The Dude’s little girl grows up, and a few other items

Debbie Butts with Craig Hanneman in 1971

A cool story about Craig “The Dude” Hanneman, and a few other midsummer sports notes:

• Hanneman, the former Oregon State defensive linemen who went on to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, participated in the Coaches All-American Game in Lubbock, Texas, after his senior season with the Beavers in 1971.

During a break in practice a few days before the game, a public-relations rep sought out players to sign autographs for children watching practice.

“Nobody wanted to do it,” Hanneman says.

But Hanneman, being the good dude that he is, ambled over with a couple of other players toward the sidelines. It was there that he was greeted by a young girl, who wanted her huge stuffed bunny signed.

“She was the cutest little four-year-old you’ve ever seen,” says Hanneman, 72.

Fifty years later, he came to find out her name then was Debbie Butts. Her married name today is Debbie Braganza.

“My parents were huge football fans,” Braganza, now 55, says. “My dad pulled for Notre Dame and my mom for Texas Tech. (The College All-American Game) had a day where kids could get autographs of the players. Mom said, ‘This is a big deal. These are the best college players in the country.’

“We had gone to watch practice the day before, and a photographer noticed us. I always had a stuffed animal with me. That day it was Snoopy. When we went back the next day, the photographer went up to Mom and asked, ‘Where’s her Snoopy?’ Instead, I had the big pink bunny.”

The photographer, who worked for the Houston Post, snapped the photo of Hanneman signing her bunny.

“He put us together, he shot the picture and it was done,” Braganza says.

Fast forward 50 years to 2021. Hanneman gets a call from his brother-in-law, who had noticed a photo of him for sale on EBay. It looked like Craig was giving an autograph to a little girl.

The brother-in-law texted the photo to Hanneman. It brought back memories from a half-century ago. He had never seen the picture, which ran in the Houston Post the next day after it shot. Hanneman’s son-in-law bought the original photo from the Post and gave it to Craig as a gift.

In the spring of 2021, Hanneman took his pick-up on a three-week trip to see friends throughout the Southwest, including Texas.

“For the heck of it, I googled ‘Debbie Butts,’ ” he says. “The only thing I got was the obituary of a man with the last name of Butts, who died of Parkinson’s Disease in Houston. I saw her name in the obituary. It said she lived in Phoenix.”

Hanneman then googled “Debbie Butts” in Phoenix and learned that she was a dance instructor for Parkinson’s patients. He came up with the phone number of her husband, Brian Braganza. Craig called his number, told him who he was and a little bit of the story.

“I don’t want Debbie to think I’m a creepy old man,” Hanneman told Brian.

“We know all about you,” Brian says. “Your picture with Debbie is in the family scrapbook.”

Hanneman said he was going to be in the Phoenix area and wondered if they would mind if he paid them a visit. They said they would welcome the chance to meet him.

“I stopped by their house and we talked and talked and had a delightful afternoon and evening,” Hanneman says.

Craig Hanneman with Debbie Butts Braganza

“I was so touched when he reached out to me,” Debbie says. “In this day and age, for anyone to care enough to track me down and call me was pretty special.”

During their talk, she told Craig this: “For some reason, I trusted you on that day (of the photo). I was very shy. I hated to have my picture taken. For me to do that, I had to have some kind of comfort level with you.”

Hanneman brought a present for his visit.

“It was the cutest thing,” Debbie says. “He had a stuffed rabbit. His daughter picked it out.

“He’s a sweetheart. Very genuine. Very kind. Very personable. We weren’t just sitting around. The conversation flowed quite nicely. We had a lot to talk about.”

A month ago, Braganza told Hanneman via email that she and her husband were going to be in Oregon for five days. They stopped by his condo in Salem for a visit.

“We’ve traveled all up and down the West Coast, but we’d never been to Portland,” she says. “So I reached out to Craig and told him we were coming to Portland and we’d like to see him. We had lunch with him and saw his place. It was a nice continuation of our friendship.”

Steve Prefontaine was the nation’s best prep distance runner in 1969, but Doug Crooks wasn’t far behind

• In a recent column about former Olympic discus champion Mac Wilkins, I included a note sent to me by one of Wilkins’ high school competitors, Bruce Hake. Hake wrote this about the 1969 state high school track and field meet:

“What I remember, though, was that during the competition out in the middle of the field, all of a sudden the mile run was announced, and onto the field stepped the kid from Marshfield, Steve Prefontaine. And he took off. I got a bit distracted watching him running and winning the race by a wide margin. It was a thrilling sight to behold, and the crowd pretty much went wild, all while we were throwing.”

After Hake’s note appeared in kerryeggers.com, I received response from Ken Eagon, a fraternity brother of mine at Oregon State, about another fraternity brother, Doug Crooks. Eagon said Prefontaine won the race by anything but a wide margin. And he is right.

The runner-up was North Eugene’s Crooks, who was outkicked by Prefontaine in a great finish. Prefontaine won in 4:08.4; Crooks finished in 4:08.5. In the Midwestern League meet the week prior, Pre had beaten Crooks to the finish line in 4:07.4 to Crooks’ 4:07.5. They had the nation’s two fastest prep times that season.

What might have been a great college rivalry never materialized. Crooks went on to Oregon State, but bouts with mononucleosis during both his freshman and sophomore seasons ended his running career.

• It’s been less than a year that Chris McGowan left the Trail Blazers to become president and CEO of Ilitch Sports & Entertainment, the business division of the Detroit Red Wings, Tigers and other ventures.

“It’s all so new,” McGowan told me last week. “I’m still getting my arms around it. But I have a really good staff to work with.”

McGowan, who served nine years as president/CEO of the Blazers, oversees “313 Present,” a joint venture with the Pistons that creates 350 music events a year at six different venues.

“It’s a lot on my plate,” he says, “but it’s fun.”

McGowan and his wife, Susan, found a house in Birmingham, about 25 minutes from downtown Detroit. Susan stayed in Portland through June as the youngest of their two boys completed his senior year in high school.

“It’s been a hard transition because of that,” Chris says. “The move was hard. But we’re excited to be in Detroit. Downtown is on the rebound. The suburbs are like world-class. It’s a nice area. I miss Oregon. When we were there, we had a really good life. But it’s going to be fun to explore Michigan when we finally get the chance.”

• Terry Stotts sold his house in Lake Oswego and is on a cross-country trip to Florida, where he and wife Jan will likely settle in the Sarasota area. When we spoke, the former Trail Blazers head coach was in Iowa, visiting his mother, Jayne Phelps, who is 86.

“We’re out shopping for microwaves for her condo, and she’s driving me around,” Stotts said.

Stotts, 64, interviewed for head jobs with the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets this offseason but was not hired. It’s not going to happen this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he lands a head job after the 2022-23 season.

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