The downside — if there is one — to honors like the one Steve Brundage will receive Saturday might be making the age-defying veteran of pro men’s softball tournaments reflect on his 34-year career in the sport.
At 48, Brundage isn’t done with softball. He just competed in a tournament in Columbus, Ohio, two weekends ago. But on Saturday at the Little Valley Legion, he’ll mark the 16th inductee from Salamanca in the annual Cattaraugus County Sports Hall of Fame banquet.
Asked of his reaction to the honor, Brundage thought of the work he’s had to put in to keep playing the sport to this day.
“I got a letter in the mail and I was very flattered,” the Niagara University graduate said. “It’s a culmination. I also understand it also means I’m old, but it’s a culmination. On Jan. 2, I’m on the treadmill and I’m in the gym and I’m trying to maintain. I’m out in the rain and the snow running the streets like Rocky Balboa trying to maintain, trying to stay young, trying to ward off… it lets you stay young and it lets you stay healthy. It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of pain, a couple surgeries. It takes a toll on the body, but I’m very grateful and appreciative to anybody that would recognize the hard work and just the travel.
Brundage recalled a flight cancellation a few years ago that forced he and two teammates to drive a rental car from Buffalo to Jacksonville overnight.
“We took the field with 45 minutes to sleep, but we didn’t have any choice,” he said. “We are handicapped being in the environment we are sometimes but at the same time, I’ve lived here a long time and it’s gotten me a long way in the sport. I’m really appreciative and grateful.”
Playing for various teams, Brundage has won more than 70 tournaments including the Dunmore in Toronto and nine Olean City Cups, winning the MVP Calvert Cup in 2004. He has more than 2,000 career home runs in sanctioned play. He’s played in three national tournaments and two worlds tournaments in Columbus and at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Brundage’s current teams include Hot Grease/McCracken from Olean, the Buffalo Lawmen and Walkoff Sports out of Rockville, Md.
How long does the slugging first baseman plan to continue? In short, he’s not sure.
“I wish that I had a nickel for every time I was asked that,” Brundage said. “Every year people raise their eyebrows and look at me. I say as long as that phone keeps ringing, I’m on a very good team right now, the one we went to Columbus with two weeks ago, a combination of people from New York and Pennsylvania. Like I said, they called me and I’m the first baseman and as long as that keeps happening and I feel like I can still contribute and do what I’m supposed to do, I would like to continue to do that.
“Having said that, I hurt a lot,” he added with a laugh. “So I think maybe my days are numbered, but I’m not sure. I would love to do this as long as I can and I have a very new appreciation for the opportunity to do that. As you get older, you really appreciate being able to do and to still be out there and still have somebody wanting you to.”
Inductees for the 16th Hall of Fame banquet also include Cattaraugus-Little Valley football coach Tim Miller, Randolph wrestling coach Todd Conley and longtime soccer officials Joseph (posthumously) and Adam Delity and Wally Holland, both of Ellicottville. The full list: Mike Wilber (Allegany-Limestone), Conley (Randolph), Brundage (Salamanca), Chuck Struble (Hinsdale), Jana Landahl (Pioneer), James Hebdon (West Valley), Dave Waugh (Portville, posthumously), Dick Stitzel (Gowanda), Bob Ring (Olean), Harley Butler (Franklinville), Miller (Cattaraugus-Little Valley) and Joseph Delity, Adam Delity and Holland (Ellicottville).
