Growing up Bruce was described as a “Late Bloomer” this was due to the fact that his birthday came late in the school year. Bruce played his first organized football game in 9thgrade under Wally Whitted at Monticello Junior High School. The next year as a sophomore at R.,A. Long (1967) he suited up for the varsity games but played sparingly. As a junior (1968) he was the only starting junior as left tackle, then as a senior, (1969) was moved to offensive guard and defensive tackle starting both ways. At the conclusion of the year. He was named the co-MVP of the team, co-captain, received the team merit award and was named to the SWW all-conference team. Bruce also lettered in track his junior and senior years and then competed in wrestling only one complete season, which was his senior year. Bruce placed third at district that year at 191 lbs, At the end of his senior year he was awarded the Johnny Hammer Memorial Award. He was a football “walk on” as a freshman at Stanford University (1970) and became one of the starting offensive guards and was appointed as one of the team captains. That year Stanford beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, the following year Bruce played on the scout team as a redshirt. In 1972 as a junior he played varsity as a backup offensive guard, playing in most games and earning his first varsity letter. 1973, was his “breakout year”, he earned the starting right guard position and played all 11 games. The team did well in the Pac 8, taking third place behind USC and UCLA (7-4). All four of their losses that year were to top ten teams; Penn State, USC, UCLA and Michigan. Against the University of Washington (Huskies) he was named offensive game captain for Stanford. At the conclusion of the season he was recognized as the offensive player with the most minutes played that season. Bruce was also named to the Academic All-America Team. Bruce had one more year of eligibility remaining but chose to go to medical school rather than play football. Later in his senior year he won the Stanford University intramural heavyweight wrestling championship, defeating a couple of his football teammates in the process. Bruce went on to graduate from the University of Washington Medical School in 1978, completed his orthopedic surgery training at the University of Utah in 1983, and has been in the private practice of orthopedic surgery here in Longview since, currently in his 30th year of practice. In 2008 he was among the first 500 orthopedic surgeons in the country to be awarded subspecialty certification in sports medicine, by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Currently his practice emphasizes sports medicine, adult reconstruction (joint replacements) and shoulder arthroscopy.
Note: Bruce was previously inducted into the R.A. Long Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category for his continued support of the high school through the free annual coaches’ clinic to serve the needs of local coaches as a public service.