For you younger Bears, Dave Butler was a 6-9 forward-center for Cal in the mid-1980s. A good player who was sort of like a David Kravish, maybe a bit better shooter/scorer. His younger brother Greg was even bigger and played for Furd (good, but not quite as good.). In high school, the two of them plus Jay Bilas (same class as Dave) made for what must have been an epic front line for... was it Rolling Hills High in Rancho Palos Verdes?

I'm not at all surprised that he's successful in his life, as I believe he was a good student at Cal, too.

As an aside, just to confuse at least one local TV sportscaster, during the same era, Cal had another Butler, Buzzy Butler (no relation), who was about the same size as Dave Butler, but not as good (only saw occasional playing time). The reason I bring this up is that, reporting on a game in which Dave Butler did well, the guy who did sports at 11 on maybe KRON, referred to him as "Buzz Butler". I immediately called the station in mock anger.

Go Bears !

BTownsend said:

---

Through a mutual friend, I've had the pleasure of meeting Dave and having lunch with him the past 2 summers. He's a super cool guy and a blast to talk with. He has tons of great stories and he tells them so well. Through the same friend, I was also introduced to another great Cal hooper, point guard Mike Chavez. Mike and Dave overlapped one year at Cal. Mike is also a great guy.

---

Chavez does Real Estate? I thought he had a nice shot....just missed the 3 pt shot era, if I am remembering correctly, which would have been great for him....

Yes, I do believe that Mike is in the real estate business.

I remember a game I attended at the furd where we were down by a lot and Chavez started making everything in the second half and we won

oskidunker said:

---

I remember a game I attended at the furd where we were down by a lot and Chavez started making everything in the second half and we won

---

It was awsome: First half he was missing, so the Furd fans start yelling for him to "Shoot!"

Second half, they quickly shut up, but it was too late.

I attended Cal in '85 and '86 and never missed a single home game in that time, totally enjoyed watching him and that team play. Dave was in one of my classes but never had a chance to chat with him.

Nothing was as entertaining as when teams tried to press Chavez. His handles were awesome and he would breeze by the press. And they hated fouling him because he was automatic at hte FT line.

Honestly, Chavez was easy to guard. I picked him several times and blocked his shot the times I played against him, weak step back dribble. Butler was a great guy, fun to play with, knock down mid game. Funny enough, Ron Rivera had a pretty decent bball game, really cool guy, Butch Hayes awesome, fun times back then!