Harry Bushkar

Bushkar was born in Russia in a small town near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). His family moved to the United States when he was a tot. He grew up in Logan, West Virginia.[4]

In his first season at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) in 1942–43, Bushkar was promoted to varsity after the Southern Conference ruled that freshmen were eligible.[4] A 5-foot-8-inch (1.73 m) guard,[5] he was named Virginia's college basketball player of the year by the Associated Press (AP) in 1945 despite playing on a losing team.[6] Bushkar ended his career by being named Virginia's Player of the Year and making the All-Southern Conference team in 1945–46.[7] He was named to the AP all-state first team for the third straight season.[8] He also made the Southern Conference All-Tournament Team. He was captain of the 1944, 1945 and 1946 Tech teams.[7]

Bushkar played shortstop and pitched on occasion for the Gobblers.[3] He showed great potential on defense as a smooth fielding shortstop. Offensively, he could hit for power.[9]

Bushkar played college football on VPI's freshman team, and scored four touchdowns on the undefeated team.[4] The school did not field a football team in the following two years.[10] In June 1945, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration.[9] Enrolled at VPI as a post-graduate student in fall 1945, the fullback Bushkar was the lone non-freshman on the varsity team.[11]

In March 1946, Bushkar withdrew from his post-graduate work and signed a baseball contract with the New York Yankees to play with the Norfolk Tars in the minor league Class B Piedmont League.[9][12] He did not play any games for the Tars. His first game was with the Class D Chicago White Sox organization for the Appalachian League member New River Rebels.[1] He played 116 games for the Rebels in 1946, and sported a .336 batting average, hit 13 home runs, and had a .518 slugging percentage for the league champions.[1] In 1947, he moved to the Chicago Cubs organization, and up to the Class C Hutchinson Cubs of the Western Association league. He hit 10 home runs to lead the team, and had a .283 batting average.[1] His performance earned him a promotion to the Class B New England League in 1948, where he played for the Springfield Cubs. In his final full season of minor league ball, he hit .235 with four home runs.[1] He attempted a comeback in 1951 with the Roanoke Ro-Sox of the Class B Piedmont League where he played only 19 games and hit his final professional home run while compiling a .192 average.[1]