Not Calling It Quits

Mayor Bob Bruggeman, Greg Bush, and Billy Lansdell were awarded for 133 combined years of umpiring service
By Louie Avery

photo by shane darby.

Mayor Bob Bruggeman of Texarkana, Texas, received several phone calls from sports writers across the country in 2013. They wanted to know how he felt as mayor about Texarkanans Michael Wacha and Will Middlebrooks opposing each other in the World Series. Bob was quick to note that he had umpired many of the now-pro players’ high school games. That information changed the angle of their stories.

“On the field, you notice when players are a notch better,” said 63-year-old Bob, who has been a baseball umpire for 46 years and a mayor for 13 years. “It becomes a special memory—and the same can be said about Drew Stubbs, Craig Monroe, Tony McKnight, and Dustin Moseley.”

Greg Bush (73) and Billy Lansdell (68) have also umpired many such games. These three gentlemen have a combined 133 years of service on the baseball diamond and recently received Distinguished Service Awards from the Texas Association of Sports Officials.

Bob’s quest to be an umpire and community leader started when he was a child sitting in front of a television.

“We only had three channels—CBS, NBC, ABC,” he said. “As a little boy, I watched a lot of Major League baseball on TV, and for some reason I was always intrigued by the umpires.”

Billy Lansdell, Mayor Bob Bruggeman,  and Greg Bush recently received Distinguished Service Awards from the Texas Association of Sports Officials. photo by shane darby.

The current mayor grew up in the Beverly community of Texarkana, regularly playing sandlot ball in a vacant lot off Lumpkin Street. He was always quick to volunteer as umpire, improvising for his umpiring equipment. As a teen, he began working Dixie League games all over both sides of Texarkana and even in surrounding communities like Ashdown.

Bob worked part-time for SWEPCO while attending college locally and then went full-time in 1984. In 2002, he accepted a job at the Chamber of Commerce. The hours were great, allowing him opportunities to umpire. Over the next decade, another dream began to take shape, again born from television—specifically watching televised city council meetings.

“I was also intrigued to see what was going on in the community—what were some of the challenges and some of the accomplishments,” he said. From 2005 to 2012, he served as the council member for Ward 4.

His next step was running for mayor in 2012. He was elected and has held the position ever since.

It was around the same time that Bob received the rare honor of umpiring in both the 2010 and 2011 UIL Texas state baseball championships, along with the aforementioned Greg Bush in 2010 and Billy Lansdell both years.

Mayor Bob Bruggeman, Billy Lansdell, Stuart Boozer, and Greg Bush umpired the UIL Texas baseball state championship at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, Texas, in 2011. submitted photo.

Bob, Greg, and Billy were following in the footsteps of legendary MLB umpire Durwood Merrill, who worked as the athletic director at Hooks High School in the 1960s and coached the minor-league Texarkana Titans football team in 1970. After a 23-season career as an umpire in the major league, he returned to Texarkana and umpired locally until his death in 2003. 

“Durwood would come to our Wednesday meetings,” Bob shared. “He would talk about mechanics, positioning, and rotations, but he would not discuss rules. He’d give you little common-sense tips.” Greg, who was a big fan of Durwood, still carries a patch that says 33, which was the late great’s uniform number. 

Greg carries this patch from the uniform of his late friend and MLB upiring legend Durwood Merrill.

Bob, Greg, and Billy know each other well after more than four decades of working together. This is helpful in matters of sport and critical in matters of health.

“I’ve had seizures while umpiring,” Billy said. He has experienced seizures since he was a young child and still has them to this day. “Bobby and Greg have been there when it’s happened. They would step back, telling others to just leave me alone. All the schools I officiate now know what’s going on. Only one school won’t let me officiate its games.”

All three umpires continue to work. Mayor Bruggeman enjoys it now more than ever and said he hopes he has “several more years left to umpire.” Greg said he knows there’s not much time left, while Billy wants to go another six seasons.