Former brawling puck star turns his life around

Former brawling puck star turns his life around
John Gilbert
jwgilbert.com
Last Updated: Friday, August 23rd, 2002 04:09:58 PM

The annual Two Harbors Youth Hockey banquet, downstairs at the American Legion Club in Two Harbors last Tuesday night, brought together youngsters from 5 to 15, who played Minimite, Mite, A-Squirt, B-Squirt, Peewee and Bantam. Every hockey association has such post-season get-togethers, to send the kids off with a good feeling for next season.
But this one was different. This one had, as guest speaker, Bill Butters, a former tough, nasty hockey player who battled his way up from White Bear Lake to the University of Minnesota, then to pro hockey with the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the old World Hockey Association, and the Minnesota North Stars.
Butters was legendary, even in high school. One legend was that as captain of the White Bear Lake football team, Butters summoned three teammates, who had been careless about team rules, to join him outside. He lined them up against the wall, told them that if they ran, he'd catch up to them, then he proceeded to punch out each one, one at a time, while the other two waited, terrified. No more violations, and the Bears went undefeated.
Did it really happen, or is it just legend? You could ask Forrest Johnson, the editor of the Up North Newspaper Network's Lake County Chronicle in Two Harbors, because he was a White Bear Lake freshman when Butters was a senior. Johnson got a chance to play hockey as a sophomore, the year after Butters graduated, and was given Butters' jersey. Butters came into the locker room once, walked right up to Johnson and told him that he'd better give everything he had, just to live up to the effort that had previously gone into that jersey.
In college, Butters was captain of the Gopher hockey team. In one game against Colorado College at the old Williams Arena, the refs hustled Butters off toward the penalty box after a scrap in the corner. They left him at center ice, though, because another scrap had broken out. Standing there all alone, facing the Colorado College bench, Butters stared as all the CC players were standing on the bench, shouting taunts at him.
The newspaper story said: "Butters sized up the odds. Fifteen to one. Pretty even." Sure enough, Butters ran full speed on his skates, directly at the CC bench, and hurtled over it onto the bench to take on the entire CC team.
Admittedly not a good fighter, he was definitely willing. Butters brawled his way to the top in pro hockey, relentlessly and without compromise. He paused to engage in assorted bits of bizarre behavior, and he earned a reputation for being pretty crazy. He also encountered the three Carlson Brothers from Virginia, and became best friends with the middle one -- Jack Carlson, his teammate with the Fighting Saints and with the North Stars. Unlike the stocky Butters, Carlson was 6-3 and 215 pounds, and became "probably the best fighter who ever played pro hockey," Butters said.
Jack Carlson was with Butters on Tuesday night at the Two Harbors Legion Club. It was interesting, because the approxmately 100 youthful hockey players weren't even born when those two last played, although their parents knew their accomplishments well.
After every player had eaten well, and been called up front by their respective coaches, it was time for Butters to speak. He opened by saying Carlson used to jump in to back him up whenever he got in trouble on the ice. Carlson, after hockey, turned to Butters for help to get his life straightened out after his career was over.
"Jack and I have both had some problems in our lives," Butters said. "My mom and dad divorced when I was 4. My mom went on to get married and divorced six times. I lived in 32 different houses, growing up."
Sports was an escape for Butters. He loved baseball best, and then football, where he was fullback, linebacker, kicker, and never on the bench. "I loved the game, because I loved running people over, smashing them," said Butters. "Then a friend said I should try hockey. I enjoyed it, right away, even though I could hardly skate. Forwards would come in, look down at the puck, and I'd blast them off their feet. All the way through high school, I could barely skate, but I could hit, and all of a sudden, the University of Minnesota offered me a scholarship."
Butters explained how Herb Brooks taught him to skate as freshman coach at Minnesota, but he kept hitting, urged on by the roar of the crowds and the fame. When the time came, he signed a pro contract.
"Jack and I played with Gordie Howe, and in 1980, when Howe was 48 years old, he scored 101 points in the WHA," Butters said. "I figured I'd play that long, too, but I'm 48 right now. My hockey career ended in 1980, when I was 30."
Another ex-North Star, Tom Reid, asked Butters to come and coach as a volunteer at a Christian hockey school. "I told him I was the farthest thing from a Christian," said Butters, "and that I didn't know anything about God and didn't want to. But he kept calling, and I finally agreed. I still don't know why."
At the camp, Butters found 222 young boys, being coached by various pros. But while Butters thought that cussing and rowdy behavior was simply a part of hockey, he found that nobody swore at the camp, and everybody seemed so straight as they gathered for little prayer sessions. He went to an evening session, and was embarrassed when a singer singled him out for an anticipated exchange of phrases from a song about his faith. "I didn't know what to say," recalled Butters. "All these kids were waiting to hear this big, tough hockey player respond to the song, and I didn't know what to do. For some reason, tears started running down my face."
A bit shaken, Butters attended another group session, and at the end of it, all the youngsters and Butters were asked to stand and hold hands for random prayers. Butters said he noted how many 11-year-olds there would be before he would be forced to offer a prayer, and he was terrified.
"But then, a calming came over me," Butters said. "I think it was the Holy Spirit. I started listening to what these 11-year-olds were saying. One prayed that I'd find a job, another that I might find peace...They all were praying for me."
Butters was moved to tears, and he went home after the camp and had a memorable session with his wife, Debbie. "I confessed everything I had ever done, and told her if she wanted to leave me, I'd understand," said Butters. "But she stayed, and we just celebrated our 25th anniversary."
The changeover in Butters' life is complete. He now blends coaching White Bear Lake High School and speaking for Hockey Ministries. The young players may get wide-eyed at the talk of his rough and tumble antics in hockey, but the change in his life underscores his point.
"I got 244 stitches in my face when I played," he said. "My nose was broken five times, and I lost five teeth. My shoulder has been operated on two times, and I have trauma-induced epilepsy because of all the blows to the head I've taken in hockey, and I have to take medication every day for the rest of my life to control the seizures.
"But the Lord has changed my life. Hockey is a wonderful, beautiful, fun, aggressive game, and you can play it to the fullest. But you don't have to swear, fight, drink, chase around and do the things I did. That's the message. Celebrate your hockey season because you had fun, you learned and improved and did some things you didn't know you could do. And next year, you can do more.
"And thanks to all you parents for your participation in your kid's life."
This was not heavy-duty preaching, and it was not some pro jock, posing on television to praise the lord for helping him score a touchdown, or win a game. This was a good and humble man -- an exceptional coach -- who figures he owes something to his new-found faith as well as to the game he loves, and to youthful players who might follow a different path at a more formative time. After all, it was a group of 11-year-old hockey players who made him realize there was another way to live.