The "A " Team

One of Lou's greatest passions was basketball. Although he didn't play on a high school team, he developed a love for the sport in his teenage years and was still playing backyard pick up games with his grandsons into his 70's - he usually let the grandsons win! He played on the college team after getting out of the Navy, and then all through his working years he loved to play with other principals and teachers. I've heard those Thursday night games could get a little intense! One of his dreams was to slam dunk a basketball, and he fulfilled that dream in the Bessemer Elementary School gym. So it was just natural that as soon as he got to his duty station at Adak, he was playing ball in his free time.

Adak Basketball Team
Lou Butler - 5th from left

It was not very long after we arrived until we began to go to the Airbase, which was about a 20 minute walk, where we could play basketball. We had a lot of fun together playing basketball. Stan Friedman from New York, Cy Emerling from Wisconsin, and I were the constant ones who played; the others were “maybes.” If we were playing in the bigger league down at Navy Town, we would have to try to get our motor pool to provide a truck to take us down. We didn’t have a bus, but used a covered truck when we could get them to haul us down. It was about 15 miles from our radio station on Clam Lagoon.

Lou Butler - #5
back row, far left

We often played basketball between the day shift and the graveyard shift and any other time that we were off if we could get the gym. We entered every league we could get into around the island. If we had 7 or 8 guys we could often get a jeep or truck to go to the games.

Our very own basketball star
1944-45