Bummy Burstein
Bummy Was No Bummy in Sports
Gerald Burstein, a long time Riverside, Calif, resident, is better known as Bummy, and is also well known for wearing many hats. He taught math at Minnesota School for the Deaf (now known as Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf) and at Riverside before becoming the school media specialist. Very loyal to Gallaudet, his alma mater, he has served the university alumni association as the president for ten years. He is also a well known parliamentarian in the deaf community – seemingly forever giving workshops all over the nation on this subject. Burstein is also a toastmaster and a humorist in high demand everywhere.
A recent Silent News story on Bummy labelled him as the “Deaf Benjamin Franklin.”
Reading his vitae would be a humbling experience – it lasts seven pages long and still growing. Listed are his involvements in alphabet soup organizations for the deaf – RID, NCI, NAD, GUAA, NCJD, CAID, CAD and others that he served as president, chairperson, board member, etc. An Eagle scout he is, but its’ not a joke – he attained that rank during his much younger days.
What about sports? A diehard Brooklyn Dodger fan that he is, Burstein was anointed with the Bummy moniker that more or less supplanted Gerald as his first name. A group of Gallaudet buddies taunted his undying love for the hardluck Dodgers, usually destined to end up as losers in the World Series. As a result he has been introduced at formal ceremonies as Bummy rather than as Gerald.
No jock he is, but his involvement in sports speaks for itself. He refereed basketball games in Minnesota for ten years.
When he moved to Riverside, his heavy involvement in a range of activities forced him to give up this part time activity.
Swimming? He was on the high school (Straubenmuller Textile HS, NY) swim team and earned few points for his high school team in some meets.
Basketball? He was a benchwarmer for the long defunct Naismith Social and Athletic Club for the Deaf team in New York City. “I was the ninth or the tenth sub on the team.” Not the 9th or 10th best player, but the 14th or the 15th.
Gallaudet athletics? Burstein played junior varsity basketball at Gallaudet. He also served as the varsity statistician three years for three seasons. Sorry, he wasn’t one of the hardy students that signed up for the football team when this sport was revived on the Gallaudet campus after lying dormat for a decade.
Can’t exactly blame him for not trying out for football – it is not a sport of choice among New Yorkers!
AAAD? Never involved with any of the AAAD activities – but he emceed the AAAD hall of fame banquet at Los Angeles in 1974, and was instrumental in getting old football hero Tom Harmon as the banquet speaker.
Bummy is one up on Benjamin Franklin. The legendary statesman never played sports, while Bummy has had his foot in the world of sports before moving on!
Life takes strange turns. If he rooted for the New York Yankees or New York Giants, he would still be named Gerald Burstein!
