Griz Game Day August 20, 2016 by Missoulian

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 — A1

30 YEARS OF WASHINGTON-GRIZZLY STADIUM • SATURDAY, AUG. 20, 2016

HOME OF THE GRIZ Stadium celebrates 30th anniversary this fall

TOP 10 GAMES IN WA-GRIZ HISTORY • STADIUM THROUGHOUT THE YEARS

TOM BAUER, MISSOULIAN

! z i r G Go

A2 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

GRIZZLY GAME DAY

JEWEL OF THE ROCKIES From humble beginnings to home-field advantage

AJ MAZZOLINI ajmazzolini@missoulian.com

The dimly lit corridor sloped downward and ran to the right, though the blazing sunlight 180 feet away still found their eyes around the slight corner. Dozens of cleated feet scraped across the concrete floor to create an orchestra of crunching, grating and crackling. The sounds echoed off the tunnel walls. Then came another noise. A rumble. More than 10,000 voices called out as one. Their hosts were clad in copper and gold and bundled against the cool mid-October air. The din vibrated the shoulder pads on the boys beneath the stadium as their collective saunter became a sprint. They broke from the darkness into the light and the clamor of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. This act, an induction as much as a simple entrance, bonded the Montana Grizzlies football team on Oct. 18, 1986 — the day of the first game at their newly erected gridiron home. “Everybody who’s ever played there knows that feeling,” said Brad Salonen, a redshirt sophomore tight end that day. It created a brotherhood whose links have spanned 30 years now, each season accompanied by new converts to the club. Those who burst from the tunnel three decades ago not only ran toward the day’s battle — an eventual victory over Idaho State — but toward a Griz football future so steeped in grandeur, none that fall day could have dreamed it possible.

Ditching Dornblaser When the University of Montana dismantled “old” Dornblaser Stadium before the 1968 school year to make room for construction of the University Center and Aber Hall dormitory, the school relegated its football program to a temporary fixture a mile away at the corner of Higgins and South avenues. That interim facility — “new”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTANA SPORTS INFORMATION

Architects built Washington-Grizzly Stadium down into the ground rather than up both because it was cheaper and offered a better game-day experience for fans. Dornblaser Stadium, still named for the 1912 team captain, Paul Dornblaser, who was killed during World War I — was the Grizzlies’ home for nearly two decades. The field’s natural grass was comparable to that of the former on-campus stadium, but its surrounding bleachers were wooden and creaky and swayed when left empty to fight brisk winds that cut through to the playing field.

“It was a dump,” recalled retired radio broadcaster ‘Grizzly’ Bill Schwanke, who covered games from the plywood pressbox there for 15 years. Fans avoided the stadium in droves and by the time Larry Donovan’s stint as head coach was through — the team won just three games per season in his final three years prior to dismissal in 1985 — the Griz ranked last in the Big

Sky Conference (5,599 per game) in attendance. The stadium was so silent on some days that fans could hear each other’s conversations across the field — or those of agitated coaches in the booth. “I would have to do a disclaimer: ‘I’m sorry about the language,’” laughed See STADIUM, Page A10

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 — A3

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A4 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

GRIZZLY GAME DAY

The greatest of Wa-Griz From Don Read to Bob Stitt, the games you’ll never forget AJ MAZZOLINI ajmazzolini@missoulian.com

Washington-Grizzly Stadium has hosted more than 200 games in its thrilling 30-year history. Some were tight battles, others blowouts, but more often than not it was the home team that triumphed. Of the 220 contests, 192 of which went down as Montana victories, some have stood the test of time. They are the games fans still speak of, even those who were not present during their initial playing. A memorable game becomes so due to a number of factors, all of which were weighed and debated in the making of this column: 1) The contest itself was close. Onesided affairs can be enjoyable, sure, but an indisputable outcome offers little in the way of greatness. 2) The significance of the contest. Playoff games carry more weight for the simple measure that without their success, the season could not continue. 3) Historical context. An entity’s existence is dotted with firsts that while perhaps less remarkable than a similar occurrence 20 years down the road, the initial appearance progresses a program forward. It is with these metrics in mind that the Missoulian celebrates the upcoming pearl anniversary of Washington-Grizzly Stadium by presenting its top 10 (ish) games.

1B.

days played at bygone NCAA Division I-AA will be referred to under the modern FCS label). On Dec. 9, 2000, Jimmy Farris hauled in a 15-yard touchdown on a fade route from Drew Miller in the stadium’s northeast corner after App State took the 16-13 We know what you’re thinking: “Two lead in overtime. The Griz also needed games? That’s cheating.” a goal-line stand in the final minute of Perhaps, but despite being separated by nearly a decade these two games are as regulation to keep the Mountaineers out related as they can get. Each was a playoff of the end zone with the go-ahead score. “(The TD) set off bedlam,” a Missoulian semifinal and both came down to the story recalled in 2009. “Farris ran across final snap between the same two powers the end zone, dunked the ball over the in FCS football (for simplicity’s sake,

1a. 2000: Montana 19, Appalachian State 16 (OT) 1b. 2009: Montana 24, Appalachian State 17

TOM BAUER, MISSOULIAN

Chase Reynolds dives into the end zone to score the second of his two touchdowns against Appalachian State during the Grizzlies’ 24-17 semifinal victory in 2009 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. cross bar, survived a dog pile, came back across on Monte’s four-wheeler, and soon after that was crowd-surfing.” The victory sent the Griz on to the national title game, though they fell to Georgia Southern there. The same was true of the 2009 Grizzlies at the hands of Villanova. The 2009 edition on Dec. 12 of that year was just as harrowing with Montana taking on an App State team that had won three of the four previous titles. No FCS team won more games in the 2000s decade than the Mountaineers

— except Montana. The Griz needed 10 fourth-quarter points to take the lead, doing so on a 25-yard pass from Andrew Selle to Jabin Sambrano with 1:31 left in regulation. Down by seven with the field blanketed in snow thanks to a driving second-half storm, Armanti Edwards marched ASU down to the UM 3-yard line with 6 seconds remaining. With two shots at the end zone, Edwards’ passes fell incomplete twice as the game ended. “I’ll probably get chastised for saying this, but the FCS probably needed a game

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 — A5

GRIZZLY GAME DAY the game with 40 unanswered points, all sparked by a Marc Mariani 98-yard kickoff return touchdown. “I’m not a historian, but that’s the greatest comeback in school history,” Griz coach Bobby Hauck said after the win. “That’s a playoff team we just came back on like that.” Hauck’s claim would be true except the 1993 game saw Montana score an FCSrecord 39 fourth-quarter points on its way to victory on Sept. 4 of that year. The triumph also marked the arrival of a certain Missoula cult hero. Dave Dickenson, a sophomore and soon-to-be greatest quarterback in Montana history, threw for 401 yards and four TDs that day in his first career start.

3. 2015: Montana 38, North Dakota State 35

2A.

It may be recent, but there’s no denying the place of last year’s memorable season opener with the eventual five-time FCS national champions. The game was littered with story lines when it kicked off on Aug. 29, 2015: A new Griz coach in Bob Stitt facing the defending champs on a smoky day in the FCS Kickoff game with legendary broadcaster Brent Musburger on the call for ESPN. The Griz shocked the world when Joey Counts strutted into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown, a fourth-down try from the 1-yard-line with 2 seconds remaining. “We’re here to get the swagger back,” KURT WILSON, MISSOULIAN said Stitt that day, positively floating in Marc Mariani, front, and Chase Reynolds celebrate Montana’s 2009 playoff comeback against South Dakota State. his post-game press conference. “We don’t lose in our own stadium.” In his first career start, quarterback like that on national TV,” ASU coach Jerry Brady Gustafson threw for 434 yards and Moore said. “I’m glad to be a part of it.” three scores in a game viewed by 1 million households.

2a. 2009: Montana 61, South Dakota State 48 2b. 1993: Montana 52, South Dakota State 48

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Montana running back Joey Counts celebrates after scoring the winning touchdown on fourth and goal with seconds remaining against North Dakota State in 2015.

Likewise with our No. 2 entry, these two games were too intrinsically connected not to be bundled. The Griz overcame monster deficits in both games — a 27-point hole in 2009 and a 30-point one in 1993 — against the same poor Jackrabbits. The main difference was that the second encounter occurred in the first round of the FCS playoffs rather than in a season-opening nonconference tussle like that of 16 years earlier. On Nov. 28, 2009, the Griz trailed 48-21 late in the third quarter but closed

4. 1995: Montana 70, Stephen F. Austin 14 Despite being by far the most lopsided game on this list — and the most onesided victory in FCS playoff history at the time — the win marked a seminal moment in Montan history. On their third attempt in seven seasons, the Griz finally got over the semifinal hump. The outcome on Dec. 9, 1995 sent Montana to its first national title game, which the Griz soon won 22-20 over Marshall. The Dave Dickenson Show was in full effect despite a 10-degree kickoff See GREATEST, Page A6

A6 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

GRIZZLY GAME DAY | FROM PAGE A5

Greatest

quarter before McNeese’s late surge thrust the Cowboys ahead by a point with 4 minutes remaining. Montana’s gamewinning drive started at its own 13-yardline with 41 seconds to play. Backup QB Bert Wilberger completed three passes to set up the game-winning field goal. “I was just looking for another chance. That’s about all you can do.” said Larson of his clutch kick, which followed two missed field goals and one botched extra point in the game. Wilberger, who played most of the game after Dave Dickenson re-injured his ankle, threw for 476 yards and three TDs.

Continued

temperature, and the Grizzly offensive machine scored 10 touchdowns in embarrassing Stephen F. Austin. Dickenson threw for 370 yards and five touchdowns. The Griz piled up 669 yards of total offense and rolled into the championship on a wave of momentum. “Everything all week was Dave Dickerson,” Lumberjacks QB James Ritchey said after the loss. “He lived up to the Legend of the Fall.” UM outscored its first three playoff opponents in 1995 by a combined 163-14.

8. 2013: Montana 21, Cal Poly 14 (OT)

5. 1989: Montana 48, Jackson State 7

KURT WILSON PHOTOS, MISSOULIAN In the Grizzlies’ first playoff victory in Montana head coach Don Read, right, shakes hands with an opposing coach program history, Montana fell behind 7-0 after the Griz beat Jackson State 48-7 for the program’s first Division I-AA/FCS before scoring 48 straight points to end playoff victory in 1989. the first-rounder in dominant fashion on Nov. 25, 1989. The Griz had played in four postseasons prior to 1989 dating back to the 60s, but had never won a game. That included back-to-back losses to North Dakota State in the Camellia Bowl, the College Division national championship game, in 1969 and ‘70 and road playoff losses in 1982 and ‘88 — both at Idaho. With a playoff game finally in Missoula, the Griz responded by outgaining Jackson State 550 yards to 165. Quarterback Grady Bennett threw for three scores, and for the first time in UM history a trio of UM receivers broke 100 yards in Mike Trevathan (147), Lorenzo Glenn (107) and Matt Clark (102). “You drive down Broadway and almost every sign is ‘Go Griz, beat JSU,’” lineFans carved a message in the snow in the south end zone hill near the end backer Mike McGowan said of the week of Montana’s 30-28 playoff quarterfinal victory at Washington-Grizzly Stadium leading up to game time. “When you get in December 1994. The phrase “one more” signifies the number of victories a town and a community to back you needed to reach the national title game. like that, not only are you accountable to them, you’re actually taking part of them out there with you.” The Griz made a run to the semifinals in final 17 points of the fourth quarter for a The Griz entered the game with a 1-3 1989 and marked Montana’s arrival on the come-from-behind win that delighted the record but closed the season on a 5-1 national stage. run that began with the victory over 10,580 fans in attendance. the Bengals. Quarterback Brent Pease had two touchdowns in that stretch, part of a 6. 1986: Montana 38, then school-record-tying five he threw 7. 1994: Montana 30, Idaho State 31 on the day. He already held that record, but added a then single-game mark of 36 McNeese State 28 There had to be a first in Washingtoncompletions. Grizzly Stadium history and it proved Andy Larson booted a 37-yard field goal Twelve of those went to Mike Rice, unforgettable for several reasons. with 8 seconds remaining as Montana another record at the time, and the duo With construction behind schedule, held on to defeat McNeese State in awful connected on a 32-yard scoring strike Montana’s debut game in its new digs weather in the playoff quarterfinals on with 3:16 left that put Montana ahead didn’t come until Oct. 18, 1986. The Griz Dec. 3, 1994. for good. celebrated the opening by scoring the The Griz led 27-7 to start the fourth

With 2:22 left in the game and Montana trailing 14-7, the Griz blocked a Cal Poly gimme field goal from 26 yards, marched the length of the field for the game-tying touchdown and won it in overtime. Jordan Tripp’s diving block from around the right side set the Griz up at their own 12-yard line. Jordan Johnson then marched UM on a 15-play drive, hitting Clay Pierson for a 2-yard fourth-down TD pass with 12 seconds left in regulation. Ellis Henderson scored on a pass from Johnson on the second play of overtime and then Brock Coyle intercepted Cal Poly’s Dano Graves to complete the improbable win on Oct. 19, 2013. “This game here, it’s unreal,” Griz coach Mick Delaney told the Missoulian. “I can’t fathom yet how much this means to these young men and to our program.”

9. 2001: Montana 33, Idaho 27 (2OT) In a regular-season game rescheduled for the end of the season because of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Montana overcame its former Big Sky Conference rival. The win on Nov. 24, 2001 maintained the Grizzlies’ claim for the No. 1 seed in the FCS playoffs. Idaho appeared ready to take the lead with a fourth-quarter TD, but a missed PAT left things tied 20-all. The Griz and Vandals traded touchdowns in the first overtime — Montana’s an 11-yard pass from John Edwards to Etu Molden that was answered by a fourth-and-14 score from Idaho’s Ethan Jones. Yohance Humphery then gave the Griz the win after an Idaho missed field goal in the second OT. The Griz running back dashed in from 25 yards for his then school-record 19th rushing TD of the season.

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 — A7

GRIZZLY GAME DAY score with 2:23 to play. The Griz trailed 20-0 at halftime. 2001: Eastern Washington stormed back from a 23-9 deficit to tie it before Montana won 29-26 in double overtime. Etu Molden’s 20-yard TD from John Edwards in the second OT ended the game after an EWU field goal. 2004: The Griz piled it on in a 47-17 FCS quarterfinal victory over New 10. 2008: Montana 35, Hampshire, the first game played Montana State 3 under portable lights at WashingtonGrizzly Stadium. The score wasn’t close, but any Griz 2006: Montana fell to UMass 19-17 in fan in the stands on Nov. 22, 2008 will remember this game. Montana ran out of the FCS semifinals. The Griz were shut the tunnel in the throwback copper-and- out in the second half and the Minutemen hit a game-winning field goal with 13 gold uniforms, last seen when UM won its 1995 national title, and pummeled the minutes left in the fourth quarter. 2007: Dan Carpenter kicked a 34-yard rival Bobcats. field goal to beat Eastern Washington The Griz warmed up in their usual 24-23, the game winner set up by Ryan maroon and silver before heading to Bagley’s diving finger-tip catch for 27 the locker room for final pregame preparations — which included a costume yards on fourth-and-10. change. A sold-out crowd of 25,629, a record at the time, erupted as the team took the field and rolled MSU. Not even the players knew the surprise was coming. “(Coach Bobby Hauck) kicked everybody out that wasn’t part of the team,” quarterback Cole Bergquist said of the pregame meeting. “Then he had this duffel bag filled with everything, and we went crazy in there.” Chase Reynolds ran for 115 yards and two scores and Marc Mariani added two more as the Griz clinched a piece of their 11th straight Big Sky championship. “They’ve got to feel like the football gods are mad at them,” Griz coach Joe Glenn said. “If it can go wrong, it’s gone wrong.” The Griz took advantage of their No. 1 seed and three home playoff games by rolling to their second national title in school history.

Griz running back Yohance Humphery breaks away from a band of Idaho pursuers in Montana’s 33-27 doubleovertime win over Idaho in 2001. TIM THOMPSON, MISSOULIAN

Best of the rest 1986: The Griz stomped Montana State 59-28 in the first Brawl of the Wild after Washington-Grizzly Stadium’s construction. The win kicked off a streak of 16 in a row for UM in the series. 1993: Delaware beat the Griz 49-48 in a first-round playoff shootout. Kicker Andy Larson missed a PAT with 2:13 remaining in the game that left UM with a 48-42 lead. Delaware scored the goahead TD in the final minute. 1995: Montana throttled Georgia Southern 45-0 in the playoff quarterfinals, giving the Griz a dose of vengeance for a semifinal road loss in 1989. 1999: UM set a modern-era program scoring record in an 81-22 blasting of Weber State. Montana’s overall singlegame record is 133 against Mt. Saint Charles, now Carroll College, in 1920. 2000: Montana defeated Sacramento State 24-20 on Homecoming when Damon Parker picked off an errant Sac lateral and ran 40 yards for the go-ahead

10.

TOM BAUER, MISSOULIAN

The Griz hoist the Great Divide Trophy after beating Montana State at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in 2008 while wearing copper-and-gold throwback uniforms.

A8 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

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1986 Washington-Grizzly Stadium opened when Montana played Idaho State on Oct. 18, 1986. At a cost of about $3.2 million, the new home of the Griz sat 12,500 fans.

1995 Permanent seats were added in both the north and south end zones. The $1.8 million project upped seating capacity to 18,845.

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Pie-shaped corner towers were added in the north end zone’s corners and seating was extended in between. The $2.5 million project increased capacity to 23,009.

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2017 The WashingtonGrizzly Champions Center is expected to be completed by the start of the 2017 season. The massive project will cost $14 million.

2016 New artificial FieldTurf was laid at a cost of $478,000. It replaces turf installed in 2008, which replaced the first artificial version set in 2001.

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2014 LED video ribbon boards were installed along the face of the two north end zone towers. The project was funded by Learfield Sports at a cost of $260,000.

2015 2016

TOM BAUER, MISSOULIAN

The high-definition video scoreboard measures 32-by-55 feet. The $1.3 million project was funded by Learfield Sports.

zzly Stadium through the years, go online to Missoulian.com.

LED video ribbon boards were installed across 270 feet of the east-side terrace. The project was funded by Learfield Sports at a cost of $340,000.

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A10 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

GRIZZLY GAME DAY | FROM PAGE A2

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MONTANA SPORTS INFORMATION

“Old” Dornblaser Stadium was removed to make room for the construction of the University Center and Aber Hall in 1968. The vacated area is also home to the Mansfield Library, which was built in 1973.

Stadium

“New” Dornblaser Stadium opened in 1968 as a temporary facility at the corner of Higgins and South avenues. The stadium remained in use until the completion of Washington-Grizzly Stadium midway through the 1986 season.

entrepreneur Dennis Washington and his Washington Corporation announced Go to Missoulian.com for a a major gift of $1 million toward the Continued photo gallery of Griz football stadiums construction, a donation that salvaged throughout the years. the stadium from the jaws of dismissal, Schwanke, now 70. “(Listeners) could detractors grew even more vocal. figure out which coaching staff it was Why wasn’t that money going toward needed to convince. based on context.” academics, the opposition fervently His university’s faculty had strong Boise State’s Bronco Stadium, a 20,000 questioned. opinions, too. seater and the gem of the Big Sky at the A Missoulian editorial that ran in Lewis’s hire followed a tumultuous time, was everything that Dornblaser the fall of 1985 responded under the stretch in UM athletics. Former AD Jack was not. Why couldn’t the Griz have something like that, UM Athletic Direc- Swarthout, a highly successful Griz foot- headline, “It’s pointless now to curse the ball coach during his time as an adminis- new stadium.” tor Harley Lewis wondered. “To contend that the money for the trator, resigned in 1975 after accusations Lewis, Montana’s AD from 1975-89, of misused work-study funds created an stadium should go to academic purposes began working toward replacing the Grizzlies’ temporary venue from the day environment of distrust surrounding the is to contend that the money should not exist at all,” scribes of the day wrote. athletic department. of his hire. For six years his attempts On Oct. 10, 1985, in a quiet, half-hour “There was a social revolution and we were repeatedly rejected by Main Hall. ceremony attended by just 200, workers had a group of faculty and students that “It took a long time. I went through put shovel to soil at the gates of Hellgate were very anti-athletics,” Lewis said of a couple presidents before Neil BuckCanyon on the backside of the University the post-Vietnam War era in Missoula. lew finally gave it the go ahead,” said of Montana. “... There was considerable animosity Lewis, now 74 and retired in Michigan’s toward athletics at that point. Upper Peninsula. A coach for a stadium “There was a segment of Missoulians With the backing of Bucklew, UM’s and a significant segment of our faculty president from 1981-86, Lewis’s dream With a new stadium on the way, Lewis and students that wanted to reduce the took its first step toward reality. needed a prime product to call it home. scope of athletics and a significant num- That meant wiping clean the football Athletic animosity ber that even wanted to drop football.” team’s slate, too. Lewis pressed on, hiring local Donovan, a crucial fundraiser during The Montana Legislature authorized the fight for the stadium, was relieved of funding for the stadium project in March architecture firm Fox, Ballas & Barrow his coaching duties. He was a wonderful 1983, but Lewis quickly realized it wasn’t Associates in 1984, and raising an estijust the president and board of regents he mated $2.9 million for the project. When salesperson, Lewis recalled, but “the

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other side of his responsibilities didn’t go quite as well. The football program was lacking.” Lewis turned his attention to Division II Portland State and head coach Don Read, whom the AD had tried to hire in 1980 when the job went to Donovan. Read had withdrawn his name then after interviewing, but felt compelled in 1986 to follow through. The AD pitched the successful coach his vision for Montana’s future: Washington-Grizzly Stadium and the backing of thousands of fans each Saturday to cheer on his team. Read liked what he heard. “I think he saw so much potential in the new stadium,” said Robin Pflugrad, a longtime Griz coach who was an assistant on Read’s staff at PSU and followed the head man to Montana that year. “Just being there thinking, ‘Gosh, the way Don’s talking about this stadium, he’s really excited about it and thinks he can really build something.’” Plans for the stadium across town at Fort Missoula or back at Dornblaser were abandoned for the on-campus location. Still Wa-Griz was nothing more than stakes in the ground, an outline of a future, when Read and his staff came to Missoula that winter. The cold Hellgate

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 — A11

GRIZZLY GAME DAY wind chilled the site, though Lewis remained confident that would not affect games there. “The way we constructed the facility took the weather out of it,” he said. “We didn’t go up, we went down.”

Roar of the crowd The over-budget ($3.2 million) and offschedule construction carried on throughout the summer of 1986. Massive berms of excavated dirt formed the base for stadium seating on both sides, enough for 12,500 fans. Below that, cavernous concrete locker rooms were carved out and connected to the adjacent Adams Center and field level by the stadium’s famed tunnel. The result was an anomaly of sound when Wa-Griz finally opened for play in Montana’s fifth game of the ‘86 season. The cold, stone-like structure warmed with its seats occupied. “(A)ll that concrete nestled down in the stadium’s crater was ideal for one thing — acoustics,” a front-page Missoulian article read the next day. “It was what a college football stadium should be — rowdy and loud, the kind of place visiting teams abhor.” Sophomore linebacker Kevin Bartsch still remembers the roar of that first home crowd, which numbered 10,580 — well beyond anticipated attendance. “When you’re on the sideline you can hear and darn near interact with those fans in the front row,” said Bartsch now a 49-year-old claims manager in Helena. “They’re getting as much mid-game adjustment and discussion as you are because they’re right on top of you.” Idaho State leaped out to a 31-21 lead behind the scoring of senior running back and future ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, but the Grizzlies rallied for 17 fourth-quarter points and the 38-31 victory. The senior tandem of quarterback Brent Pease and receiver Mike Rice led the charge. Pease collected school records with five touchdown passes and 36 completions. Twelve went to Rice, another program best. Rice caught three TDs on the day, the final connection between the two thrusting UM ahead with 3 minutes to play. “I remember throwing one deep to the right northeast corner,” recalled Pease, 51, who went on to play in the NFL, coach Montana’s offense in the late 1990s and is now offensive coordinator at UTEP. “It’s the same one that Jimmy See STADIUM, Page A12

PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTANA SPORTS INFORMATION

Architect Jerry Ballas, left, poses with Montana Athletic Director Harley Lewis after the completion of Washington-Grizzly Stadium in fall of 1986.

“(A)ll that concrete nestled down in the stadium’s crater was ideal for one thing — acoustics. It was what a college football stadium should be — rowdy and loud, the kind of place visiting teams abhor.” — The Missoulian, Oct. 19, 1986

Griz quarterback Brent Pease led a fourth-quarter comeback in Montana’s 38-31 victory over Idaho State on Oct. 18, 1986 — the first ever game at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. KURT WILSON, MISSOULIAN

A12 — Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016

GRIZZLY GAME DAY | FROM PAGE A11

Stadium Continued

Farris caught to win a playoff game’’ against Appalachian State in 2000. The victory propelled Montana to a season-ending surge. After entering the stadium opener with a 1-3 record, the Griz went 5-1 down the stretch. “You play four and you don’t really remember ‘em, but then you step in that place and that’s when the year got going,” said Kraig Paulson, 52, a senior fullback in ‘86, future longtime UM defensive coach and current defensive coordinator with Southern Illinois University. “To end that year with a winning record at 6-4, even though we weren’t a playoff team or anything like that,” added Salonen, 51, now an insurance sales executive in Kalispell, “you knew the program was going in the right direction.”

Bigger is better The high of the stadium opening only invigorated Montana’s coaching staff. With grassy hills situated behind each end zone, Wa-Griz’s true capacity was closer to 15,000. The coaches set goals to increase average attendance by 1,200 fans per year, noted Jerome Souers, UM’s defensive backs coach in ‘86 and defensive coordinator from 1989-97. It was in that 1989 season they found inspiration. The program enjoyed its first playoff victory and won two in Missoula before traveling to Georgia Southern for the national semifinals in Statesboro. The atmosphere was electric, Souers remembered, and his Griz succumbed to the Eagles 45-15. “They had it going down there,” said Souers, 58, now a 19-year head coach at Big Sky rival Northern Arizona. “Every person that went on that trip came back and said, ‘What do we have to do to build that here?’” Simple: mimicry. Montana adapted GSU’s nowfamiliar stadium chant (one side shouted “Georgia” while the other responded “Southern”); adopted the same entry music, “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses; and re-created the party atmosphere that helped the Eagles win 38 straight home games from 1985-90 on their way to four national titles. The Griz expanded end-zone seating in 1995, a $1.8 million renovation that added 6,000 seats. Next came the north end zone project in 2003 to add another

PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTANA SPORTS INFORMATION

Monte, a simpler different mascot than he is known by Griz fans today, cheers on the Montana football team at WashingtonGrizzly Stadium during a late-season game in 1994. 4,000 seats at a cost of $2.5 million, and the $6.5 million east-side club level that sent the stadium’s capacity soaring to its current 25,217. The augmented stadium has strayed from Lewis’s original vision. Initial blueprints included space to add second decks on the east and west sides, but then called for encasing the entire structure in a dome — literally capping capacity. The fans continued to turn out in droves, drawn as much by the evergrowing football palace as the championship-level product within it. “With both the new stadium and Don Read, it’s like everything started to come together,” said Scott Hartman, 50, a junior center in 1986 who now teaches and coaches at his alma mater, Great Falls CMR High School. “At that point, there was no looking back.” Under Read’s leadership and on the arm of QB Dave Dickenson, the Griz won their first national title in 1995. They added a second in 2001 under head coach Joe Glenn. An unprecedented age of prosperity extended through 2011, with the Grizzlies posting winning records in 26 consecutive seasons with 16 Big Sky titles, including 12 in a row from 1998-2009.

“That (stadium) was the signature piece that gave Montana something to build on,” Pease said. “... It’s kind of a mystique now.” The Griz have won 87.3 percent of their games inside Wa-Griz (192*-28),including 30 straight from 1994-97.*Includes five wins in 2011 vacated due to NCAA sanctions.

The pride of Montana Even more clearly than WashingtonGrizzly’s debut game, Pflugrad remembers his first back in Missoula during his second stint as an assistant in 2009. The Griz pounded over-matched Western State in front of a record 25,698 fans, a mark that has been surpassed 21 times since then. “I didn’t think this could get that much better,” said Pflugrad, 58, an offensive coach at Phoenix College the past two years after being let go as UM’s head coach in 2012. “Then, oh my God, it’s twice as nice as you ever thought it’d be.” The stadium has grown, but so have the fans in knowledge of the game. They’re educated, Souers said. They create a racket when they should and fall silent when they shouldn’t. Griz Nation is as intimidating as the team on the field, Souers offered.

“I believe there’s something about the energy of that many people thinking the same thing that creates something in there,” Souers explained. “I don’t want to get all crazy on you, but it’s tangible. It’s real and it happens. You have to be prepared for that and if you’re not, as an opponent you’re gonna be overwhelmed.” The tradition continued last season when Montana knocked off No. 1-ranked and four-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State to open the season, once again setting a record attendance mark with 26,472 fans squeezing into the stadium. The throng was as loud as ever as the Griz flew out of the tunnel to an ESPN crowd of 1 million. The number of eyes — and taxed vocal cords — was far greater than that October day in 1986, but the tingling feeling transferred to the Griz entering the field remained the same. “When I left Montana, the thing that I left behind was that football stadium,” said Lewis, the former AD who still sits on the University of Montana Foundation board as chair of the development committee in charge of fundraising. “... When I go back and think of that, I just kinda smile and say, ‘Isn’t it neat that we now have a program that’s the pride of the state of Montana?’”

Missoulian, Saturday, August 20, 2016 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A13

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a) Idaho State b) Idaho c) Boise State d) Montana State 2. What is Montana’s longest home winning streak at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, achieved from 1994-97?

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6. In what year was the final game at “Old” Dornblaser played, Montana’s former oncampus stadium? a) 1912 b) 1936 c) 1954 d) 1968 Answers:1. a, 2. b, 3. d, 4. b, 5. c, 6. d.

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