Telephone: 513/598-1141 Fax: 513/598-4623 Email: RogerLRuhl@aol.com

Roger Ruhl, Sergeant, U.S. Army, retired, is alive and well and living in his native Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ruhl spent three years at hometown Xavier University where he captained the golf team and worked in the sports information office. He worked part-time and and interned at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Opportunity knocked in 1965 between his junior and senior years, and he headed off to West Virginia University as full-time assistant athletic publicity director and full-time student finishing undergraduate studies and starting graduate school. When his boss left, he was named athletic publicity director.

Then, Uncle Sam interrupted his good life. With the West Virginia National Guard closed (the football tickets he had been giving the general went for naught when it was discovered the Guard was 400% over strength), he was drafted in May 1968. He was surprised that no one in the Army seemed impressed with his journalism background. While in advanced infantry training at Fort Dix, N.J., he learned that performing well is not always a good thing. The rest of his company went to Europe, and he was rewarded with an assignment to Combat Leadership School at Fort Benning, Ga. He magnanimously tried to defer to others whom he said were more deserving of the honor, but no one would listen.

Combat Leadership School brought “instant sergeant” stripes and a guaranteed ticket to Vietnam. Ruhl was assigned to the 1^st Air Cavalry Division and eventually the 1^st Squadron, 9^th Cavalry. When told his unit led the division in “kills,” he asked, “Us or them?” He was assigned temporarily to Troop C which needed a clerk. While clerking, a West Virginia friend Mack Allison introduced him to Maj. J.D. Coleman, who was beefing up the Cav’s information office. A couple weeks later, he was filling the publications NCOIC slot vacated by Bob Dyslin, and he quietly remained there from September 1969 until his discharge in February 1970.

Ruhl quickly adapted to civilian life. Plans to return to West Virginia changed when a friend was named general manager of the Cincinnati Royals pro basketball team. Ruhl was hired as public relations director. Eight months later the Cincinnati Reds called, and he spent the next 13 years with the Big Red Machine (publicity director, promotion director and eventually Vice President Marketing). When he tired of baseball, he joined a friend at his ad agency for three years and then spent 13 years as Vice President of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. In 2000 he started his own marketing communications consulting practice and now provides counsel and services to a small number of select clients, assisting them with marketing planning, market research, public relations, advertising, public affairs and other special projects. He says two strategic goals are to work for likeable clients and to remain a one-person company. His hourly rate carries a surcharge if he has to wear a coat and tie.

Ruhl is single, divorcing in 1996 after 24 years of marriage. His daughter Becky lives in Cincinnati. He plays golf at Oasis Golf Club (USGA index 11.9 and climbing). He is a board member of UpBuilding Ministries and serves on the Advisory Board of St. Anthony Messenger Press. He has served on the boards of National Association of Membership Development; the chamber of commerce, convention and visitors bureau, film commission and Downtown Council in Cincinnati; Seven Hills Savings and Cornerstone Bank.

Ruhl on the future: “Continue working so long as it’s enjoyable and feels purposeful. Hope that advances in golf technology keep pace with physical deterioration. Stay healthy. Enjoy friendships. Give back. Make the most of life.

(8/19/05)