Jerry Sloan, who went on to have a storied NBA playing and coaching career, was regarded as one of the top defensive players in the country when he played at University of Evansville in the mid-1960s.
After trying to defend Indiana State’s Butch Wade, Sloan said the Columbus native was probably the toughest player he’d ever had to guard.
“He was a gamer,” said Jerry Newsom, Wade’s high school and college teammate. “He could play guard or forward, and when he had the ball, he made his shot or got to the foul line. He wanted the ball late in the game, and of course, everybody else wanted him to have the ball, too.”
Charles E. “Butch” Wade died Sunday night at the age of 73. He had suffered a stroke in February and had been in Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Inpatient Facility since Wednesday.
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An Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer, Wade played in the glory years of Columbus High School basketball. He played on the school’s only team to finish the regular season undefeated as a senior in 1963. That team advanced to the semistate before falling to eventual state champion Muncie Central.
“Butch was one of the best forwards his senior year in the state of Indiana,” classmate and teammate Bill Russell said. “He came to play every game, worked hard, knew that there was always effort there. He was really successful guarding (opponents’) best big guy and was a really solid offensive player in high school.”
Russell, who made the Indiana All-Star team in 1963 and went on to play at Indiana University, said Wade was overlooked as an All-Star that year because schools generally didn’t get more than one player selected until the following year. In 1964, Columbus had two selections with Newsom and Steve Hollenbeck.
Wade averaged 19.5 points and a team-high 10.5 rebounds on the 1963 team, which was ranked No. 1 in the state.
“Butch was right there at the top of his game,” Newsom said. “He was a late bloomer, but a really good player. When you have sellout crowds and Hall of Fame coaches and Hall of Fame players, it’s kind of fun.”
At Indiana State, Wade averaged more than 20 points in each of his three varsity seasons. The three-time team MVP and three-time All-American graduated as the Sycamores’ all-time leading scorer with 1,672 points, a record that was broken by Newsom and later by Larry Bird.
Wade also graduated as the Sycamores’ career rebounds leader with 540, field goals (610) and free throws (422) and held the single-game scoring record with 43. He twice helped lead ISU teams to National Tournament appearances and national rankings.
Wade was drafted by the NBA New York Knicks and ABA Oakland Oaks. He was named to Indiana State’s all-decade team for the 1960s and in 1998, was named one of 12 players to ISU’s all-century team.
“Butch was a tremendous athlete,” Russell said.
Russell, Newsom and Wade played in an industrial league after college and won a state and regional tournaments to advance to a national tournament.
Wade was a health and physical education teacher for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. from 1985-2005. He spent 10 years as a varsity assistant coach at Columbus North, two years as girls varsity coach at North and 16 years as a coach at Central Middle School.
“He was the best coach I ever had,” said Troy Williams, who played for Wade as a seventh-grader at Central. “(Hall of Fame Columbus and Columbus North coach Bill) Stearman was great, and I learned a lot from him, but Butch was a big man, and I was 6-2 in the seventh grade, so he taught me how to play basketball.”
Lance Barker, who is the city’s all-time leading scorer, agreed. Barker played for Wade as a seventh-grader at Central before playing at Columbus East and then at Valparaiso University.
“He was one of the better coaches I ever had,” Barker said. “Butch was a chip off the old school, but he could adapt to the new school, as well, and that’s why people liked him so much. He was just a no-nonsense-type guy when I played for him. He made sure there was no gray area, and he made sure you understood what you were supposed to do and how you were supposed to do it, and he got respect from a lot of people that way.”
Williams played his freshman and sophomore years at East before transferring and playing his senior year at North, when Wade was an assistant there. Williams recalls Wade bringing in doughnuts to practice, and the players staying around and consuming them after practice was finished.
“He loved the whole team,” Williams said. “He had us over to his house, and we’d have 10 or 12 mopeds in the driveway. He introduced us to venison cheeseburgers. He had a pool in the backyard, and we’d get up on the roof and jump into the pool. He loved it because he never had a son.”
Wade did have two daughters, Jody and Missy — who also was an Indiana All-Star and later an assistant girls basketball coach at North. They survive him, along with his wife, Kitty.
Arrangements are pending at Barkes, Weaver & Glick Funeral Home.
“I think the silver lining in his passing away is, he’s not in pain anymore,” Williams said.
