MiddBrief Middlebury Fan on ESPN

Author: Andrea Gissing, Joshua Carson, Myra Palmero

In late November, ESPN Sports Center will showcase "Pick Up Butch," a 42-year-old tradition of the Middlebury College football and basketball teams. For the last four decades, two first-years on the football and basketball teams have been picking up Butch Varno at his house to take him to their games. Varno, a 54-year-old Middlebury resident with cerebral palsy, eagerly waits at his house, where he lives with his 73-year-old mother, for the two athletes to pick him up and drive him to the stands or stadium.

While Director of Athletic Communications Brad Nadeau said that "Pick Up Butch" is a tradition that Middlebury College has taken as commonplace, Rutland Herald reporter Tom Haley thought the tradition would make an interesting human-interest story. Haley then sent Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly a copy of his published article and soon after, Reilly surprised Nadeau with a phone call for more information. Nadeau said, "It's one of those things that it went on for so long [that] it took an outsider [for us] to realize what a special thing this is. It's just something we do. It's just a part of the vision - nobody acts like they're doing anyone a big favor. It's been done and it will continue to be done."

After the article appeared in the March 2003 issue of Sports Illustrated, ESPN picked up the story and drove over to Middlebury on the weekends of Sept. 27 and Oct. 11 to interview Varno for the 10-minute feature on him and his college comrades. ESPN Sports Center will air the piece to its 11 million viewers on several Sunday nights. Nadeau said, "We hope that people can be aware of Butch's story and the great things that he has brought to Middlebury and the great things that the students have given him over the years."