John Thatcher calls Butte the “greatest sports town in the world.”

I always thought he was right about that. Nobody cares more about local sports than Butte. That is why organizations like the Silver B’s and Butte Sports Hall of Fame are so successful. It’s why the Coaches Corner at Metals Sports Bar & Grill is so awesome.

Nobody is a better representative of Butte than John Thatcher. He was the tough-as-nails athlete and coach who embodied everything that Butte, America stands for. He is tough, and he is honest. 

At Western Montana College, now called Montana Western, he earned all-conference in football, basketball and baseball. He scored the first touchdown at Alumni Coliseum, when he played for Montana Tech. He played college basketball against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Of course, he is best known for coaching. That is seemingly what he was put on this planet to do.

Thatcher led Butte Central to the 1978 Class A State boys’ basketball title. He then coached Butte High to Class AA State title game appearances in 2004 and 2007.

He also coached with Kelvin Sampson at Montana Tech, and he could have gone with Sampson at any of his many stops in college hoops. You better believe Sampson would love to have Thatcher on his bench to work with post players today at the University of Houston.

Instead, Thatcher is assisting Jeff Graham on the Montana Tech women’s basketball team. He is also doing his darndest to be the best grandpa for his eight grandchildren. You should see the costumes his grandchildren put him in every Halloween.

I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat as a writer for The Montana Standard when Thatcher led the Bulldogs. I was lucky to have him join KBOW Overtime, a sports radio show Paul Panisko and I were part of for 15 years, for the better part of a decade.

John Thatcher is tough as nails, and he is honestly, sometimes to a brutal degree. But he is also genuine. He is as Butte as any person has ever been.

Thatcher is a member of the Coaches Corner at Metals Sports Bar & Grill, where this podcast was recorded. He was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

And at 76, John Thatcher is still the toughest man in any room he walks into.