There are few Quakers who had five decades of service to our great University like Paul did. My thoughts and prayers are with the Rubincam family during this time."
 
Among his many accomplishments as Penn's AD, Rubincam can be credited with making three of the most significant hires in the athletic department's history: Fran Dunphy as head coach of men's basketball, Al Bagnoli as head football coach, and Roger Reina as head wrestling coach (hiring Reina at the callow age of 24, by far the youngest wrestling coach in America at the time). Those three won a total of 27 Ivy League championships and made the Quakers Ivy League and national powers during their respective tenures.
 
Rubincam's passing will resonate across the entire campus. He was a University employee for nearly 50 years, working in admissions, as Director of Conferences, and more than a decade as Director of Alumni Affairs for Wharton.
 
Rubincam's connection to Penn extends all the way back to 1953, when he entered the University as a freshman. Military service interrupted his education, extending it to 1960 when he finally graduated. Rubincam was elected captain of the 1959-60 men's basketball team but was unable to play due to eligibility issues caused by his military duty. Instead, he served as an assistant coach with that team and returned to the coaching staff two years after graduation.
 
While coaching, Rubincam also worked with the admissions office, where he later served as assistant dean until 1970. From 1970-74, he took the newly formed position of Director of Conferences, before moving to Wharton as its director of alumni affairs. He spent more than a decade in that position before coming to Penn Athletics as its AD.
 
Rubincam is survived by his wife, Penny, also a 1960 Penn grad; their children, Paul C'87, Lindsay and Peter C'93; and six grandchildren. Paul Jr. played soccer for the Quakers and was a team captain.
 

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