The Boys of Summer

It appears that Dad passed on his love of sports on to his sons.

Jim, Tom, Don - around 1958
Dad has the boys identified, but didn't date this picture.

Lou, Jr. - back row, far left
1958

Tom - back row, left -- Don - front row, far right
maybe 1959

Jim - back row, far left
1959

Lou, Jr. - back row, far left
1959

Take me out to the ballgame!

Play Ball!

Lou Butler - baseball player
Summer, 1951

In February, 1951 Lou was discharged from the Navy for the second time after serving in the Korean War. (More about that later.) That summer the family returned to Colorado State College of Education in Greeley, Colorado to continue his education. True to form, Lou found time to play ball of some kind - this time softball.

"Kansas" Softball Team - Summer 1951
All States Softball League - CSCE
Lou Butler -- front row, far left

The recreation department at CSCE organized a “States Softball League” each summer, and I played with the Kansas team. We had a lot of fun, played often, and won most of our games. We also got games outside of the league. For one game we went to Berthoud to play, and our manager/player from Chicago gave us each a name of a famous baseball player on the lineup he handed to the announcer. The crowd got a big kick out of hearing Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and other big baseball names – especially when they beat us badly! We played together for three summers, with few changes each year.

I wonder which big name Dad was . . .

PJC Indians – January 1947 & 1948

January 1947 - This season we really got serious about basketball. Some of the veterans were still smoking, and Coach Simmons said it was okay if they wanted to, but he really ran them a lot and most of them quit.

Champions! - on the way to California

We had a very successful season and won the conference championship. In March we were invited to the Western States College Basketball Tournament in Compton, California and really wanted to go since we hadn’t gone the previous season.

Tournament Schedule

We left for the tournament a week early to get to California in time to be rested up and get some practice at the lower altitude. We lost to Dixie first on Wednesday at 3:30, and then to McNeese on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. We had a great time, but were not too successful against the large schools that were competing at Compton Jr. College in Los Angeles. They were much bigger schools and just too much competition.

Leona and I had very little money, and I kept what I had for Leona. The coach would pay for my meals and rooms, so I needed very little. To get some money, I ate big when Coach paid for the meals, and I ate little when he gave me money to buy my own meals. So I came home with more money than I had when I left on the trip!

Final season for my college basketball career - 1948
We started basketball again in December of 1947 by playing two teams in one night! We won the first, but lost the second and Coach Simmons said that we should have won both games, but some of the team were still smoking and not able to keep going because we weren’t in shape. Needless to say, he really worked us hard getting ready for the next games. We never lost another game and we were invited to a National Tournament, this time in Scott City, Kansas. [Our local source reports that the team won 22 straight games!]
We left Pueblo in three cars in mid March 1948. As we got into Kansas it was snowing and there was a lot of snow already on the ground. We were following a snowplow as we finally got to a small hotel in Greensburg, Kansas and stayed there until the tournament was over, and then we headed back to Pueblo, very disappointed. My basketball career had ended; what a way to end!

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

Friday Night Lights - PJC Style

After his discharge from the service, Lou enrolled in Pueblo Junior College and started classes in January of 1946. He played on the basketball team that season, and then added another sport to his resume when he joined the football team in the fall of that same year. These pictures show that Dad was not a big guy, only about the size of his son Don - and nobody would ever mistake Don for a football player! But as we read in his account that follows, he played well and loved the sport.

#30 - Pueblo Junior College Football Team
Fall of 1946 and 1947

I went out for football that fall [1946], and played left end. In those days we played both offense and defense (and had no protection for the nose or face on our helmets!). Since Coach Simmons only used football as the place to get his basketball team in shape, most of the coaching was done by other players who had high school experience. In my case, it was Bob Butler (no relation to me) who had been an All Conference End at Pueblo Central High School before the war.



Bob took over the job of helping me to know the position, which was his position too. So I was second or third in line from the start. However, during the first few practices he was hurt and from then on just helped to coach, and I got the opportunity to be the starter most of the time. The greatest confidence builder for me was in our first game. I was able to take out the interference with a successful rolling block which enabled the line backer to make the tackle. I heard Bob Butler yell to Coach Simmons, “See that! You don’t have to worry about that end position!”


I had a very successful season, missing only one game in Grand Junction against Mesa Junior College as I didn’t want to be out of town when Lou, Jr. was born.

November 1946 marked the end of the football season. I had reluctantly played football, and had really done it only to satisfy the basketball coach, who wanted me to be rougher on the basketball floor. To my surprise, at my soaking wet 130 pounds, I played, never got hurt and loved the game. I started most of the season and lettered. I ended up enjoying it as much as basketball, almost.

The All - American Couple

I had a fairly successful football season again [in 1947] and was lucky enough to never get hurt even though I played both offense and defense on the starting team. We only lost one game, and that was to Trinidad Jr. College.

Lou's greatest fan!

College Basketball - 1946

Lou Butler in white uniform, behind #22

First Season Playing Basketball
Pueblo Junior College – January 1946

Since I had been discharged from the Navy, I now had to decide what I was going to do. We had debated whether I should go to work (my dad really wanted me to go to work for the Missouri Pacific Railroad where he worked) or whether I should use my GI Bill and go to school. I was qualified for enough time on the GI Bill to get my BA and MA, and I knew I didn’t want to work for the railroad with all of its layoffs and constant working on nights and weekends. So I entered Pueblo Jr. College, not really knowing what I wanted to major in, just knowing I wanted to participate in sports. I enrolled in the business department with intentions of majoring in accounting. I also went out for basketball.


Harry Simmons was the coach and he was very helpful to one who had not played any ball in high school and needed a lot of coaching. He admired my hustle and determination to learn and so spent a lot of time trying to get my speed, coordination, and the ball into sync. I spent much time dribbling around the court whenever I was not on the floor until I could dribble without kicking the ball.

Leona had rented an upstairs apartment at 1701 East 7th Street, just 2 blocks from my folks and about 2 blocks from her folks. We had about 15 stairs going up to the apartment, but it seemed like a lot more when I arrived home after my first day's practice with the college basketball team. I had ridden the bus and streetcar for about an hour and had time to get good and stiff from the very strenuous workout!

Leona on THE STAIRS!

Most of the team had just returned to school from the service, and most of them had taken up smoking while in the service. Coach Simmons said he didn’t care if they smoked as long as they could keep up. He really worked us hard and most of them decided to give up smoking in order to keep up! Even though I didn’t smoke, I stood at the foot of those stairs thinking that I could never make it to the top!

Pueblo Junior College Basketball Team, January - March 1946

Lou Butler - back row, far right

INDIANS Basketball Prospectus

"All Pueblo Junior College games will be played in the spacious Junior College Gym where new fan shaped backboards have been installed this season. The new backboards should speed up our games and eliminate the mad scrambles that were evidenced with the rectangular boards."

Admissions -- Adults 60 cents --- Students 30 cents (Tax included)

"Louis Butler is short in statue [sic] and experience, but long on eagerness and speed. Louie stands but 5' 9", but his hustle and determination give him the necessary qualifications to become an outstanding player. A few games under his 'belt' and we can expect good basketball from this boy. Louie is a former Centennial student."

I played junior varsity mostly and got into some of the varsity games that season. Leona went with us on the bus to many of the games out of town. One of our first games was in Trinidad (Colorado) where, it seems, I spent more time on the floor from being knocked down, than I spent standing up. However, I missed 16 straight free throws! I can assure you I spent much time the next week and future weeks at the free throw line shooting free throws after most of the team was in the showers.

We had a very successful season and were invited to go to the National Junior College Basketball Tournament, but we didn’t have any money in the budget for basketball, let alone enough to go to a tournament, so we couldn’t accept the invitation. There were only 6 men on the campus when the 1945-1946 school year started and only about 250 when we all got out of the service in December.