Best All Time Montana Athletes

[curlewcat]

Wasn't there a boxer from Montana that knocked Cassius Clay to the canvas? National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions?

Francis Turley from Roundup.

[mboston33]

OMG: Mr. Lisle: How co8uld we forget probably the best football player in Bobcat history, a great coach, and the finest coach MSU ever had in Sonny Holland. Not only a great participant I n the game of football but not a finer gentleman, person, motivator and man I have ever met in sports anywhere. A great Montana athlete and coach, SONNY HOLLAND!!!

[SnowGriz]

too bad Eric Bergoust didn't make the list. Missoula-born 4x winter olympian who got a gold in Nagano for freestyle/aerials.

[Common Cat]

too bad Eric Bergoust didn't make the list. Missoula-born 4x winter olympian who got a gold in Nagano for freestyle/aerials.

I'd agree with this. I remember having a lot of pride when he would jump during the olympics.

[lutecat]

And he was THE best in the world for a while.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[catsrback76]

Alex Lowe. Amazing mountaineer and literally put Bozeman on the global scene for some great winter climbing at Hyalite!

But them are small potatoes compared to his palameres.

First Ascents
Rakekniven, Antarctica, 1997
Great Sail Peak, Baffin Island, 1998
New Routes
Mount Hunter's Moonflower Buttress, Alaska
Kwangde Nup, Nepal, 1989
Kusum Kanguru, Nepal, 1990
Northwest Chimney, Grand Teton, Wyoming, 1991
Peak 4810, Ak-Su region, Kyrgyzstan, 1995
Great Trango Tower, Pakistan, 1999, NW face, new route
Other Climbs
Matterhorn (Alps, Switzerland)
K2, Pakistan, China, 1986 (Attempt)
Mount Everest, South Col Route, Nepal, 1990 and 1993 (attempt of its Kangshung Face in 1994)
Gasherbrum IV, Pakistan, 1992
Khan Tengri, Kyrgyzstan (August 1993), solo ascent in 10 hours and 8 minutes (broke the former speed climbing record by four hours)
Aconcagua, Argentina, 1993 and 1994
Annapurna, Nepal, 1996
Mount Rundle, Canadian Rockies, spring 1996, "Troubled Dreams", first free ascent of one of the most difficult mixed climbs in the Canadian Rockies.
Skiing[edit]
First Descents
Hellmouth Couloir, Alex Lowe Peak (formerly Peak 10,031), Montana, 1997
Northwest Couloir, Middle Teton, Wyoming, 1992
Enclosure Couloir, Grand Teton, Wyoming, 1994

[mboston33]

I have had fun remembering all these great Montana athletes. I didn't see all time great Jack Gillespie for the CATS on the lists anywhere. Also Larry Krystowiak, from GRIZ either.

There was another 4 sport athlete I Missoula, Ken Staninger, who went on to start at QB at Utah until motorcycle accident ended his sports career. One helluva an athlete. Still thinking of others. This is a great thread.

[John K]

I don't think I saw Jon Leister on the list either, former CMR QB. He played at Michigan State, and also spent a year or two on the Steelers roster. He also played baseball in the Red Sox organization. I believe he got at least to AAA, but not sure if he ever made the Sox roster.

[Mr Lisle]

I don't think I saw Jon Leister on the list either, former CMR QB. He played at Michigan State, and also spent a year or two on the Steelers roster. He also played baseball in the Red Sox organization. I believe he got at least to AAA, but not sure if he ever made the Sox roster.

Leister was a three year starting quarterback at Michigan State and set several passing records while there. His scholarship did not allow him to play baseball. He had been drafted for baseball out of high school. He did make it to the Red Sox...in 1987 and 1990.

[John K]

I don't think I saw Jon Leister on the list either, former CMR QB. He played at Michigan State, and also spent a year or two on the Steelers roster. He also played baseball in the Red Sox organization. I believe he got at least to AAA, but not sure if he ever made the Sox roster.

Leister was a three year starting quarterback at Michigan State and set several passing records while there. His scholarship did not allow him to play baseball. He had been drafted for baseball out of high school. He did make it to the Red Sox...in 1987 and 1990.

Thanks for the info.

[John K]

Here's another one I just thought of...Sam McCollum from Kalispell, who played for MSU in the 70's. He had a fairly long career in the NFL, with the Seahawks, Vikings, and maybe 1 or 2 others.

[John K]

Shannon (Cate) Schweyen should be on any list for Basketball. Injuries cut short her chance at pro ball, but she even made the final 20 for the 1992 women's Olympic team.

All three of their girls are already very good basketball and volleyball players for Sentinal.

A few other very good women's basketball players deserve a mention. Karen Deden from Missoula, and Loree Payne from Havre, who both played at U-Dub I believe. Also, Cass Bauer from MSU, who I think played briefly in the WNBA.

[SACCAT]

Shannon (Cate) Schweyen should be on any list for Basketball. Injuries cut short her chance at pro ball, but she even made the final 20 for the 1992 women's Olympic team.

All three of their girls are already very good basketball and volleyball players for Sentinal.

A few other very good women's basketball players deserve a mention. Karen Deden from Missoula, and Loree Payne from Havre, who both played at U-Dub I believe. Also, Cass Bauer from MSU, who I think played briefly in the WNBA.

I was doing Play-by-Play fro the Linvingston Rangers when she was a Senior at Havre. Covered 3 of her games that year. She was the best Athlete I have seen in a long time.

[John K]

Tyler Graham... baseball player from GF. He had a great career at Oregon State, and played in the minors for many years. Had a cup of coffee in the majors with the D-Backs a few years ago, but spent most of his career in the Giants organization.

[CatBlitz]

Tyler Graham... baseball player from GF. He had a great career at Oregon State, and played in the minors for many years. Had a cup of coffee in the majors with the D-Backs a few years ago, but spent most of his career in the Giants organization.

That's a good one. Forgot about him!

[John K]

Tyler Graham... baseball player from GF. He had a great career at Oregon State, and played in the minors for many years. Had a cup of coffee in the majors with the D-Backs a few years ago, but spent most of his career in the Giants organization.

That's a good one. Forgot about him!

He played on back to back National Championship teams at OSU...2006-2007 I believe.

[Hi-Line Bobcat]

Shannon (Cate) Schweyen should be on any list for Basketball. Injuries cut short her chance at pro ball, but she even made the final 20 for the 1992 women's Olympic team.

All three of their girls are already very good basketball and volleyball players for Sentinal.

A few other very good women's basketball players deserve a mention. Karen Deden from Missoula, and Loree Payne from Havre, who both played at U-Dub I believe. Also, Cass Bauer from MSU, who I think played briefly in the WNBA.

If we are going the route of girls, Greta Koss would be a better pick than Loree or Karen. Greta played for Malta, then went to the UM, and then went on to play in the WNBA. Malta girls have been good for a long time, but the teams through the years (1990-2000) with girls like Kreta Koss, Skyla Sysco, Linda Cummings, Cheryl Keller, Julian Keller, etc. they would have killed the Malta girls teams of the past ten years.

[Hawks86]

Best overall female athlete I ever saw was Dawn Allinger from Boz.

[Mr Lisle]

These "All Time Best" compilations seldom reach back to do the old timers justice. The late Butte sports historian Pat Karney once told me statistical records were seldom accurate of even available for the old timers like today.
I'm sure Pat would have nominated Milt Popovich, "The Butte Bullet" for a spot on this list. Popovich was a multi-sport super star at Butte High School and played for the griz. He was a half-back (running back) and led the griz to a 7-1 record in 1937. He returned two punts for touchdowns in a game vs. the Bobcats and named to several All-American teams. He played in the East-West Shrine game in San Francisco when that was a big deal. He was a second round pick (15th overall) of the Chicago (Phoenix) Cardinals and played for them from 1938 to 1942. In 2000 Sports Illustrated named him one of Montana's 50 greatest athletes of the 20th century. He returned to Butte and retired as a Butte fireman passing away in 2005 at the age of 91. And just to show you how great his genes were, one of his daughters was named Miss Montana.

[catsrback76]

Levi Leipheimer from Butte. Cyclist