Bud Bruner
Encyclopedia
Edgar L. "Bud" Bruner was a boxing
manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky
.
Bruner was a star athlete at duPont Manual High School in Louisville. He lettered in baseball, basketball, football, and track. In 2005, he was inducted into the duPont Manual High School Alumni Association Hall Of Fame.
His participation in boxing began in the 1930s. While 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 Army Post in Fort Knox, Kentucky. 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 state Golden Gloves
tournaments.
After seven years in Fort Knox, Bruner resigned and returned to Louisville.
He served as matchmaker for the Louisville Golden Gloves program from 1952 to 1959 and trained fourteen Kentucky State Golden Gloves Champions, eight of whom were named the best boxer of the tournament.
In 1952, Bruner opened the Headline Boxing Gym and started working with professionals. His most notable boxers were welterweight contender Rudell Stitch
and future WBA
World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis
, who defeated Muhammad Ali
as an amateur.
Ali sometimes trained at Bruner's gym. When Ali turned professional, Bruner arranged for Tunney Hunsaker
to be his first opponent. Bruner also worked Hunsaker's corner for the fight, which Ali won by decision.
In 1985, Bruner suffered a spinal cord injury when he fell down the stairs at his gym. The injury left him using a wheelchair, but he continued to manage and train boxers until the summer of 1994.
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
.
Bruner was a star athlete at duPont Manual High School in Louisville. He lettered in baseball, basketball, football, and track. In 2005, he was inducted into the duPont Manual High School Alumni Association Hall Of Fame.
His participation in boxing began in the 1930s. While 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 Army Post in Fort Knox, Kentucky. 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 state Golden Gloves
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States. The Golden Gloves is often the term used to refer to the National Golden Gloves competition, but it also can represent several other amateur tournaments, including regional golden gloves...
tournaments.
After seven years in Fort Knox, Bruner resigned and returned to Louisville.
He served as matchmaker for the Louisville Golden Gloves program from 1952 to 1959 and trained fourteen Kentucky State Golden Gloves Champions, eight of whom were named the best boxer of the tournament.
In 1952, Bruner opened the Headline Boxing Gym and started working with professionals. His most notable boxers were welterweight contender Rudell Stitch
Rudell Stitch
Rudell Stitch was a professional boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. Stitch was ranked second in the world as a welterweight and fought numerous contenders, including Isaac Logart, Yama Bahama, Chico Vejar, Gasper Ortega, Luis Manuel Rodríguez, Ralph Dupas, Holly Mims, and Stan Harrington...
and future WBA
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis
Jimmy Ellis
James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis is a retired boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. He fought in what some consider to be the greatest heavyweight era of all-time, which included Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Jerry Quarry, Floyd Patterson, Oscar Bonavena, Earnie Shavers and George Chuvalo among...
, who defeated Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
as an amateur.
Ali sometimes trained at Bruner's gym. When Ali turned professional, Bruner arranged for Tunney Hunsaker
Tunney Hunsaker
Tunney Morgan Hunsaker was the police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia in 1960 when Hunsaker was Cassius Clay's first opponent in a professional boxing bout. After the fight Hunsaker said "Clay was as fast as lightning ... I tried every trick I knew to throw at him off balance but he was just...
to be his first opponent. Bruner also worked Hunsaker's corner for the fight, which Ali won by decision.
In 1985, Bruner suffered a spinal cord injury when he fell down the stairs at his gym. The injury left him using a wheelchair, but he continued to manage and train boxers until the summer of 1994.