It is still the toughest interview of my career. It is also one of the best subjects of a story I ever got to write about.

In the fall of 1998, I was a part-time writer for The Montana Standard. One day, Bruce Sayler sent me to the Montana Tech pool to write a story about an eight-grade swimmer named Erin Popovich.

Walter Hinick went to the pool to snap a photo of Erin, and the story ran on the cover of the next day’s sports section.

Even at such a young age, Erin was already making big things happen.

Less than a year after she joined the Butte Tarpons swimming team, the Butte Central Junior High student was heading to Christchurch, New Zealand to compete in the International Paralympic World Swimming Championships.

It did not take long to see that this girl was a phenom in the pool.

I didn’t know a lot about swimming then. I still don’t. But I have never seen anyone make something look as easy as young Erin made swimming look. She effortlessly darted back and forth in the pool as if she was a goldfish.

I watched in awe as she just went back and forth and back and forth.

Getting her to answer questions, though, was kind of like pulling teeth.

“What do you like best about swimming?”

“Are you excited about your trip?”

“How do you expect to do?”

“Are you going to compete in swimming when you’re in high school?”

The answer to each question was the same. Erin looked at me, put out her hands out and shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “I don’t know.”

When you study journalism in college, the professors do not prepare you for such an interview. I was definitely not prepared to write a feature story on a person who hardly spoke at all.

Of course, when I went to the University of Montana to become a newspaper writer, I never thought I would be interviewing a girl in the eighth grade. Even the most well-spoke eighth graders are tough interviews.

When I got back to the newsroom and sat down at my computer, Bruce, then the sports editor of the paper, asked me how the interview went.

“It was so tough,” I said. “She shrugged her shoulders at every question.”

Bruce quickly put that into perspective.

“It could have been worse,” he said. “It could have been a radio interview.”

Erin did give me one really good answer for the story. I asked her if she felt like she had a disability. She shook her head to say, “no.” Then, thankfully, she elaborated.

“Except for maybe going on roller coasters,” she said before holding her thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “I’m always this much too short.”

At the time, Erin was 4 feet, 2 ¾ inches tall. She was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that restricted the growth of her limbs.

The day I met Erin, I learned from her mother, Barbara, that “dwarf” is the preferred term. More importantly, I learned that a good story is not about the quotes. It is about the subject. And no subject was better than Erin Popovich.

Marie Cook was the coach of the Butte Tarpons, and she went on and on about the greatness of Erin.

“She’s a dedicated athlete,” Cook said. “She gives 100 percent in practice and 100 percent at competitions.”

Basically, Cook said Erin was a coach’s dream.

“When she’s working, she really stays focused,” Cook said. “She listens to her coaches and really tries to do what they say. It’s hard for the kids on this team to think of her as disabled. But when she gets on the blocks with taller kids, you can see it. She’s such an inspiration to everyone.”

Erin started swimming for the Tarpons in January of 1998. By the end of September, she already held a world record and two American records in disabled swimming.

That, however, was just the beginning.

Erin, who graduated from Butte Central in 2003, went on to be a three-time Paralympian, competing for the United States in 2000, 2004 and 2008. She won 19 Paralympic medals — 14 gold and five silver.

She destroyed more records than Mike Veek’s Disco Demolition night.

Her long list of achievements includes winning two ESPY Awards for Best Female Athlete with a Disability. She was named the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year in 2005.

Erin graduated from Colorado State University, where she swam at the NCAA Division I level against able-bodied athletes. She earned a degree in health and exercise science.

In 2019, Erin became just the second Paralympic swimmer to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. 

She sure did come a long way from being that young girl who had to wear braces to straighten her back and legs.

The daughter of Dr. Keith Popovich, Erin moved to Butte when she was 5. By the time I met her that day at the Tech pool, she had undergone multiple surgeries, including one on her eardrum that allowed her to finally try swimming.

Now she is 39, and swimming is still very much a part of her life.

Her career has taken her to the administration side of Paralympic swimming.

Earlier this year, I talked to Erin for the first time since that day in 1998. I had a hard time connecting with her on the phone because she travels the world.

When I finally got ahold of her, Erin was in Switzerland with the U.S. swimming team. I was calling to tell her that she was selected to be inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame.

Even though it is not the first Hall of Fame to call her, Erin truly seemed to be blown away by the honor.

Almost every email I have sent to her regarding the details of the induction generates an automatic replay telling me that Erin will get back to me when she gets back into the country.

Next weekend, Erin will take her rightful place alongside the more than 200 Butte sports immortals in the Butte Sports Hall of Fame.

She might be the smallest of those immortals, but she one of only a few who have her own Wikipedia page.

That page, by the way, says that Erin is now 4 feet, 4 ¾ inches tall.

So, not even roller coasters are obstacles any more.

— Bill Foley, who thinks riding roller coasters is overrated anyway, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.