Bud Haabestad

Last updated

Bud Haabestad
Chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party
In office
1978–1980
Basketball career
Personal information
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Career information
High school Upper Darby High School (Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania)
College Princeton (1952–1955)
Position Guard/Forward
Number12,15
Career history
1955–1958 Wilkes-Barre Barons
Career highlights
3x B. Franklin Bunn Trophy winner (1953, 1954, 1955)
2x All-Ivy League first team (1954, 1955)
Ivy League scoring leader (1954)
2x All-EPBL First Team (1956, 1957)

Harold Franklin Haabestad (born May 3, 1933) is an American politician who was a Delaware County, Pennsylvania councilman and chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. He was a candidate in the 1980 United States Senate election, but lost in the Republican primary to Arlen Specter. A graduate of Princeton University, Haabestad was a record-setting scorer for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball.

Contents

Early life

Haabestad was born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania on May 3, 1933. [1] His father Harold F. Haabestad Sr., was president of the Hydrol Chemical Company, a manufacturer of embalming chemicals. [2] He was a three-sport athlete at Upper Darby High School, graduating in 1951. [1]

Princeton University

In his first year as a varsity player, Haabestad became the first sophomore to ever lead the Princeton basketball team in scoring and set the school record for most points per game in a season. [3] On February 4, 1953, he broke the school's single game scoring record when he put up 32 points against Colgate. [4] He bested both of those records, averaging an Ivy League high 18.4 point per game and scoring 33 against Iowa. [5] Princeton played for that year's Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, title but lost to Cornell. Haabestad averaged 20 points per game as a senior, which was the second highest average in the Ivy League (behind Chet Forte) that season. [6] He became the first player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career. [7] The Tigers beat Columbia to capture the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League championship and played in the 1955 NCAA basketball tournament. [8] Haabestad was awarded the B. Franklin Bunn Trophy as Princeton's most valuable player in all three of his varsity seasons. He is the only three-time winner of the award. [9]

From 1955 to 1958, Haabestad played for the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League. He averaged 19.1 points per game over 61 career games and was a named to the EPBL All-League First Team in 1955–56 and 1956–57. [10]

Business

After graduating, Haabestad served in the United States Navy and worked for Hydrol Chemical, becoming president in 1966. [1] In 1964, he founded Unitex Products, a paper clothing manufacturing company based in Lester, Pennsylvania. [11] Unitex merged with a larger firm five years later. In 1971, he founded TECA Inc., a paper products company. [1] Haabestad remained president of Hydrol Chemical Company until it was acquired by Embalmers Supply Company in 2023. [12]

Politics

Haabestad served on the Delaware County Planning Commission from 1972 to 1974 and was a member of the Radnor Township, Pennsylvania board of commissioners from 1973 to 1977. In 1977, he was elected to the Delaware County council. [1]

In 1978, Haabestad was gubernatorial nominee Dick Thornburgh's handpicked candidate for Republican state committee chairman. He was elected by acclamation after incumbent Dick Filling dropped out agreed to drop out for the sake of party unity. [13] Under his leadership, the party was able to reduce its debt from $400,000 to $100,000. [14] However, many county party leaders were upset with Haabestad due to a lack of patronage jobs in the Thornburgh administration. [15]

In 1980, United States Senator Richard Schweiker unexpectedly announced he would not run for reelection. Because Dick Thornburgh had only been Governor for only a year, he did not want to seek the seat. Arlen Specter sought to succeed him, but Thornburgh did not support his candidacy because he feared Specter would create "another power center within the party" and was wary of his multiple losses since 1969. When William Scranton III elected not to run, Thornburgh convinced Haabestad to enter the race. [16] Haabestad was also endorsed by U.S. Senator John Heinz and Philadelphia Republican boss William Meehan. [17] Thornburgh and Heniz hoped to have Haabestad nominated by the Republican state committee, but it instead voted to have an open primary. Once the primary was announced, Schweiker endorsed Haabestad over Specter. [18] Although Haabestad was favored by party leaders, Specter had much greater name recognition with voters. [14] Specter defeated Haabestad by about 37,000 votes and beat Democratic nominee Peter F. Flaherty in the general election. [19]

Haabestad did not run for reelection as party chairman in 1980 and was succeeded by Martha Bell Schoeninger, who was seen as an anti-Thornburgh candidate. [15] He also did not seek reelection to the county council, citing to business commitments. [20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Bud Haabestad For U.S. Senate campaign bio" (PDF). Carnegie Mellon University Library. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  2. ""Bud" Haabestad Stars on Princeton Basketball Team". American Funeral Director. 78 (I).
  3. "Princeton Guard To Receive Trophy". Gettysburg Times. March 20, 1953. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  4. "Collegiate Stars Grind Out Points". Eugene Register-Guard. February 5, 1953. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  5. "Ivy League Basketball Men's Individual Records" (PDF). Ivy League Sports. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  6. "1954-55 Men's Ivy League Leaders". SRCBB. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  7. "Princeton's Haabestad Reaches 1,000 Mark". Youngstown Vindicator. January 16, 1955. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  8. Sakowitz, Sheldon (March 10, 1955). "Princeton Takes Ivy Loop Title". Times Daily. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  9. "Trophy Winner". The Daily Princetonian. March 28, 1955. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  10. "Bud Haabestad". Stats Crew. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  11. May, Anthony (March 29, 1967). "Paper Dress Fad Began In Funeral Home". Gettysburg Times. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  12. "ESCO Acquires Hydrol". National Funeral Directors Association. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  13. "Haabestad Elected GOP Chief". Reading Eagle. June 18, 1978. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Matthews, Frank (February 23, 1980). "Haabestad Strives for Name Recognition". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  15. 1 2 Stoffer, Harry (May 15, 1980). "State GOP elects first woman chairman". Beaver Country Times. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  16. Thornburgh, Dick (2012). Where the Evidence Leads: An Autobiography, Revised and Updated. University of Pittsburgh. p. 177. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  17. "GOP Head in Senate Race". Reading Eagle. February 8, 1980. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  18. "Open GOP Primary: Simple Conclusion To Furious Politicking". Observer-Reporter. February 11, 1980. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  19. Kennedy, John J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 57. Retrieved October 12, 2025.
  20. "Two out, six in GOP race for two Delco council seats". Delaware County Daily Times. February 19, 1981. Retrieved October 12, 2025.