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So how did you become a fan?
- Thread starter Dillon
- Start date
BozAngelesGriz
Well-known member
At my first game in 2005. I had been to a lot of Cat games over the years with my family, but the atmosphere in Missoula was on such a different level that I was instantly hooked. Always pulled for the Griz in the NC, but after that game there was no going back. Made for some elevated Thanksgiving talk through the years
AZGrizFan said:Da Boyz Mom said:
Hey PR, the Boys Mom Fan club line forms behind me, pal.
Oh man. I finally get a fan club and I'm too old and decrepit to enjoy it. Rats.
Spanky2 said:
I have no memory of seeing the Griz play there, but I'm pretty sure I was there at least once while I was in high school. Sentinel was playing in some big game, although I wasn't there to watch the game itself. I was in the concession stand selling stuff to earn money for some club I was in. Since I wasn't really into football at the time, I don't have a very good memory of what the occasion was. I'm thinking it had to be the 1984 Sentinel vs. CMR class AA championship game. Would that game have been played at Dornblaser or am I getting senile?
IdaGriz01
Well-known member
Well, we can't match any of you true-maroon fans, but we at least go back a ways. As it happens, my brother-in-law and his wife joined the UM faculty in the early Nineties. They weren't really big football fans before that, but the Griz game-day atmosphere blew them away. They suggested we try it. We got hooked and bought season tickets (pretty sure that was 1994, could have been '93). We didn't follow them into the semifinal in 1994. Luckily, we knew the ropes better the next year and snagged seats on a fan charter. And, of course, the Griz won. Sadly, we also went in '96, when Marshall -- mainly "Marijuana Moss" -- ate UM's lunch.
Honestly, not sure how many Nattie games we've been to. We do recall getting absolutely soaked during one in Chattanooga (believe that was Ga Southern in 2000).
Been awhile since we've had season tickets ... the winter driving just got to be too much. But we're still hanging around.
Honestly, not sure how many Nattie games we've been to. We do recall getting absolutely soaked during one in Chattanooga (believe that was Ga Southern in 2000).
Been awhile since we've had season tickets ... the winter driving just got to be too much. But we're still hanging around.
I’m bored with no football for which I care. I’ll share the real story: I went to countless Bobcat games in the 1990s because my family was Bozeman based. I finally attended a Griz game in Missoula in 2002. Cats won. I transferred to UM the next semester. UM football has been my #1 follow ever since. It was/is just, different. Excluding people, I don’t think I’ll ever love anything more than UM football. I am so bummed we aren’t playing right now, at this very moment.
The last game in the real Dornblaser Stadium was in 1967. Shame on them for using the name on the temporary facility on South Ave.Da Boyz Mom said:
Dornblaser hosted the state Interscholastic track meet for many years. The cinder track was excellent and fast.
https://tinyurl.com/y5439snw
AZGrizFan said:
Oops. I overlooked the "old" part. I was definitely never in the original one because I'm not quite that old.
Probably long post, so skip now if you know what's good for you. I started a kities fan. In grade school in Butte, I had a family member of mine that was a coach there in the late 70s early 80s. I got hats and t-shirts for presents and was on the field at games. The staff was let go, but with that staff's recruited players went on to win the National Championship in '84...with my favorite kitty (former Butte High) WR Kelly Davis (82-86). My dad took me to watch the game on tv at the former "Deluxe" (bar on front street), fun memory as I was 13. That family member and his coaching friend that were let go in kitty land went on to highly distinguished football coaching careers.
Flash forward a couple years and I am in HS and Don Read (UM 86-95) and the Griz coaches are routinely recruiting our practices and games (we had success in the 80s). My senior year in 88/89, Read signed 3 of my teammates. 1 started as a true freshman at LB, another received the #37 from Tim Hauck. Those two were All-Americans at UM. The other was an All BSC DT, who gave me my biggest concussion ever on a kickoff return in high school practice days before a semi-final by the way...haha. Two of those guys gave read his first (out of only 2) BSC Championships in 1993 . I went to Tech, but came to watch a lot of Griz games. Then in the magical year of 1995, I moved to Missoula in August for school and haven't missed many games since.
My favorite memory in WA Griz was the App State game. A close second was playing a Missoula HS team, for their homecoming, my Soph season right when WA Griz opened in 1986. GO GRIZ!!!
Flash forward a couple years and I am in HS and Don Read (UM 86-95) and the Griz coaches are routinely recruiting our practices and games (we had success in the 80s). My senior year in 88/89, Read signed 3 of my teammates. 1 started as a true freshman at LB, another received the #37 from Tim Hauck. Those two were All-Americans at UM. The other was an All BSC DT, who gave me my biggest concussion ever on a kickoff return in high school practice days before a semi-final by the way...haha. Two of those guys gave read his first (out of only 2) BSC Championships in 1993 . I went to Tech, but came to watch a lot of Griz games. Then in the magical year of 1995, I moved to Missoula in August for school and haven't missed many games since.
My favorite memory in WA Griz was the App State game. A close second was playing a Missoula HS team, for their homecoming, my Soph season right when WA Griz opened in 1986. GO GRIZ!!!
PlayerRep said:
That's cool your Dad played for the Griz. I did not know that.
Any chance you added more Irish Catholic to your family when got married?
The original Dornblaser had a great setting and was far superior to the temporary South Ave. facility; it was just very dated after years of no upkeep. It had hosted PAC and Skyline conf. games for many years. It was removed, not for an upgrade, but to reassign its property for higher priority facilities. Football had very little priority in the 60's and was essentially squeezed out. Moving football off campus was just the opposite of an upgrade.AZGrizFan said:
In 1985 it was the best Forestry School in North America (probably still is) and had great skiing. I went there so I could learn how to manage wilderness and the people who wanted to access it ....and ski. In '86 the school hired Coach Reid, and as part of my degree I had to take some PE classes. I had always loved coaching and always loved football and he taught the courses, I think I was the only guy in the evening classes who wasn't a high school coach from around Missoula. I was hooked! PS: I never worked in the woods at all and now teach History and Psychology in a place with no trees and no mountains. Life's funny and yeah, there was a girl involved..wonder where she is today?
i was a fan from the start of the griz vs ucla basketball game. it captivated me that a team from montana could play with them, and almost beat them.
at the time, i thought all of missoula was composed of hippies, pre=yuppies, or cowboys, so it was surprising the support they got.
at the time, i thought all of missoula was composed of hippies, pre=yuppies, or cowboys, so it was surprising the support they got.
I was born a Griz fan nearly three-quarters of a century ago. My mom was a UM (MSU, in those days) graduate and my grandmother attended for a year or two (yes, like in 1913-14). The first three songs my mother taught me were "Jesus Loves Me," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Up With Montana." I grew up in central Montana, where we were virtually the only Griz fans in town. I went to a couple Griz-Cat games in Bozeman while growing up -- cheered for the Griz, but I am pretty sure they never won. I never attended a Griz game in Missoula until I was in college myself in the '60s. Didn't miss a home game (football or basketball) during my college years ... BB was pretty good, FB not so much. Went off to see the world. Came back to Missoula in the 80s and have been season ticket holders ever since. So, I've seen Old Dornblaser, New Dornblaser and WaGriz. I've seen great football and I've seen some of the worst imaginable. I've travelled to national championships, to Weber and EWU and ISU and Idaho and PSU, and perhaps some I don't remember. All I know is that I have always been a Griz fan, and I never root for the Cats.
