Alexander: Bob Rule helped make Riverside a basketball town
(WorldNews Sport)

If Jerry Tarkanian had taken the word of the Riverside Poly coaches at face value all those years ago, rather than following his instincts, the basketball world might never have heard of Bob Rule. But as it happened, when Rule passed away in his sleep Sept. 5 at the age of 75, he was remembered as a solid NBA player over seven seasons and the Seattle SuperSonics’ first homegrown star. Before that, he was a 6-foot-9 star at Colorado State. And before that, he was the key building block for a Riverside City College team that launched a run of three straight state championships and kick-started Tarkanian’s Hall of Fame coaching career. At Poly, Rule was gifted but raw, and...