[1] Bruton believed that the incident "put a damper" on his professional career as he had been viewed "as one of the best little men in the country" prior to his case.
[2] He averaged 12.9 points per game during his senior season and was selected to the All-Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) first-team in 1976.
[3] Bruton returned to his native New York City after his collegiate career ended in 1976 and played in local tournaments including at Rucker Park.
[4] In July 1977, Bruton was invited to a free agent camp held by the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
[3] On 15 October, he was the last player waived by the Spurs before the start of the 1977–78 NBA season; the decision was between him and recent draft pick Scott Sims.
As coach of Geelong, Bruton led the team to the 1982 NBL Grand Final where they were defeated 80–74 by the West Adelaide Bearcats at the Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium in Newcastle.
Game 1 was played in front of a record crowd of 11,000 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and saw a 122–119 win for Adelaide in overtime saw them overwhelming favourites (the 36ers had gone 24–2 during the season) to go home and wrap up the championship at the Apollo Stadium where they had an imposing 14–0 record up until that point of the season (and in fact had not lost since June 1985, a streak of 20 straight home wins).
Brisbane, led by Bruton with 38 points, Ron Radliff and Larry Sengstock, stunned the 36ers with a 104–83 win to force a third and deciding game just two days later.
The two, best friends off the court but the fiercest of rivals on it, had a running battle in Game 3 with Green eventually coming out on top leading Adelaide to a 113–91 victory for the 36ers' first NBL title.
Following the 1986 Grand Final series, Bruton had a public falling out with Bullets coach Brian Kerle and was sacked from the club under controversial circumstances.
He recruited two players who would become stars with the Wildcats, 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) centre/power forwards James Crawford (a teammate of Bruton's at Geelong in 1982 known as the "Alabama Slamma" for his dunking ability) and former Harlem Globetrotter Kendal "Tiny" Pinder.
Despite this eventful start to the season Bruton guided the Wildcats to its first NBL championship when they defeated the Brisbane Bullets (still coached by Kerle) 2–1 in the Grand Final series.
He was also once in a celebrity episode of 1980s gameshow It's a Knockout where he dressed in a horse suit alongside Big Sports Breakfast co-host and journalist Terry Kennedy.