Edgar L. "Bud" Bruner (December 7, 1907 – February 21, 1996) was an American

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

Career

Bruner was a star athlete at

duPont Manual High School duPont Manual High School is a public magnet high school located in the Old Louisville neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It serves students in grades 9– 12. It is a part of the Jefferson County Public School District. DuPo ...

in Louisville. He lettered in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, football and track. Bruner was inducted into the duPont Manual High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 2005. His participation in boxing began in the 1930s while he was employed by the City of Louisville Recreation Department. He was responsible for playground tournaments, followed by district and city championships. In 1939, Bruner became athletic director at the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

post it Fort Knox. His responsibilities included setting up and supervising several boxing gyms, organizing and supervising numerous boxing shows and tournaments, and selecting and accompanying a Fort Knox representative team to the State

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

Tournament. Bruner also managed the baseball team and coached the basketball team. Among the baseball players Bruner managed at Fort Knox were future Major Leaguers Stan Lopata,

Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher, later an announcer and television host, popular for his colorful personality. Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Basebal ...

Roy Sievers Roy Edward Sievers (November 18, 1926 – April 3, 2017) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and left fielder from through . A five-time All-Star, Sievers was the American L ...

, and

Early Wynn Early Wynn Jr. (January 6, 1920 – April 4, 1999), nicknamed "Gus", was an American professional baseball right-handed pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox, dur ...

. Bruner's basketball teams went up against

Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 – December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. He is ranked seventh in total victories by a men's NCAA Division I college coach, winning 876 games in 41 years of coaching at the Univ ...

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

four times. Although they lost all four games, Bruner liked to joke that he "knew how to play Rupp" because UK didn't score more than 68 points in any of the games. After seven years in Fort Knox, Bruner resigned and returned to Louisville. From 1951 to 1959, he served as matchmaker for the Louisville Golden Gloves Tournament. He was also the matchmaker for the 1956 and 1960

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Boxing Trials and for William H. King Promotions. Bruner opened the Headline Boxing Gym in 1952 and started managing and training boxers. He trained fourteen Kentucky State Golden Gloves Champions, eight of whom were named the best boxer of the tournament. His most notable boxers were welterweight contender Rudell Stitch, future WBA

World Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

Jimmy Ellis Jimmy Ellis may refer to: * Jimmy Ellis (boxer) (1940–2014), American boxer * Jimmy "Orion" Ellis (1945–1998), American singer * Jimmy "Preacher" Ellis (born 1935), American musician * Jimmy Ellis (1938–2012), lead singer of The Trammps * Ji ...

and Mayfield Pennington, who defeated former World Welterweight and Middleweight Champion

Emile Griffith Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who won world titles in three weight divisions. He held the world light middleweight, undisputed welterweight, and middleweight ...

. Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, occasionally trained at Bruner's gym. His first gym workout after winning an

gold medal in 1960 was at Bruner's Headline Gym. Larry Boeck wrote in the October 9, 1960, edition of the ''Courier-Journal'': "Clay gives the impression, when Bruner's name is injected into the conversation, that he respects the ring knowledge of Bud in both matters of boxing technique and of integrity and astuteness in the often shady world of ring manipulations." When Ali turned professional, Bruner arranged for

Tunney Hunsaker Tunney Morgan Hunsaker (September 1, 1930 – April 27, 2005) was a mid-20th century American professional boxer, who also served as the Police Chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. Early life He was born in the Western Kentucky town of Princet ...

to be his first opponent. Bruner also worked Hunsaker's corner for the fight, which Ali won by decision. Bruner suffered a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...

when he fell down the stairs at his gym in 1985. The injury left him confined to a wheelchair, but he continued to manage and train boxers until the fall of 1994. Bruner died on February 21, 1996, at Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruner, Bud 1907 births 1996 deaths American boxing trainers Fort Knox Armoraiders football coaches DuPont Manual High School alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Sportspeople from Louisville, Kentucky Coaches of American football from Kentucky Military personnel from Kentucky