A senior from Spring Hill, Fla., Ruoff will receive a $2,000
scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies.
He is the third West Virginia player in the last four years to win the
award, joining 2006 winner Joe Herber and 2008 honoree Ted Talkington.
Ruoff finished the 2008-09 regular season as the Mountaineers’
second-leading scorer with an average of 15.7 points per game. He ranks
third in the Big East in three-point field goals made (2.76 per game),
eighth in free throw shooting (80.4 percent), seventh in minutes played
(35.62 per game) and eighth in steals (1.72 per game).
Ruoff holds a 3.79 grade-point average as a history major. He has been a
Dean’s List student every year as an undergraduate and has been named to
the Big East All-Academic Team in each of his first three years. He was
chosen to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team this
season after earning third-team honors last year.
Ruoff has been involved with a number of community service efforts,
including the Mountaineers’ Read Aloud program at area schools. He has
been active with fundraising for Hurricane Katrina relief, visited the
pediatric ward of West Virginia Children’s Hospital and has donated his
time to an American Cancer Society-sponsored camp for children with
cancer. He has participated in West Virginia’s Student-Athletes Speak
Out program for character education in middle schools and with the
National Family Caregivers Association program.