Latrobe grad, Holy Cross basketball player Austin Butler recovering from surgery

Austin Butler’s mother, Michelle, wasn’t convinced she wanted to put her son through shoulder surgery for a second consecutive year.

But she and husband Eric went ahead with it for Austin’s peace of mind, and she said she is happy with the decision.

Butler, a 2017 Latrobe grad and senior basketball player at Holy Cross, had surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday at UPMC Shadyside to repair a vascular thoracic outlet syndrome. He had labrum/rotator cuff surgery in 2019, when they inserted three anchors in the front and one in the back of his labrum.

Surgery was a success ??. Thank you to everyone who has reached out! I will be back stronger and better than I ever was. I’m looking forward to getting healthy and back playing the game I love pain free ?? pic.twitter.com/Apula7TQ60

— AB (@austinbutler44) May 27, 2020

Butler played through pain during his junior season and averaged 11.8 points. But after returning home in March, he knew something wasn’t right and admitted it to his parents.

“He was in a lot of pain,” Michelle Butler said. “His arm was having weakness, fatigue, swelling, numbness and fingers tingled. Austin usually would put up 500 shots a day, and he could barely finish 100.”

So after talking to numerous friends and trainers, Butler met May 14 with Dr. Michael Singh, the co-director of the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute Aortic Center and chief of vascular surgery at UPMC Shadyside.

Butler had the top rib on his right side removed along with some muscle and cartilage that was strangling the vein.

“They also discovered some blood clots at the initial appointment, but medicine dissolved them,” Michelle Butler said. “The vein immediately responded and began to recover after the pressure was taken off it.”

Butler was an outstanding athlete at Latrobe. He was the quarterback on the football team and set the school record in the javelin and qualified for states. He even threw a no-hitter for the Latrobe Legion team in 2017 before heading to Holy Cross.

He was the Tribune-Review Basketball Player of the Year twice, scored 1,905 points and averaged 29.2 points his senior season. He was also the Tribune-Review Boys Athlete of the Year.

But basketball is his game.

Butler has had three solid seasons at Holy Cross. He was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team in 2018 and made the Patriot League’s academic honor roll in 2019.

“I’m in pain, but I’m just glad the surgery is over with and I’m excited to get started with rehab and the recovery stage,” Butler said via direct message on Twitter from his hospital bed. “I’m very relieved knowing we found the big issue that has been bothering me and to know it’s finally taken care of and fixed is a good feeling.”

Butler is looking at 4 to 4 1/2 months of rehab. When he goes home in a couple of days, he is allowed to pick up only 2 pounds.

His mom said physical therapy will follow, and he gradually will be able to pick up more weight.

Butler said he hopes to play professional basketball overseas after college.

“I’m looking forward to finally getting to play my senior year healthy with no more pain or discomfort I was dealing with every day,” Butler said.