During his baseball years, Bud regularly returned to his hometown of Pilger to visit. He and Inez would stay with Bud's brother, Dewey and his wife and their two daughters. The brothers often hunted pheasants during these visits and Bud packed cleaned birds in dry ice to take back so he and his friends in Chicago could feast! On occasional summer visits to Pilger as a pitcher, Bud would throw on the Pilger diamond and his nieces, Mary and Betty would watch the game and tell everyone, "That's our uncle!"