The Montana Football Hall of Fame will induct 11 new members this Saturday at its annual banquet in Billings, MT. This year's class will include two Bobcats!

2019 Inductees for the 2019 Montana Football Hall of Fame include the following:

From Montana State University

  • Jon Borchardt, Minneapolis, MN, MSU, member of MSU National Championship team, drafted by Buffalo Bills in 1979, then traded to Seahawks, 9 year NFL veteran.
  • Mike McCleod, born in Bozeman, was a member of the 1976 National Championship team. He was also a co-captain of the 1979 Big Sky Conference championship team, played 5 seasons in the CFL with Edmonton, won 3 Grey Cups, then played for Green Bay Packers.

From University of Montana:

  • Barry Darrow, CMR high school in Great Falls, 1 year at Western Montana College, transferred to University of Montana, selected by San Diego Chargers in 1973. Went to the Cleveland Browns with head coach NFL Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg in 1975.
  • Scott Gragg, Silverton, OR, U of M, drafted by New York Giants in 1995, played for San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets, 11 yr veteran.
    Thatcher Szalay, Whitefish high school, U of M, drafted by Cincinnati Bengals, played for Ravens and Seahawks.

From Eastern Montana College

  • Paul Champlin, Pittsburgh, PA, Eastern Montana College, one of the first black quarterbacks drafted into the NFL by San Franciso 49ers. The fact that the NFL found Champlin in a small college then drafted him as well is a testament to Champlins skills. Champlin followed his collegiate center to the 49ers, Bart Templeman was drafted in the 1967 draft by San Francisco.

From Helena High School

  • Bob “Spud” McCullough, Helena High, an All Star fullback, U of Colorado, drafted by Denver Broncos in 1962 where he spent 4 seasons as an offensive guard, the first with legendary quarterback, Frank Tripucka from Notre Dame.

In the Support Category

  • Sonny Lubick, Butte native, coached at high school in Butte, MSU, Washington State, at Miami University with Dennis Erickson, won two national championships there, moved to Colorado State where he was the 15th head football coach at Colorado State University from 1993 to 2007. Lubick won or shared six Western Athletic or Mountain West titles, guided the program to nine bowl games and was named National Coach of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 1994. Today, the CSU Rams Stadium is named after coach Lubick.\
  • Ken Staninger, (deceased), Missoula Sentinel high school, became first big time players agent in Montana. Guy Bingham was one of Staningers first clients, current NFL player Colt Anderson was the last before Staninger died. Staninger negotiated contract for Mark Rypien after Rypien quarterbacked the Washington Redskins to Superbowl XXVI victory in 1991.

Legacy players to be honored

  • Milt Popovich, the Butte Bullet, Butte High, U of M All American, drafted by Chicago Cardinals in 1938. He finished his career as a player-coach for the Seattle Bombers.
  • Ralph Scott, Hardin high school, WWI, U of Wisconsin All American, helped start the league that became NFL in 1920 with George “Papa Bear” Halas. Played for Bears until 1927, then became head coach of the new franchise in New York, the New York Yankees, where he coached Butte native “Wild Bill” Kelly.

If you would like to attend, tickets are on sale at the Universal Athletic's store in Bozeman and all Universal Athletic locations around the state.

The banquet is Saturday, March 23, 2019, at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. For more info about the banquet or the Montana Football Hall of Fame click here. 

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