Siena Athletics Hall of Fame
Bruda played four years of varsity basketball from 1946-50 and was hailed as one of the scrappiest Indians ever and the most prolific defensive player of the 1940’s. A defensive specialist, he held Niagara's All-American Zeke Sinicola to a career low on nine points. Boland scored 182 points in his senior year. He was part of the 1950 Siena squad that posted a 28-5 record, won the NCIT, ranked second nationally in defense and became Siena’s first ever team to play in Madison Square Garden. Bruda went on to become the first men's basketball head coach at the nearby College of St. Rose in Albany, serving in the position from 1971-73. He died on September 15, 2012, at the age of 88.
