Cedar Rapids special place for Warning, grandfather

CEDAR RAPIDS - Don Bruss hopes like heck he'll be returning to Cedar Rapids next week. Friday and Saturday sounds awesome, though Tuesday night will work, too.

That'll mean the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are still playing and haven't been eliminated from the United States Hockey League playoffs. And it'll give him another opportunity to reminisce.

“Oh, we'll definitely be back up there,” Bruss said Thursday from his home in Red Bud, Ill., just east of St. Louis.

“Smoke,” as he's known to most people, played outfield for the Cedar Rapids of the old Three-I League in 1950 and 1951. Among his teammates was longtime major league pitcher Ray Narleski.

Exactly 60 years later, Sam Warning is playing hockey in town. That's Smoke's grandson.

“Definitely a small world,” said Warning, whose Riders play Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at Green Bay.

Bruss, 81, said he enjoyed his time in Cedar Rapids, remembering how he and teammates would hang out a lot at the old Butterfly Cafe downtown. He even recalled how it was located across the street from the Montrose Hotel.

Smoke also was fond of the old Veterans Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1951.

“The dressing rooms were some of the nicest and largest around. Lots of room,” Bruss said. “Especially compared to the other parks in the league. There were no ballparks like that one.

“People treated us very well in Cedar Rapids. They were always really nice to all of us ballplayers.”

Warning said his grandfather would often regale everyone with tales from his minor league days.

“At family holidays, grandpa would always chime in and talk about his minor league baseball,” Warning said. “Just to kind of show off to us. It was fun listening to him. He told me it was a real good time playing here.”

Bruss, who played in Burlington in 1949, never made it to the big leagues, with 1951 being his final professional season. It doesn't appear any of he and wife Mary's six grandsons (they have three daughters, including Sam's mom, Joan Humes) will get there, either.

There's that chance one of them could reach the NHL someday, though. Sam played baseball growing up in the St. Louis area but eventually matriculated toward hockey.

Grandpa's got no issues with that and is proud of his two good seasons as a RoughRider. Warning, who will play college hockey next year at Minnesota, had 24 goals in the regular season and has another four in the postseason.

The RoughRiders and Gamblers are tied in their best-of-5 series at a game apiece, with Game 4 Sunday in Green Bay.

“I never pressured any of the boys to play baseball. None of that,” Bruss said. “Sam just always liked hockey better. He's done a great job. Play in the NHL, that's what he wants to do.”

“I didn't get too involved with baseball, but I always thought it was pretty fun to play with my older brother. My dad was our coach,” Warning said. “It was all just for fun, though. Nothing serious. All my neighbors, we were about the same age and everyone started playing hockey outside in our cul-de-sac. It started from there.”