SUBMITTED PHOTO Butler University’s “gentle giant” Joey Brunk prepares to defend against an opponent at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Brunk starred at Southport High School and was a 2016 member of the Indiana All-Star team.
By Sarah Bahr
Butler University Communications
JO-EY! JO-EY! Twenty-one-year-old Butler men’s basketball center Joey Brunk has just checked into the game, and the cheers from the 9,100 fans packing Hinkle Fieldhouse are thunderous. “He’s so likeable that people cheer like crazy just when he enters the game,” Butler associate athletic director John Dedman said.
Brunk pushes a soft, loose wave of what Twitter users have called the “golden mane” and “the best hair in college basketball” away from his face, a grin peeking through his Matthew McConaughey-inspired beard and mustache, and steps to the line. Swishes the free throw. Tonight, he can’t miss. An hour later, he walks off the court, through the locker room … and heads back to his dorm, where he’ll strip off his size-17 sneakers, maybe read some poetry or a JFK biography (“He’s my favorite president”) before curling his 6-11 frame into a bed not made for a man who could nearly stand head to head with a small adult elephant. In the morning, it’ll be time to teach poetry to second-graders.
Class of his own
Brunk, an Elementary Education major and aspiring teacher, spent last semester student teaching in a second-grade class at the Butler University Laboratory School on Wednesdays. His first full-class lesson was an introduction to emotion poetry.
“I was a little worried they might come in with negative attitudes, but they enjoyed it,” Brunk recalled. “I had them read a poem and then act out different emotions – I was the photographer, and everyone else was an actor.” “It got lots of laughs.” Brunk says there aren’t a lot of men in elementary education—last semester, he was one of only two guys in his elementary-education class.
“The kids thought it was cool that I was a guy-teaching them,” he said. “I tried to be cool, whether it was talking ESPN, last night’s NBA games, or SportsCenter highlights.”
No one in Brunk’s immediate family is a teacher, but after volunteering in a fifth-grade class at Southport Elementary School a few days per week his senior year of high school, he was sold.
“I wanted the kids to be able to have a positive role model,” he emphasized. It’s a role Brunk also tries to play for his younger brother, Johnny, a sophomore point guard at Roncalli High School. Being able to stay close to Johnny was one of the reasons Brunk, an Indiana All-Star team member from Southport in 2016, chose Butler over offers from a bevy of Big Ten schools, including Indiana and Purdue.
“I went to Butler so I could see my brother play,” Brunk said. “I grew up in a family where everyone was at everyone else’s stuff.” So it was never a question for Brunk to forego the remainder of his first-year season to spend time with his dad after Joe Brunk was diagnosed with brain cancer in November 2016.
His biggest fan
Brunk has been to the Indianapolis Zoo no fewer than 500 times. He would go with his family once or twice a week from age 2 on, always wanting to look at the same things – the lions, tigers, and his current favorite animal, the red panda. He honors his dad by visiting a local zoo with Butler play-by-play radio announcer Mark Minner whenever the team travels for a tournament. It’s a way for Brunk to keep his hero with him. Brunk and his dad, a two-time NAIA All-American at Hanover College, bonded over basketball from the beginning.
“He was my biggest critic – and my biggest fan,” Joey praised. “There were lots of mornings when – God bless both my parents – they’d get up at 5:30 to drive me to the high school for a workout,” Joey said.
“My dad would rebound for me, and my mom would pack me breakfast, lunch, and something for the way home from school so I could eat again before going to the gym.”
Joe Brunk was there to watch Joey’s Southport team beat Ben Davis 60-57 for the sectional championship during his senior year – and Joey hoped he’d one day get to watch Butler win an NCAA Championship. Then, in November 2016, his dad was hospitalized while visiting friends in Las Vegas.
The diagnosis? A brain tumor. Brunk stayed at his dad’s side in Southport for the next six months, foregoing the remainder of his first-year season to spend the last moments of his dad’s life with his hero.
“We laughed; we cried; we told stories,” Joey Brunk says. “There was never any dead airspace.” Joe Brunk died April 15, 2017, at age 56. But, true to his dad’s mantra of living with passion, Brunk made a vow: He wouldn’t be depressed.
Energizer Bunny
Brunk used the offseason to transform his body with as many as four workouts each day, ranging from hot yoga to shooting with his brother at Roncalli. He dropped 10 pounds down to 230 and increased his maximum bench press to 260 pounds. It’s paid off also with improved agility: He’s averaging 8.7 points per game this season, 4.5 rebounds and plays 20 minutes per game.
The Bulldogs were 20-8, 9-2 at home through Jan. 16. The NCAA granted Brunk an additional season, awarding him a hardship waiver for his first year, as he only played in seven games before stepping away to be with his dad. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
“He’s the same Joey I’ve known for five years,” Butler director of basketball operations Brandon Crone says. “He’s the Energizer Bunny in the locker room.”
Butler University Communications
JO-EY! JO-EY! Twenty-one-year-old Butler men’s basketball center Joey Brunk has just checked into the game, and the cheers from the 9,100 fans packing Hinkle Fieldhouse are thunderous. “He’s so likeable that people cheer like crazy just when he enters the game,” Butler associate athletic director John Dedman said.
Brunk pushes a soft, loose wave of what Twitter users have called the “golden mane” and “the best hair in college basketball” away from his face, a grin peeking through his Matthew McConaughey-inspired beard and mustache, and steps to the line. Swishes the free throw. Tonight, he can’t miss. An hour later, he walks off the court, through the locker room … and heads back to his dorm, where he’ll strip off his size-17 sneakers, maybe read some poetry or a JFK biography (“He’s my favorite president”) before curling his 6-11 frame into a bed not made for a man who could nearly stand head to head with a small adult elephant. In the morning, it’ll be time to teach poetry to second-graders.
Class of his own
Brunk, an Elementary Education major and aspiring teacher, spent last semester student teaching in a second-grade class at the Butler University Laboratory School on Wednesdays. His first full-class lesson was an introduction to emotion poetry.
“I was a little worried they might come in with negative attitudes, but they enjoyed it,” Brunk recalled. “I had them read a poem and then act out different emotions – I was the photographer, and everyone else was an actor.” “It got lots of laughs.” Brunk says there aren’t a lot of men in elementary education—last semester, he was one of only two guys in his elementary-education class.
“The kids thought it was cool that I was a guy-teaching them,” he said. “I tried to be cool, whether it was talking ESPN, last night’s NBA games, or SportsCenter highlights.”
No one in Brunk’s immediate family is a teacher, but after volunteering in a fifth-grade class at Southport Elementary School a few days per week his senior year of high school, he was sold.
“I wanted the kids to be able to have a positive role model,” he emphasized. It’s a role Brunk also tries to play for his younger brother, Johnny, a sophomore point guard at Roncalli High School. Being able to stay close to Johnny was one of the reasons Brunk, an Indiana All-Star team member from Southport in 2016, chose Butler over offers from a bevy of Big Ten schools, including Indiana and Purdue.
“I went to Butler so I could see my brother play,” Brunk said. “I grew up in a family where everyone was at everyone else’s stuff.” So it was never a question for Brunk to forego the remainder of his first-year season to spend time with his dad after Joe Brunk was diagnosed with brain cancer in November 2016.
His biggest fan
Brunk has been to the Indianapolis Zoo no fewer than 500 times. He would go with his family once or twice a week from age 2 on, always wanting to look at the same things – the lions, tigers, and his current favorite animal, the red panda. He honors his dad by visiting a local zoo with Butler play-by-play radio announcer Mark Minner whenever the team travels for a tournament. It’s a way for Brunk to keep his hero with him. Brunk and his dad, a two-time NAIA All-American at Hanover College, bonded over basketball from the beginning.
“He was my biggest critic – and my biggest fan,” Joey praised. “There were lots of mornings when – God bless both my parents – they’d get up at 5:30 to drive me to the high school for a workout,” Joey said.
“My dad would rebound for me, and my mom would pack me breakfast, lunch, and something for the way home from school so I could eat again before going to the gym.”
Joe Brunk was there to watch Joey’s Southport team beat Ben Davis 60-57 for the sectional championship during his senior year – and Joey hoped he’d one day get to watch Butler win an NCAA Championship. Then, in November 2016, his dad was hospitalized while visiting friends in Las Vegas.
The diagnosis? A brain tumor. Brunk stayed at his dad’s side in Southport for the next six months, foregoing the remainder of his first-year season to spend the last moments of his dad’s life with his hero.
“We laughed; we cried; we told stories,” Joey Brunk says. “There was never any dead airspace.” Joe Brunk died April 15, 2017, at age 56. But, true to his dad’s mantra of living with passion, Brunk made a vow: He wouldn’t be depressed.
Energizer Bunny
Brunk used the offseason to transform his body with as many as four workouts each day, ranging from hot yoga to shooting with his brother at Roncalli. He dropped 10 pounds down to 230 and increased his maximum bench press to 260 pounds. It’s paid off also with improved agility: He’s averaging 8.7 points per game this season, 4.5 rebounds and plays 20 minutes per game.
The Bulldogs were 20-8, 9-2 at home through Jan. 16. The NCAA granted Brunk an additional season, awarding him a hardship waiver for his first year, as he only played in seven games before stepping away to be with his dad. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
“He’s the same Joey I’ve known for five years,” Butler director of basketball operations Brandon Crone says. “He’s the Energizer Bunny in the locker room.”
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