Born in the United States as Michael Paul Rutzgis, around 1938 he moved to Kaunas, Lithuania and became CJSO () basketball team member and player. He was invited to Lithuania national basketball team and became champion of Europe in 1939. He was fifth in scoring during the competition. Around 1940 Ruzgys returned to the United States and was forced to leave his pregnant wife Danutė in Lithuania. He never saw her again due to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania and never met his daughter, who was born just a few weeks after he left.