Edgar L. "Bud" Bruner (December 7, 1907 - February 21, 1996) was a boxing manager, trainer, and gym proprietor from Louisville, Kentucky.
Bruner was a star athlete at duPont Manual High School in Louisville. He lettered in baseball, basketball, football, and track. In 2005, he was inducted into the duPont Manual High School Alumni Association Hall Of Fame.[1]
His participation in boxing began in the 1930s. While employed by the City of Louisville Recreation Department, he was responsible for playground tournaments, followed by district and city championships.
In 1939, Bruner became athletic director at the Army Post in Fort Knox, Kentucky. His responsibilities included setting up and supervising several boxing gyms, organizing and supervising numerous boxing shows and tournaments, and selecting and accompanying a Fort Knox representative team to state Golden Gloves tournaments.
After seven years in Fort Knox, Bruner resigned and returned to Louisville.
He served as matchmaker for the Louisville Golden Gloves program from 1952 to 1959 and trained fourteen Kentucky State Golden Gloves Champions, eight of whom were named the best boxer of the tournament.
In 1952, Bruner opened the Headline Boxing Gym and started working with professionals. His most notable boxers were welterweight contender Rudell Stitch and future WBA World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Ellis, who defeated Muhammad Ali as an amateur.
Ali sometimes trained at Bruner's gym.[2] When Ali turned professional, Bruner arranged for Tunney Hunsaker to be his first opponent. Bruner also worked Hunsaker's corner for the fight, which Ali won by decision.
In 1985, Bruner suffered a spinal cord injury when he fell down the stairs at his gym. The injury left him using a wheelchair, but he continued to manage and train boxers until the summer of 1994.[3]