Bowie High Grad Named to Towson Hall of Fame

Mike Arbutina, as a senior at Bowie High School, paid a visit to the University of Louisville as a possible football recruit.

“A letter of intent was supposed to be on its way (after the visit) and it never came. They went in a different direction,” said Arbutina, who graduated from Bowie in 1990.

So at the last minute Arbutina changed directions and headed to what is now Towson University to play for former head coach Phil Albert.

Things worked out very well for Arbutina, who graduated from Towson with a degree in business management.

After a redshirt season for the Tigers in 1990, Arbutina became a starting linebacker the following year and went on to a standout four-year career from 1991-94.

He will be inducted into the Towson Athletic Hall of Fame at a dinner Sept. 23 and will be honored on the field at halftime of the homecoming game the following day against Colgate at Johnny Unitas Stadium just north of Baltimore.

“I was told about two months ago. It’s a great honor,” Arbutina told Bowie Patch. “A friend had nominated me: Paul Brock. He was a senior in 1994 when I was a senior.  He was from New York and transferred from Montgomery Junior College.”

Among those who plan to attend the Hall of Fame events with Arbutina are his parents and brother, Nick, who also played football at Bowie High and then at Catholic University.

Mike Arbutina ended his college career with 361 tackles, the second-best total in school history. He was named the Towson defense Most Valuable Player two times and led the Tigers in tackles three times. He started in all 41 career games.

Rob Ambrose, the current head coach for Towson, was teammates with Arbutina at the school. “Mike loved football and loved his teammates. Mike was everywhere on the field and spent himself completely every play. He gave of himself without reservation on every snap,” Ambrose wrote in an email to Bowie Patch.

”There is an old quote that says ‘He who shed his blood with me shall always be my brother.’  That is Mike Arbutina. His teammates still love him. I know I do," Ambrose added.

Also to be inducted Sept. 23 is Gordy Combs, the former Towson head football coach who Arbutina also played for.

Arbutina is the owner and operator of MVP Irrigation of Centreville, MD. MVP Irrigation was founded in 1999 and provides homeowners with landscaping and underground installation of home lighting and sprinkler systems. He and his wife, Tamra, live in Glen Burnie.

Arbutina grew up in the K section of Bowie. He played junior varsity football for the Bulldogs as a freshman and then played three seasons on the varsity team for Bowie.

He was at Towson on Saturday as the Tigers upset (31-10) nationally-ranked league foe Villanova, which won the national title in 2009 at the Division I-AA level.

Towson was 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the Colonial Athletic Association last year and had lost 14 CAA games in a row. “They are headed in the right direction,” Arbutina said of Towson, which is 2-0 overall after going 1-15 in CAA games the past two years.