Everett A. “Bud” Lively
Class of 2002
Everett A. “Bud” Lively was born in Birmingham in 1925, but Huntsville would become the city most closely associated with his life and career. Baseball ran deep in the Lively family. His father, Jack Lively, was a professional pitcher who began his career in 1905 with the Huntsville baseball team and later pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1911 to 1914, where he became a close friend of future Hall of Famer Ty Cobb.
Bud Lively followed his father onto the baseball diamond, but his promising career was interrupted by World War II. Drafted in 1943, he served in General George S. Patton’s Third Army in an anti-aircraft weapons battalion.
After the war, Lively resumed his baseball career and reached the Major Leagues in 1947 with the Cincinnati Reds. On that pitching staff he shared the clubhouse with notable players such as Ewell “The Whip” Blackwell, Johnny Vander Meer and Bucky Walters.
A shoulder injury eventually shortened his major league career, but Lively continued to serve his country and community in another field. He spent 28 years in Civil Service, working for the Department of the Army and later with NASA at Redstone Arsenal.
During his years in Huntsville’s space program, Lively contributed to some of the most historic achievements in American space exploration, including the Apollo program, the first manned lunar landing, Skylab, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the early development of the Space Shuttle.
Lively also remained active in numerous organizations, including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.
Through both baseball and public service, Bud Lively built a legacy that connected Huntsville’s athletic traditions with its historic role in America’s space program.
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