Leon “Bud” Hundenski was born in Canonsburg, Pa, on July 26, 1944. After his dad bought him his first accordion, he started taking private lessons at age nine. As a youth, bud won many solo amateur contests and formed his own trio by the time he was in junior high school. At age 17, he accepted an invitation to join Pittsburgh's Bob Gazda band and went on to record and perform with the popular group until he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965. After serving his duty, he collaborated with skilled musicians to form Bud Hundenski & the Corsairs. The band’s first album, “Polkas That Swing,” featuring bud’s original hit composition of the same name, won national acclaim. Over the next four decades, the band recorded ten albums, appeared on various tv shows, and toured through much of the U.S. and Canada. In 2011, their “Resurgence” album won the Polka America Corporation of Excellence (PACE) “Polka Album of the Year” award. An accomplished bandleader, tv recording artist, composer, publisher, musician, family man, and humanitarian, bud passed away on January 23, 2016.

For his many accomplishments in the polka industry, Leon “Bud” Hundenski has been deemed deserving by the electorate of the International Polka Association for induction into the Polka Music Hall of Fame®.