What About Bob?

Author: Bob Wainwright

In his Sports Illustrated column last week, Rick Reilly described what he termed "the best college tradition" -- Middlebury athletes picking up Butch Varno before football and basketball games. It's a great story, and Reilly, as always, does it justice with his writing.
But there's a story that Reilly did not tell, nor could he have, for it is the type of tale told only to people who know the characters, the kind of story that makes living in a small town both unique and special. Call it Middlebury's most notorious case of mistaken identity. It is the story of freshman football player Kevin Borecki '01, who tried to pick up Butch but found Buster instead.
Now, anyone who's ever spent a period of time in Middlebury knows about Buster. He's the town mascot. Often dressed in coat and tie, Buster carries out his daily tour of Middlebury with more regularity than the mailman. In warmer weather, he rides his bicycle everywhere -- his trademark helmet perched securely atop his head. In the colder months, Buster prefers walking, but he still makes his rounds. You'll see him at the bagel shop in the morning, Noonie's at least three times a day, in Baba's or at Shaw's.
And it's no secret that Buster likes to say what's on his mind, either. He's a man who likes to be heard, whether telling a joke or ranting about the world in general. He has very little in common with Butch Varno, the subject of Reilly's column, except for the fact that both men are well known in the College community and that both are forever inextricably tied together by this story.
Back in January of 1998, the job of picking up Butch for the men's basketball game fell to Borecki, a freshman who admittedly had minimal experience driving in and around town. So, as he took his own car to find Butch's house, it wasn't long before he realized he really didn't know where Butch lived.
Pulling up near the Middlebury Inn, Borecki discovered a house that fit the description, so he walked up to it and rang the bell. Nobody answered. Borecki then went across the street and asked some people if Butch lived there. They pointed at the same house and replied, "Yes, that house right there."
Borecki returned to the door, rang the bell a few more times, and finally it was opened. Having never really met Butch before, Borecki immediately took Buster to be Butch and explained that he had come to take him to the game.
Buster, apparently content with having been called Butch, replied simply, "Naw, I don't want to go."
According to Borecki, his mind was racing at the time. "The more he told me 'No,' the more I tried to persuade him. Five, 10 minutes went by, and still this guy is refusing to go to the game with me. I'm literally handing him his jacket, and he just keeps telling me, 'Naw, I don't want to go.' He was getting angry but I kept thinking: the guys are going to kill me if I show up to the game without Butch."
Eventually, Borecki was forced to give up and return empty-handed, whereupon he was immediately accosted. "Where the heck's Butch?" his teammates asked. Borecki grabbed a friend and showed him where he had been, at which point, the reality of what had transpired dawned upon the story's first recipient.
Needless to say, the real Butch was immediately picked up. And even though he missed the national anthem, as Borecki points out, "Thankfully, the streak was kept alive.