Friday, September 18, 2020 - 2:45pm

May 25, 1939 - Sept. 8, 2020

Words from CoJMC faculty member, Barney McCoy

Gene Budig was a 1962 Journalism graduate from CoJMC. I met him when he was chancellor at the University of Kansas. He died at age 81. He was one of our most notable alumnus. Quiet, self-effacing. The educator and baseball fan from small-town Nebraska was head of three major universities and the last president of the American League.

Love this story about Budig in the Hastings Tribune. It speaks to his dry sense of humor. Budig succeeded Bobby Brown as AL president in 1994 and augmented his staff with Larry Doby, the first Black player in the AL. Budig held the job until baseball owners abolished league presidents under a reorganization urged by Selig in 2000.

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was among those skeptical of Budig's credentials. To the bombastic Boss, the outsider -- small in stature, owlish in appearance, exceedingly soft-spoken -- belonged more in school than in sports.

Incensed by a suspension imposed on pitcher Mike Stanton following a brawl between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles in 1998, Steinbrenner thundered about Budig: "I'm not sure when the last time he wore a jockstrap was."

Budig, whose childhood dream was to play second base for the Yankees, didn't publicly respond. Rather, he brandished his razor wit. He contacted old pals at the Kansas University athletic department, had them ship him the largest jockstrap they had in stock, signed it and sent the undergarment to Steinbrenner

Obituaries via ESPNThe Lawrence World-Journal, MLBThe New York TimesThe Washington Post

Gene Budig
Gene Budig: photo courtesy of The Lawrence World Journal