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What's your first Griz memory?

First became cognizant of them? Jack Swarthout's back to back 10-1 years.

First game was about aged 8 or 9 at the "last" Dornblazer on Higgins/South...watched my dad get in a fight with two drunk a-holes behind us. Almost knocked one of them off the back of the bleachers...
 
mtgriz said:
My first memory is before the Griz were the Griz. They were the Silvertips or Tips.

As an 11 year old boy I was amazed that a team from Montana was on television! It was the 1969 Camellia Bowl; played in Sacramento I think. Unfortunately we got waxed* by NDSU.

*The team did not have many key players for the bowl game. For some reason the NCAA did not allow JC transfer players to participate in postseason bowl games.
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Came up to Sac with friends for the game while in grad. school at ASU. After watching Frank Kush's Sun Devils all year the game seemed to be in slow motion. Could have been the wine....
 
I'm sure I have memories that pre-date these, but these are moments that will forever be cemented into my head.

Basketball - 1992 Conference Tournament. Griz won the conference championship and hosted. Idaho had Orlando Lightfoot on their roster, who was supposed to be the second coming of Jesus. I think they had beat us just prior to the tournament. Griz beat Idaho, then beat Nevada the following night to cut down the nets. That was when basketball was still king in Missoula. People forget how electric the atmosphere was in Dahlberg Arena before the renovation.

Football - 1994 playoffs, listening to Mick on the radio, because games, not even playoff games were televised back then. There were a couple thrilling wins that year, as I recall.
 
Well my first memory of Griz football wasn't real good. I was a freshman in 1984 and the home games were played at old Dornblaser Field. The team had a pretty good QB, Marty Mornhinhweg, but the team wasn't very good and Dornblaser was a dump. I wasn't impressed. Didn't go to too many games after that and when I did it was only to tailgate and I never set foot in the "stadium" except for that first time. My first good memory of Griz football was opening day at the new Washington-Grizzly Stadium in the fall of 1986. I remember that first day well, and the conversations I had with my friends. which went along the lines of..."Hey, this is pretty awesome. We will be coming to all the games from now on." Never missed another home Griz game as a student and have been back year after year to see the Griz play at Wa-Griz. That stadium forever changed Griz football and I was blessed to be there from the beginning.
 
Getting poked in the eye by a copper and gold pennant my parents bought me at a home game circa '93 or '94.

Not a great Griz fandom start, but it got better after that. :lol:
 
GrizzlyEdd said:
1964 Griz/Cat game... Terry Dillon was awesome.
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TD's last Griz season was 1962. He was killed in May of '64 after playing the '63 season with the Vikings. But your second statement was right on. Our first Griz hero.
 
1952 GRIZ-cat game in the original Dornblaser Stadium (where the student center and library are now). It was the first game against the cats that hadn't been held in Butte since 1928. GRIZ 35 cats 12. I remember there were a lot of snowballs thrown between students from both schools, as well as an all out fist fight right in front of me. I had been to a couple games earlier that year - grade school students got in free. It took a couple games before I figured out what a first down was. The wood plank seating was always good for some splinters.

The first basketball game I saw at the University was a Harlem Globetrotter game at the old men's gym about the same time. That gym was the Montana basketball venue and couldn't have seated more than a few hundred fans. The Field House (Adams Center) opened in 1953.
 
Tailgating as a freshman behind Dornblaser in 1984. Beer was plentiful, pretty girls were all over the place, and the team was downright awful. I remember it like it was yesterday.
 
big kahuna said:
Tailgating as a freshman behind Dornblaser in 1984. Beer was plentiful, pretty girls were all over the place, and the team was downright awful. I remember it like it was yesterday.
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If your memory is so good perhaps you can tell me where I left my vuarnets at during halftime of the Boise State game? And who did I lend my John Cougar Mellancamp cassette tape to after the Nevada game?
 
Cold as hell, butt frozen on aluminum bleachers as a 10 year old watching every home game when the Griz went 10-0 in '69. Even snuck my first taste of beer. Tasted like crap.
 
Watching the Camellia bowl on TV in the late sixties. Dad was a 1952 grad and he had some pendants hanging on the wall in the back bedroom. He brought them out to the living room and we watched the game. It surprised me because he was a baseball and basketball fan.

Even though we lost I was hooked on Griz football from that moment. Couldn't wait to go to school at the U only to find Dornblaser awaiting me. Never missed a home game when I was enrolled.
 
Grisly Fan said:
Cold as hell, butt frozen on aluminum bleachers as a 10 year old watching every home game when the Griz went 10-0 in '69. Even snuck my first taste of beer. Tasted like crap.
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Olympia?
 
Montana football @ Cal State Fullerton sometime around 1985-87 and Montana football @ NAU the same time. Two road trips with family from central Arizona to see my cousin when he played for the Griz solidified my love of college football. Good times.

Even though I attended NAU, I still have somewhat of a soft spot in my heart for Griz and Bobcat sports.
 
mtgriz said:
Grisly Fan said:
Cold as hell, butt frozen on aluminum bleachers as a 10 year old watching every home game when the Griz went 10-0 in '69. Even snuck my first taste of beer. Tasted like crap.
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Olympia?
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I was only 10 so any beer would have tasted bad but since Oly still tastes bad it very well could have been[emoji6]
 
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'66 or '67 and It was at the Old Dornblaser......I was just a little tike. We sat on the Hill side and my old man spent the game teaching my brother and I the positions,game rules and line ups.....who won? Griz....who'd they beat? No friggen clue.....but, i'm sure they must of been some sorta pathetic cat.


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My Dad's old stadium blanket from when he was at the U in the 1930's. It was real dark maroon, almost purple, with a big gold "M" in the middle and a gold fringe! Used to wrap myself in it when I was about 6. My sister had it repaired and gave it to my oldest son, an alum now teaching in Kalispell as a Christmas gift a few years ago.
 
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