A California group has rallied round considered one of its native sports activities legends after he misplaced the whole lot to the Los Angeles-area wildfires.
A GoFundMe marketing campaign arrange by his son has already raised greater than $720,000 for Walt Butler, 83, whose Altadena home was consumed by flames Wednesday within the Eaton fireplace.
“I’m still trying to assess what really happened,” Butler informed The Publish.
“I’m not upset about it, because I am trying to process it, but I will recover. I have three daughters and a son,” former Stanford College soccer cornerback Treyjohn Butler, “and I helped them all their lives. Now, they’re really stepping it up big time to take care of the Big Guy.”
The previous monitor and discipline nice, nicknamed “The Jet,” excelled in soccer and monitor at Pasadena Excessive College.
He nonetheless holds a California Interscholastic Federation file within the 120-yard excessive hurdles.
Whereas at Pasadena Metropolis Faculty, Walt ended up changing into the State Junior Faculty Champion within the 120-yard hurdles.
This yr, he will likely be inducted into the Pasadena Sports activities Corridor of Fame.
He has additionally owned and operated Walter Butler Footwear in Pasadena since 1979.
“It’s an overwhelming experience,” Butler stated.
“I am one of those dumb athletes who thinks he can do everything. If you get hit in the gut, you just suck it up. Well, I am sucking it up and standing tall. I will win the race.”
Butler informed The Publish he had a imaginative and prescient per week earlier than the fireplace that one thing horrible was about to happen.
“I went outside Tuesday, and I looked up and the moon was red,” he stated.
“I mean it was red red. It was just like a big ball of fire in the sky. I told my girlfriend, ‘The moon is red,’ because I told her a week before that something serious was going to happen soon. She dismissed it; I always have these visions.”
He may inform the fireplace was raging on the opposite facet of the mountains close to his residence. In brief order, the flames had “jumped over the mountain, like a shot put.”
The wind was so intense, he stated, “it was shaking the house.”
So, Butler and his girlfriend, Marilyn Meyers, 70, “left everything behind, hopped in the car and left. We parked in a nearby lot and slept. I actually got a good night’s sleep.”
Butler was in a position to go to his property Wednesday night.
“Everything was gone,” he stated.
“Like gone, gone, gone. I had a new Corvette Stingray and some old classic cars that were beat up. The Corvette was gone. It didn’t exist, man. And I’m saying to myself, ‘Is this real? It can’t be, but I guess it is.’”
Butler, who opened Walt Butler Footwear in Pasadena in 1979, stated he’s not blown away by the assist he’s obtained.
A group he’s served his complete life, he stated, is returning the favor.
“I know I will overcome [losing everything],” he stated.
“By this time next month, I’m gonna have my Corvette back.”
