Paul H. Bruske

Paul Hale Bruske (November 7, 1877 – September 26, 1956) was an American writer, journalist, advertising executive, and sportsman.

Paul H. Bruske
Bruske from Sporting Life, 1908
BornNovember 7, 1877
Charlotte, Michigan
DiedSeptember 26, 1956(1956-09-26) (aged 78)
Romeo, Michigan
NationalityAmerican
Spouse(s)Mary Wheeler (Plum) Bruske
ChildrenPaul Wheeler Bruske
Parent(s)August Frederick Bruske

Bruske was a baseball correspondent for Sporting Life from 1905 to 1914. He also wrote for several Michigan newspapers from 1898 to 1910. He covered the Detroit Tigers for 14 years, including their American League championship seasons of 1907, 1908, and 1909.

During the 1910s, he became involved in the automobile business. In 1910, he led the "Under Three Flags" automobile expedition from Quebec City to Mexico City, and in 1911 he participated in the Glidden Tour, a cross-country automobile race. From 1914 to 1915, he managed the Maxwell automobile racing team that included Barney Oldfield and Eddie Rickenbacker.

Bruske also worked in the advertising business for many years. During the 1910s, he was at different times the adverting and publicity director for four of Detroit's leading automobile manufacturers, E-M-F Company, Studebaker, Maxwell, and Harroun. In his later years, he handled the advertising accounts for Fisher Body and Firestone/Oldfield Tires.

Early years

Bruske was born in Charlotte, Michigan, and raised in Saginaw, Michigan.[1] He was the son of Rev. August F. Bruske, who served as president of Alma College.[2] Bruske attended Alma College where he was a champion tennis player and an infielder and captain of the baseball team.[1] He graduated from Alma in 1898.[3]

Newspaper career

After graduating from Alma, Bruske held reporting jobs with the Lansing State Republican, the Grand Rapids Herald, The Grand Rapids Press, and the Saginaw Evening News.[4] While in Grand Rapids, he covered the city's Western League baseball team that featured three future inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame -- Rube Waddell, Sam Crawford, and Jake Beckley.[1]

In 1901, Bruske joined the Detroit Tribune and became the head of its sports department in 1902. He established Michigan's first Sunday sports section while he was with the Tribune.[4] He also established Michigan's first color newspaper supplement with a green sports section at the Tribune.[1] In 1906, Bruske moved to the Detroit Times as the sports editor.[4]

In January 1905, Bruske also became the Detroit correspondent for the Sporting Life, a national weekly founded in 1883 devoted to coverage of the sport of baseball. Bruske's baseball articles were regularly featured in Sporting Life from January 1905 through April 1914.[4][5]

Automobile career

In May 1910, Bruske left his position as the sporting editor of the Detroit Times to become the publicity agent for the E-M-F Company,[6] which was at the time the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States.[7]

In June 1910, Bruske led a pioneering automobile expedition known as "Under Three Flags." Bruske and a small crew drove a Flanders "20" roadster (an early offering by E-M-F Company) from Quebec City to Mexico City in 58 days from June 6 to August 3, 1910.[8][9][10][11] The E-M-F Company subsequently published a book about the expedition, likely written by Bruske.[12] Alfred Henry Spink, the founder of The Sporting News, called Bruske's "Under Three Flags" expedition "the most remarkable journey ever placed to the credit of a car of its power."[1]

In October 1911, Bruske participated in the Glidden Tour, a cross-country automobile race from New York to California.[13]

By 1912, the E-M-F Company had combined with Studebaker, and Bruske was in charge of advertising and publicity for Studebaker. He toured the country arranging exhibitions, overseeing the company's participation in road races, and writing newspaper stories promoting Studebaker automobiles.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

In December 1914, he left Studebaker to manage the Maxwell automobile racing team.[20] The Maxwell team was one of the leading automobile racing teams in the 1910s and included among its stars, Barney Oldfield, Ray Harroun (winner of the 1911 Indianapolis 500), Eddie Rickenbacker, and Billy Carlson.[21] In April 1915, after equipping the team's cars with Master carburetors, the Maxwell team took first and second place in a race in Venice,California.[22] In July 1915, the Maxwell team, with Rickenbacker driving, won the 300-mile Sioux City sweepstakes.[23]

In August 1915, the Maxwell automobile company withdrew from the automobile racing business, and Bruske was given a position overseeing the company's newspaper work.[24]

From 1917 to 1919, he was the advertising manager for Ray Harroun's Harroun Motors Corp.[25] In a draft registration card completed at the time of World War I, Bruske described himself as an "advertising writer" for the Harroun Motors Corp. He was living at that time with his wife, Mary Plum Bruske, at 195 Pallister Street in Detroit.[26]

Family and later years

After two years with Harroun, Bruske joined Power, Alexander & Jenkins Co., an advertising agency in 1919.[27] Bruske remained active in the advertising business in his later years, with clients that included Fisher Body and Firestone/Oldfield Tires.[28]

Bruske married a fellow Alma student, Mary Wheeler Plum.[3] They had a son, Paul Wheeler Bruske and a daughter Barbara Plum Bruske. At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Bruske was living with his wife and son at 831 Pallister Street in Detroit.[29]

Bruske died in 1956 at Romeo, Michigan.[30]

Selected works by Bruske
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References
  1. Alfred Henry Spink (1911). The National Game (2nd ed.). National Game Pub. Co. pp. 325–326.
  2. "Deaths in the Ministry". Herald and Presbyter, Volume 91. April 7, 1920. p. 14.
  3. Catalogue of Alma College for the Year 1900-1901. Alma College. 1901. p. 83. paul hale bruske.
  4. "Paul H. Bruske: Detroit Correspondent of 'Sporting Life' for 3 Years" (PDF). Sporting Life. March 14, 1908. p. 22.
  5. Paul Hale Bruske (April 11, 1914). "Detroit Duly Delighted: With Good Reports About the Tigers; The Team More Harmonious and Ambitious Than Heretofore; Recruits Who Have Given Indication of Real Major" (PDF). Sporting Life. p. 8.(Bruske's final column for Sporting Life)
  6. "Many Changes: Newspaperdom of Detroit Has Had Big Shakeup". The Evening Record. May 16, 1910.
  7. Anthony J. Yanik (2001). The E-M-F Company: The Story of Automotive Pioneers Barney Everitt, William Metzger, and Walter Flanders. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). ISBN 0-7680-0716-X.
  8. "Canada To Mexico By Auto: Bruske's Car Arrives from Quebec at Monterey After a Month" (PDF). The New York Times. July 10, 1910.
  9. "Will Tour From Old Quebec To Mexico On Trip 'Under Three Flags'". Detroit Free Press. June 5, 1910. p. C6.
  10. "QUEBEC-MEXICO RUN IN 58 DAYS: Flanders 20 Makes Great Record in Matter of Tire Expense". Detroit Free Press. August 12, 1910.
  11. "FLAG TO FLAG FLANDERS RUN: SMALL CAR BUMPS THE TIES OVER DEEP RIVER; Nervy Crew Rushes the Trestle and Reaches Opposite Side Just as Big Freight Train Thunders Past--Automobile Penetrates Regions Never Before Visited by Motor". Los Angeles Times. July 10, 1910.
  12. Under Three Flags: Being the Story of the Flanders "20" Car Across Three Countries--Canada, United States, Mexico. E-M-F Company. 1910.
  13. "Prominent Entrants and two Trophies for Famous Glidden Tour" (PDF). The New York Times. October 15, 1911.
  14. Leon J. Pinkson (May 11, 1912). "Paul Hale Bruske Is Guest In City: Studebaker Contest Manager Visiting Local Branch; Notes from Row". San Francisco Call.
  15. Paul Hale Bruske (December 17, 1912). "Studebaker Automobile Is Now Serving In Its Sixth Great War: Paul Hale Bruske Tells of the Use of the Studebaker Car in the Turkish Army".
  16. Paul Hale Bruske (April 28, 1912). "WORLD RECORD IN BIG RACE: Santa Monica Classic to Be Greatest Ever; History of Road Racing Is Summed Up by Scribe; Flanders Booster Has Words of Good Cheer". Los Angeles Times.
  17. Paul Hale Bruske (May 5, 1912). "FLANDERS CARS ON MOTORDROME: Midget Motors to Vie for Honors on Pie-pan; Manager Plans to Send Them Against Records; Santa Monica Road Race Teaches Many Lessons". Los Angeles Times.
  18. Paul Hale Bruske (December 8, 1912). "STUDEBAKERS IN THE BALKAN WAR: WAGONS ANSWER MANY PROBLEMS SEEMINGLY DIFFICULT; Play Important Part in Fight Against Turks and Prove of Great Value in Keeping Lines of Communication Open--Interesting History of Things on Wheels". Los Angeles Times.
  19. Paul Hale Bruske (August 10, 1913). "SHAPED FROM CHILLED STEEL: Crowned Fenders for Our New Studebakers; Versatile Die Experts Show Us Production Is Easy; Nineteen-fourteen Cars Have Added Attractions". Los Angeles Times.
  20. "Bruske Resigns From Studebaker Co". Horseless Age. December 30, 1914. p. 929.
  21. Walter David Lewis (2005). Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 70–72. ISBN 0-8018-8244-3.
  22. "CARBURETOR HELPS SPEED: BARNEY GOT MORE OUT OF HIS RACING CAR; Fourteen Cars Started in Venice Race with the Master Carburetor and Nearly Every Car that Finished had It--Oldfield, Carlson,and Marquis Used it on Racers". Los Angeles Times. April 4, 1915.
  23. Reed L. Parker (July 6, 1915). "MAXWELL CAR WINS FIRST IN OMAHA EVENT: Rickenbacher Averages 91.74 Miles Before 40,000 Spectators". Chicago Daily Tribune.
  24. "News and Notes of the Automobile Trade" (PDF). The New York Times. August 15, 1915.
  25. "Factory Activities". The Automobile, Volume 36. May 10, 1917. p. 899.
  26. Draft registration card for Paul Hale Bruske, born November 7, 1877.
  27. "Bruske Back To Advertising". Motor Age, Volume 35. 1919. p. 14.
  28. "Obituary". The Washington Post. September 28, 1956. p. 26.
  29. Census entry for Paul H. Bruske, advertising executive, born in Michigan, and family. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: 1035; Page: 17A; Enumeration District: 106; Image: 610.0.
  30. "Obituary". The Sporting News. October 10, 1956. p. 28.
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