In Butte, we know him as Willie, the 1993 Butte High graduate with award-winning legs.

In Missoula, where he is a successful lawyer and renowned Little League coach, he might be called Will, William or Mr. McCarthy. By any name, though, Willie McCarthy is a true Butte character. He is a Butte guy to the core.

Willie grew up on Butte’s Westside, and he attended McKinnley Elementary before heading to East Middle School and Butte High School. He was an undersized defensive end at Butte High, where he was part of the 1991 Class AA State championship team.

He is a graduate of Montana Tech, The University of Montana and The University of Montana School of Law.

As a coach, Willie led a Missoula Little League team the state title two times, and those teams advanced to the Little League World Series, where the world found out that Willie with a microphone is a very good thing.

This morning, I caught up with Willie over Zoom for a fun conversation. Listen in as he talks about the origin of his name, which comes from the streets of Uptown Butte.

Listen in as he talks about growing up on the Westside, where they used to have some very prominent paper boys filling in for the boys with the paper rout.

Listen in as Willie talks about playing for coach Jon McElroy and the lessons he passed on to the next generation.

Listen in to hear that Willie is still a Butte guy, even after all these years in Missoula.

Today’s episode is presented by Leskovar Honda, home of the non-commission sales team that always has your back. It is also available on YouTube: