 Butch was a two sport athlete for Fenwick, lettering for four years in football and baseball. While he was an excellent pitcher on the baseball team, it was in football where he excelled. Butch was a two-way player, starting for 3 years on both the offensive & defensive line. He played a key role in helping Fenwick win its first MML league championship with an overall 7-3 record, and served as a tri-captain his senior year.
Butch received Honorable Mention All-MML as a sophomore, and then was first team All-League in both his junior & senior years. His senior year he was selected to the first team All-District and received Honorable Mention Southwest Region and Honorable Mention All-State. Fenwick Hall of Fame football coach Jerry Harkrader considered Butch to be one of his best linemen of all time.
Upon graduation from Fenwick in 1965 Butch served six years in the United States Marine Corps and was awarded the Purple Heart. After leaving the Marine Corps, Butch returned to the Middletown area where he worked for Magnode Corporation until his retirement in 2000.
Butch and his wife Mary have two sons, Paul & Bill, with three grandchildren, Mike, Sarah, & Paul, and one great-grandchild Courtney.
Terry Cole '64 shares this story about Butch:
"Butch owes Tony Esposito and me for crafting his skills in our neighborhood playground years ago. If we wouldn't have let him beat us up in football then he never would have been the great player he became. Playing with Butch was always fun, but you sure wanted to be on his team. Unfortunately, I rarely was.
Many morning I would wake up to pebbles being thrown up at my second story window. I would open it and see the 'Italian Connection' (Butch and Tony Esposito) telling me to get out of bed so we could start our day of adventure... But playing football against Butch was sometimes scary. I would see those big legs running towards me and I'd say a quick prayer when I'd go for the tackle. No two hand touch for us. We weren't that smart unless we were playing in the street which we did a lot.
...in baseball - all I can say is you can't imagine how terrifying it was to face fastball pitching Butch Donisi, mowing down the Knothole baseball competitors with a big chaw of chewing tobacco in his mouth - unless he swallowed it and threw the ball all over & started to gag! It was priceless.
Butch was fearless at sports but you put a crawdad or hellgrammite in front of him, he would turn white! ... Then chase you to do some damage. That's how I learned to run so fast. |
