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Charlie Merrifield walked up to me with a purpose that night three years ago.

It was just a couple of weeks before the iconic Butte coach passed away at the age of 90, and he had something to say. He read a story I wrote about Butte Central star Dougie Peoples passing Maroon legend “Jumpin’” Joe Kelly for the most points in the history of the BC boys’ basketball program, and he figured I left something out.

As he shook my hand with that legendary iron grip, Charlie let me know that Kelly, who jumped for the Maroons in the late 1930s and early 1940s, did not have the benefit of the 3-point line. If he did, Charlie said, Dougie would not be anywhere near Kelly’s mark. At least not yet.

Charlie’s wife Betty agreed. They both were lucky enough to watch Kelly play, even though they were very young at the time. They still swore by the man with one of the best nicknames in Mining City sports history. Kelly could jump, and he could score when playing basketball.

They were not trying to diminish Peoples in any way. They just wanted to make sure Kelly was not shortchanged. To them, “Jumpin’” Joe Kelly still walked on water.

They figured it was their responsibility to stick up for a legend from their time. If you got to watch a player like “Jumpin’” Joe Kelly, you tell people about it. You feel a need to remind people of his greatness.

They had a point, too. The 3-point line was not introduced into high school basketball in Montana until the 1986-87 season, and that completely changed the game. I don’t know how many threes Kelly would have made, but the Merrifields swore it would have been a lot.

Peoples, who never scored a varsity point as a freshman, made a lot of 3-poitners — including a legendary one the fans from Lewistown will never forget. But he finished his career with 1,683 points, which was 279 more than Kelly’s 1,404.

When I was about the age Charlie was when he watched Kelly, I thought Marc Murphy, Tom Kenney, John Sullivan, Mickey Tuttle and Chris Rasmussen walked on water. They still do.

To me, they always will. That is how we remember our sports heroes.

That is how a lot of today’s young girls feel about Cadence Graham and Brooke “The Assassin” Badovinac. It is how the young boys look at the great Hudson Luedtke.

Luedke has one more game in Butte and then, hopefully, a few games in the Class AA State tournament left in his high school basketball career. He enters that stretch with 1,640 points.

That is 43 points shy of Peoples and 56 less than Lexie Nelson, who finished her career in 2010 with 1,696 points. That is the most points any high school player from Butte has scored, boy or girl.

Luedtke is a lock to be an All-State basketball player for the fourth straight season, and he is a top candidate to win the Gatorade Montana Boys Basketball Player of the Year award. With 469 points for an average of 24.7 points per game this season, Luedtke finished seven points behind Missoula Sentinel star Lincoln Rogers for his second straight Class AA regular-season scoring title.

Luedtke finished in the top 10 in the Class AA in scoring in all four of his years at Butte High. He was ninth as a freshman and fourth as a sophomore.

What sets Luedtke apart for other scorers, though, is he led the Class AA in assists the last three seasons. He was third in assists as a freshman.

Luedtke is not caught up in stats. He wants to win, and he has this year’s Bulldogs at 15-4. That is the most regular-season wins for a Butte High team since 2007. Butte High might not be the favorite to win the Class AA State title, but nobody wants to play the Bulldogs right now.

Nobody wants to see Hudson Luedtke on the other side when their season is on the line.

At 6-foot-2, Luedtke is about 2 inches shorter than Peoples and six inches shorter than Rogers. But he can score inside and outside. Luedtke is the master of the midrange. The way he can create space and hit shots with hands in his face makes him virtually impossible to guard.

He is also no slouch on the defensive end of the court.

Another thing that separates him from other basketball stars is that Luedke is also a four-time All-State football player. That is rare at any level of high school. It is ridiculous in the Class AA.

That puts Luedtke on the short list with guys like Bob O’Billovich, Todd Ericson and Tommy Mellott as the top male athlete in Butte High history. (Remember, I said “guys like.” I’m sure there are others I am missing. I am just going off the top of my head.)

When he started at Butte High, Luedke was known as Mickey Tuttle’s grandson. As Hudson enters the final stretch of his remarkable career, Mickey, a star on Butte High’s last state title team in 1984, is now known as Hudson Luedtke’s grandpa.  

Luedtke has football offers from big football schools pouring in, but he wants to continue playing basketball at that level. Someday the right offer is going to come in, and a college coach is going to get an unbelievable steal.

Nobody outworks Luedtke, who has gotten up early almost every day of his life to shoot baskets. He hardly ever gets a second of rest during a game.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Luedtke, though, has nothing to do with how many points he scorers or assists that he hands out. Rather, it is his humility that separates him.

When I told him he was closing in on the point totals of Peoples and Nelson last Friday night, Hudson had no idea. While he appreciated the knowledge, I could also tell that he did not really care.

He does not care if he wins the Gatorade. He wants to win a state title. A team title.

He did not care that he scored 30 points in that overtime win over Missoula Big Sky. He did not care that he scored 15 of those points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

He cared that he missed four free throws in that game, and he cared that those misses could have cost his team. He was happier that classmate Josh Liston hit four 3-pointers. He was happier that Rhett Arntson had a big game off the bench and that Cayde Stajcar had a huge basket, rebound and block.

He cared about talking to the Bulldog fans who sought him out after the game. That includes Bulldog fans who never heard of his grandpa and those who were already old when his grandpa climbed up and sat on the rim after the Bulldogs won the title on that 1984 St. Patrick’s Day in Missoula.

If the Bulldogs beat Missoula Big Sky again Thursday and advance to the Class AA State tournament next week in Billings, Luedtke has a great chance to pass up Peoples and Nelson on the Mining City’s all-time scoring list.

Graham, who is in the first class of players who were allowed to play varsity in the eighth grade, might make a run at them next year. Joshua Sutton could join the conversation at Butte Central next year, too.

Years from now, some boy or girl just might come along and score more points than all of them.

When a writer points out the new player is about to become the highest scoring player in Butte history, though, some old man and woman who were lucky enough to watch this generation of players just might speak out like Charlie did.

They will tell that writer about a player named Hudson Luedtke and how he walked on water.

— Bill Foley, who can barely swim in water, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.