One photo said it all

Don Peoples and I looked at each other as Bill Salonen introduced himself to Gary Kane after the Butte Sports Hall of Fame Green Jacket Ceremony.

Bill and Gary were both Butte High basketball stars, but their Bulldog careers were separated by almost four decades. So, they had never met before.

Gary, who was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2022, was at the Butte Civic Center for a couple of reasons. He came back to town to take part in the Green Jacket Ceremony of the Hall of Fame. He was also part of the 1989 Butte High basketball team that was inducted over the weekend.

The legendary Gary Kane graduated from Butte High four years before me, so I know all about his incredible career and his legendary work ethic. It might be impossible for someone to convince me that Butte has ever produced a better basketball player.

I had only heard of the super career of Bill Salonen, but he apparently was something to watch. In 1952, Salonen led Butte High to a divisional title, and he was named to the All-Tournament team at State tournament in Butte.

While Kane went on to play in the NCAA Tournament for the University of Montana, Salonen played at Montana State.

Bill, a 1999 inductee, came back to Butte for a walk down the aisle with the Green Jackets on his 90^th birthday. The large Civic Center crowd serenaded him with “Happy Birthday” as he was introduced.

Bill pumped his fist and gave a thumbs up to show his appreciation as he made his way through the crowd.

The two Butte High legends shook hands right between Peoples and me. I could see that Peoples caught the magnitude of the moment, too.

“This,” I said to the former chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow, “is why you founded the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 1987.”

Peoples, himself a Hall of Famer, smiled and nodded in agreement.

The Butte Sports Hall of Fame came from an idea at a Butte-Silver Bow Christmas party in the 1980s. When it still seemed like a good idea the morning after the party, Peoples called Pat Kearney, and they got the ball rolling on something that turned out to be truly magical.

This latest induction class of the Hall of Fame was the fourth one that I have worked on as the executive director.  It was a job that I did not want at the time, but I am so incredibly grateful that I took it.

(As if saying “no” to Don Peoples was ever an option.)

Like in 2017, 2019 and 2022, I knew there would be one moment when I would realize that all the hard work was worth it for me and my great team of volunteers.

It happens every year.

Going in, I knew there would be a time that made all the hours sitting in front of the computer and all the sleepless nights pay off. It would make all the planning and worrying seem like it was nothing.

Taking part in a conversation with Kane, Salonen and Peoples had to be it, I figured.

As it turns out, that moment still ranks very high on the list. But it wasn’t the pinnacle moment.

The next night was full of incredible moments as I got to sit on stage and interview the 10 living inductees of the Class of 2024 and a family representative of the three members being inducted after their untimely deaths.

Having a great talk with Matt Buckley, Martha (Apostle) Lonner, Betty Merrifield, Linda (Lyons) Paull, Erin Popovich, Ron Richards, John Rickman, Bruce Sayler, Steve Schulte and Kyle Smith is something that I will never forget.

Talking with family members of Dan Lean, Wanda Olson and Don Tamietti was also special.

Getting to deal with Kelvin Sampson, now the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Houston, as he sent a video for his three Montana Tech teams falls into the category of surreal.

Never did I imagine I would be getting a phone call from a Final Four coach, but that is what happened on the morning of June 4 when I answered a call from an out-of-state area code.

“What’s your favorite thing about Montana Tech basketball in the 1980s,” Coach Sampson asked without identifying himself.

Without hesitation, I said “‘Flyin’ Brian Vaughns and Kelvin Sampson.”

Seeing Kane, Todd Ericson and the rest of the 1989 Bulldogs at the induction was also kind of surreal. Those guys don’t have a first-place trophy, but they will always be champions in my book.

It was great to see so many classmates as the 1992 Butte High wrestling team was inducted, and it was fun to see the 1996 Butte High softball team finally get recognized after Mother Nature cheated them out of a State title.

The 1999 Butte Central softball team was the first Hall of Fame team that I covered as a sportswriter. It was great seeing those women again, but it made me feel old.

Seeing Ronnie Counts receive the loudest ovation of the Green Jacket Ceremony as he was honored with the Special Olympic Lifetime Achievement Award was something very special, too.

Yes, this year’s induction ceremonies were full of fantastic moments that made all the hard work seem like nothing.

It turns out, though, that the one pinnacle moment didn’t hit me until the morning after it was all over. That is when photographer Josie Trudgeon sent me a photo of inductee Ron Richards walking down the aisle on his way to receive his Green Jacket from his brother, Ted.

Richards had a big smile on his face as he picked up a grandson. A granddaughter was making her way to grandpa, and the crowd was eating up the moment.

The picture, like many other pictures that you can see on Josie’s website, is worth way more than a thousand words. It was even more special to see the photo because I was busy helping line up the people presenting the Hall of Famers with their Green Jackets, and I missed it live.

Coach Richards was known as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense coach when he was the offensive coordinator at Montana Tech. Seeing the softer side of him as he walked into history was surprising and just plain awesome.

If I start to think that all the work we do for the Butte Sports Hall of Fame is too much when we prepare for our Class of 2026, all I will have to do is look at that photo. That photo is why we do what we do.

But seeing Bill Salonen introduce himself to Gary Kane was pretty awesome, too.

— Bill Foley, who will be starstruck for the next couple of months, 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.