Earl Bute
Earl Walter "Skip" Bute was an American sports coach and athletics administrator. He coached football, basketball, baseball, track and field, tennis, and golf at Wahpeton State Science School—now known as the North Dakota State College of Science. Bute served as the head football coach at NDSCS from 1924 to 1965. He also taught mathematics and was the athletic director at the school. Wahpeton was a junior college during Bute's tenure, but competed in the North Dakota College Athletic Conference against mostly four-year schools.
Bute was born on August 29, 1899, in Grand Ridge, Illinois. He attended school in Doran, Minnesota, before going to Wahpeton Science and then North Dakota Agricultural College—now known as North Dakota State University. At North Dakota Agricultural he played football as a quarterback in 1923. Bute resigned as athletic director and coach at Wahpeton Science in 1966. His football teams compiled a record of 141–100–18.
Bute died on October 14, 1988, at a nursing home in Breckenridge, Minnesota.