Scottsdale Hall of Famer: Jim Bruner

Every city has a few people whose fingerprints are everywhere, even though most residents never learn their names. Jim Bruner is one of those people in Scottsdale. With this piece, we launch a new series celebrating the men and women who built the city we enjoy today.

Consider it our Honor Roll, the Arizona Progress & Gazette Hall of Fame.  

From Iowa to Arizona

Bruner grew up in Lake View, Iowa, and earned business and law degrees from Drake University. He then served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era. In 1969, he and his wife Sandy moved to Arizona, and his volunteer work began at the Boys Club, now the Boys and Girls Club. He eventually became its president.

That pattern held for the next four decades. Bruner showed up, did the work, then took on something bigger.

Eight Years on the Council

Scottsdale voters sent Bruner to the City Council in 1980, and he served through 1988. Three fights from those years still shape the city.

First, in 1985, the council voted unanimously to require fire sprinklers in new homes and commercial buildings. Homeowners were furious about the cost. Decades later, that ordinance is a national reference point, and the lives it has quietly saved are impossible to count.

Second, Bruner worked to secure Bureau of Reclamation land for what became WestWorld. The immediate goal was practical, namely keeping the Arabian Horse Show from moving to Phoenix. Today the site hosts Barrett-Jackson and countless other events.

Third, he negotiated with PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman to bring the tour to town. The result was TPC Scottsdale and, eventually, the loudest golf tournament on earth.

The Deciding Vote

Bruner later served two terms on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and chaired the board twice. In the late 1980s, he worked with Gov. Rose Mofford to stop Florida from poaching Cactus League teams. That effort still pays off every March, when 15 clubs report to Valley ballparks.

Then came the hard one. Bruner cast the deciding vote on the funding mechanism for the county-owned ballpark downtown, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The tax was deeply unpopular, and the backlash was fierce. Nevertheless, Arizona got a big-league team, and Bruner went on to chair the Stadium District for three and a half years.

A Civic Résumé Without End

His day jobs were serious, too. He practiced law at Snell & Wilmer and served as chairman and president of Northern Trust Bank of Arizona. Meanwhile, he chaired the Scottsdale Healthcare board and helped found both the Scottsdale Cultural Council and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. He also chaired the Arizona State Retirement System, the Catholic Community Foundation and the Valley of the Sun United Way campaign. Arizona named him a Historymaker in 2014, and the Cactus League placed him in its Hall of Fame. He was also a key founder of the Western Spirit museum in Old Town, a Smithsonian affiliate.

Why He Goes First

We disagree with plenty of decisions made at City Hall, past and present. This series is about something different. Bruner’s record shows what civic leadership looks like when someone takes the long view and absorbs the short-term heat.

Sprinklers, WestWorld, the TPC, spring training and a ballpark. That is not a bad list for one lifetime. Scottsdale is better because Jim Bruner showed up.