End nears for Latrobe’s Butler basketball dynasty

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, January 16, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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When Latrobe assistant basketball coach Eric Butler greets opposing coaches before games or talks to them in postgame handshake lines, he hears a similar refrain.

“They always say, ‘Are there any more Butler boys coming up?’” Butler said. “They always joke with me about it. It’s kind of a running thing.”

Soon the answer will soon be no. (Opponents wipe their brows).

Senior Max Butler is the fourth and final Butler brother to come through the Wildcats program, so an era will end.

Call this the family’s “last dance.”

The Butler name has seemed like a permanent fixture on team rosters for more than a decade. All four players have had a sizable impact on the program.

Max Butler may have the toughest job of all. He has had to dribble out of a triple-team of shadows.

One big brother is pressure enough, but when three are watching?

“My brothers have helped me a lot along the way,” said Max Butler, who is averaging a team-high 20 points per game. “They all have been great role models for me. I haven’t thought too deep about (being the last brother to play).”

Max Butler this week scored his 1,000th career point, something all three of his brothers did before him. It is presumed that no other foursome of brothers have accomplished that feat in WPIAL history.

Only the Tomson brothers of Westmoreland Christian Academy — Josh, Jeremy, Jacob and Justin — have all topped 1,000 in Westmoreland County. Three of them scored over 2,000.

Austin Butler is Latrobe’s all-time leading boys scorer with 1,905 points, while Landon Butler scored 1,185 and Bryce Butler had 1,157.

Austin went on to play four years at Division I Holy Cross and a year at Charlotte before a brief pro career in Finland. He currently plays professionally on the 3-on-3 circuit with USA Basketball.

“It brings me a lot of joy to see my brothers play,” Austin Butler said. “It worked out for me to stay home to watch Max play. It’s bittersweet, too.”

Bryce Butler, who missed a year of high school basketball due to injury, had an outstanding college career at West Liberty, where he is now an assistant coach. He was considered one of the top Division II players in the country before he played his final season at Division I College of Charleston.

Landon Butler is a sophomore guard at D2 Coker College in South Carolina. Coker has offered Max Butler a scholarship as he also looks to follow his brothers’ path to the college level.

Eric Butler, who has no immediate plans to stop coaching once Max graduates, gets emotional thinking about a Latrobe lineup that does not include one of his sons. He started coaching alongside Brad Wetzel in 2002-03 when Austin was 2 and Michele Butler was pregnant with Bryce.

“A lot of day care in the gym,” Eric said.

Austin Butler began his high school career in 2013-14 and the others soon followed. Nearly a dozen years and thousands of miles on the family vehicles later — Eric and Michele have literally traveled across the globe to watch their sons play basketball — the final chapter is here.

“It’s gone so fast — unbelievable,” Eric Butler said.

One more son, people tell the Butlers, and they’ll have a starting five. But Eric Butler assures people that Max is indeed the last Butler.

“They never had to play basketball,” said Eric Butler, a former 6-foot-7 big man who played at Pennsylvania’s Ridgway High School before college stints at Eastern Kentucky and Robert Morris. “It was always up to them. They gravitated to basketball after Austin played. He was a multi-sport guy with football and javelin. But after seeing (the impact of) concussions, the other boys decided to just play basketball.

“Michele and I just wanted them to be good, respectful kids. I try to be a good dad and coach with them, while Michele, being a teacher, kept them focused on the classroom.”

Eric Butler, who scored over 1,000 points at Ridgway, is a former basketball, baseball coach and athletic director at Ocean Academy in Long Beach Island, N.J. so he has been around sports for much of his life. He believes in the spirit of the term student-athlete.

All four Butlers produced dozens of double-digit scoring games, clutch 3-pointers and putbacks, but they also did their homework. All four brought home a 3.5 grade-point average or better.

The Butler brothers’ long-standing tradition of group-chatting after every game also may dry up, as may their intense pickup battles on the family’s backyard Sport Court.

“Being the youngest,” Max Butler said, “it made me tougher.”

Max Butler believes his game has traits of all three of his siblings: Austin’s scoring knack and work ethic, Bryce’s smarts and rebounding ability and Landon’s assertiveness.

So do his coach and father.

“A.B. was his own breed,” Wetzel said. “Max is more like Bryce. I watch him play and have some déjà vu moments.”

Wetzel hasn’t stopped to think about a Butler-less rotation, and he may not until next season.

“I don’t think of it like that,” Wetzel said. “These guys have been such a big part of my life. You look at all the guys who have come through the program. You never really talk about the end.”

Latrobe is quietly one of the top teams in Class 5A. The Wildcats take a 14-1 record into Friday’s home game against Gateway.

Eric Butler hopes this season ends Latrobe’s four-year playoff drought, something he wants to enjoy with Max.

“He’s a good kid and he’s a respectful young man,” Eric Butler said. “That’s the biggest thing about my boys. They can be the kid opposing teams don’t like. But they’ll play their butts off and show respect (after the game). Basketball is just a game. I am concerned more with raising four young men.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

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