March 7, 2005
Funeral services are Thursday at 10 a.m. in Rochester for former St. Thomas men's basketball standout Cole Butler, 25, who died in a snowmobile accident early Saturday morning near Siren, Wisconsin.
Visitation will be Wednesday evening, 5-8 p.m.
Butler was a senior starting center on the Tommies' 2002 MIAC playoff qualifying team that swept the MIAC regular-season and playoff titles. He worked in downtown Minneapolis in financial services.
In 101 career games from 1998-2002, Butler converted 54.8% of his field goals and had 720 points and 376 rebounds. He shot 59% from the field and averaged 8.3 ppg and 4.6 rpg. The Tommies went 79-25 in his era, including a 62-18 MIAC record. He led the conference in free-throw shooting as a junior and made the MIAC All-Rookie team as a freshman.