CHICORA — Plenty of points can be found in the woods these days.

Basketball points, that is.

Eugene "Pud" Craig, 76, a 1951 Chicora High graduate, will be inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame during the organization's 45th annual banquet April 24 at the Butler Days Inn.

Craig scored a school-record 814 points as a high school basketball player. His son, Jeff, scored 1,392 points to hold the scoring record at Karns City.

Craig's grandson, Tyler Callihan, is the Gremlins' current record holder with 1,546. Another grandson, Pat Craig, scored well over 1,000 during his career. Yet another, Joe Callihan, also was a prolific KC basketball player.

"Now we all go hunting together at a camp every year," Pud Craig said. "It's become a family thing. I introduced my grandsons to deer hunting and they took to it right away.

"Hunting is a sport we can all do together for a lifetime."

After making a name for himself in basketball, baseball and bowling, Pud Craig, who earned his nickname from his older brothers as a small child, has been an avid hunter and sportsman for years.

He shot his 70th career buck in 2009 after his streak of 15 consecutive years of getting a buck was snapped in 2008. Craig has bagged 53 deer in Pennsylvania, 17 in New York.

He's also killed 52 wild turkeys and is considered one of the best turkey callers in the area.

Craig's first eight years of schooling were "in a one-room schoolhouse. ... I never got on a basketball court until my freshman year in high school," he said.

He averaged 18 points per game and led Chicora to the section championship his senior year. Craig played basketball in the Army, then he played travel basketball in the Butler YMCA City League from 1955-65.

He played for Armco, Lokhaisers Inn and the Butler Cubs. Originally a center, he was transformed into a guard because of his ball-handling abilities.

"My biggest thrill in basketball was playing against (former Harlem Globetrotter) Marcus Haynes and the Harlem Magicians," Craig said. "I'll never forget that."

His 19-year baseball career ended at age 32, but not before he was part of five Butler County League championship teams as an outfielder with Fairview from 1959-65. The team finished runner-up the other two years.

Three times, Fairview defeated the Eagle County League champion in Butler County's version of the World Series.

"That's what it felt like back then," Craig said. "We had a lot of people in the stands watching."

After being coached by the late Jim Mckinney and Scott McCliman, Craig took up bowling in the Armco Plant Circuit at age 45.

"All of the guys were doing it and they talked me into it," he said.

Craig bowled the first sanctioned 300 game at Bruin Lanes March 14, 1972. He rolled a 700 series that same year.

"Bowling was a lot different then," Craig recalled. "I used to set up duckpins in Petrolia when I was a boy. That was the more popular game around here.

"The year I bowled my 300, Bob Morrow led all of Butler County with two perfect games. Mine was the second perfect game of the year in the entire county. It was a rare feat at the time and I was proud of it."

Craig jokingly said he never took up golf "because I had already pushed all the buttons I could with my wife when it came to sports."

But sports have always been a big part of his life.

"I have no favorite highlight or moment," he said. "I enjoyed every sport, every season, for what it was: a lot of fun."

Tickets for the banquet are $20 and are available at Bill's Beer Barn, Moses Jewelry Store at the Clearview Mall, Parker's Appliance in Chicora, Snack 'N' Pack in Butler and Saxonburg Drug.

<I>This is the first in a series of articles profiling the 2010 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame</I>