Bud Brotebeck never really left Flint. The 1949 Flint Central High graduate has been based elsewhere for more than 50 years but remains a goodwill ambassador for his hometown. “I have only great memories of Flint, the fine people and the good schools,” Brotebeck said. “Now I’m getting a very special honor and couldn’t be more pleased.”
Now 70, Brotebeck merits induction into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame because of a splendid career in basketball and baseball at Central and at Western Michigan University. He was involved as player, coach, administrator or official for all or parts of six decades, retiring after 26 years as an official in basketball and softball.
During his career he was a star in the City Baseball League and the Class AA City Basketball League, played two seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization, spent two years in the service and coached 10 seasons at Romeo High before becoming a fixture in the Kalamazoo area. He went there from Romeo, hoping to land a coaching job at WMU from which he had graduated in 1953.
When that didn’t pan out, he joined the Portage school system and spent 19 years as an administrator which included a term as athletic director. All this from a youngster who was cut from Central’s basketball team because he was too small. “I was only 5-6 and 105 pounds,” said Brotebeck, who eventually grew to be a 6-footer.
In a 1983 Flint Journal story, Dick Evans, former basketball coach at Central, recalled Brotebeck’s debut. “We had to close all the windows in the gym so he wouldn’t blow away,” Evans said. Brotebeck persevered, finally catching the attention of the late Jim Richards, Central’s junior varsity coach. In that same article, Richards said, “He was different. He worked so hard and was a fighter. I liked that.”
He was promoted to the varsity as a mid-year junior and was an immediate star. He helped the Indians win the Saginaw Valley Conference championship and reach the Class A state tournament semifinals before losing to Jackson by one point.
He was the Valley’s No. 4 scorer and named to the all SVC first team. He earned two Central letters in basketball and two in baseball. At Western he earned three basketball letters and two in baseball. Although he was a scorer as a Central basketball forward, he concentrated on defense as a WMU guard. “That was a major adjustment,” Brotebeck said.
The adjustment must have gone smoothly because he twice was named to the Mid-American Conference second team and helped win a share of an MAC title. He had batting averages of .338 and .333 in baseball, being named to the all-MAC second team in 1953 when Western tied for third in the College World Series. Brotebeck was selected as “Man of the Year,” for Western’s “W” club in 1995 and inducted into the WMU Hall of Fame in 1997.
He helped Dodds-Dumanois win the City Baseball League championship in 1951 and a berth in the National Amateur Baseball Federation tournament. He starred for Emerson Inn in the City Basketball League, later with Robert’s TV. Two years in the service followed, then two years in baseball’s minors.
He said, “No one had to tell me I never would be good enough to make the majors.” So he went to Romeo for 10 years, winning four conference basketball championships and reaching the state tournament quarterfinals in 1959. He also met his wife, Pat. Sons Mike and Mark and daughter Mary Pat followed.Assessing his career, Brotebeck once said, “There’s no question the competitive aspect of sports made me a lot better person by realizing things don’t always come out the way you wish. You learn to take the good with the bad and try to measure whatever successes through victory against the agonies of defeat, no matter how corny that may sound.
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