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The Year of the Dougie, and so much more
When it comes to great sports years in the Mining City, it is hard to beat 1982 and 1984.
In 1982, Butte High’s boys and Butte Central’s boys and girls won State track championships. That came about six months after Butte High won the Class AA football title, too.
And, of course, the Bulldogs won their third of 13 straight wrestling titles. (Click here for the podcast version of this column.)
In 1984, Butte High’s and Butte Central’s boys won State basketball titles a week apart. The Maroons beat Billings Central at the Butte Civic Center on March 10. Then, on St. Patrick’s Day, the Bulldogs knocked off Great Falls High for the title in Missoula.
Butte High’s girls grabbed a track title, and, of course, the Bulldogs won their fifth of 13 straight wrestling titles.
When it comes to ranking the best Butte sports years of the last half a century, 2022 does not quite stack up to those two years.
But it was pretty darn good.
It was so good that Dougie People’s 27-foot buzzer-beater to give the Maroons a 61-58 win over Lewistown March 12 in Dahlberg Arena in Missoula had competition for the story of the year.
The game-winning shot went viral with hundreds of different videos of the swish hitting the internet. It was the biggest moment in Butte prep sports since Jake Dennehy’s field goal at the buzzer as Butte High beat Bozeman in the 2012 championship game.
Of course, some Montana Tech fans will point out that it was not the only buzzer-beater of the season.
Senior Drew Huse buried a 3-pointer as Montana Tech beat Carroll College 62-61 Feb. 28 at a packed and crazy P.E. Center in Helena.
As crazy as it sounds, Dougie’s shot is not the story of the year. In fact, it was not even the story of the game.
Peoples made the biggest play of the game with BC trailing 56-55. Dougie, who is not known for his defense, stole the ball and turned it into a three-point play.
His bucket and free throw put BC up 58-56 with 45.9 seconds left.
Lewistown tied the game at 58 on a bucket by Fischer Brown with 20 seconds left. But the Golden Eagles gave Dougie way too much time.
The game-winning shot capped a superhuman effort by Peoples, who scored 37 points in the title game. Then he capped the incredible night by becoming the first player to ever give me a hug following a post-game interview.
Peoples scored 629 points as the Maroons completed the championship season. Incredibly, he was not the leading score in the school on the season.
That distinction belongs to classmate Brooke “The Assassin” Badovinac, who tossed in 671 points to lead the BC girls to an inspired postseason run. No high school boy or girl in Butte has ever scored more points in one season than Badovinac, who scored 92 points in three State tournament games.
It was that legendary performance by Peoples in the championship game, however, that has to be the story of the year for Butte sports in 2022.
Since that statement might be somewhat debatable shows us just how great of a year we had.
The Maroons were not the only state champions from Butte in 2022, a year that saw the BC girls and Butte High’s boys’ and girls’ teams all qualify for State tournaments in the same year for the second time ever. The other came in 2013.
The same weekend in Missoula saw Meg Murphy’s legendary run as head coach of the BC girls come to an end.
A month earlier, Butte High junior Mason Christian beat Kalispell Flathead’s Noah Poe-Hatton 3-2 in a thrilling state championship match at 182 pounds in Billings.
By the way, Christian, who signed to compete at NCAA Division II power Liberty University of West Liberty, West Virginia last month, enters each home match to the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by the band War. That is awesome.
In May, Butte Central track coach Dan McGree retired after Butte hosted the Class AA and Class A State meets at the Charlie Merrifield Track, which is inside the Gene Fogarty Complex.
The bet here is that his retirement is much like that of Charlie Merrifield, who is never far from a track.
Speaking of track, Becca Richtman, perhaps the greatest Oredigger of all, closed her incredible Montana Tech career as a 10-time All-American this spring.
A few months later, her former teammate and Butte High grad Hailey Nielson became an All-American for the first time in cross country.
The summer belonged to the Butte Miners, who ripped through the Class A and Northwest Region. The Miners went to Belgrade to bring home Butte’s first State American Legion title in any classification in 69 years.
The next week, they went to Vernal, Utah and destroyed the competition at the Regional tournament.
As good as the Miners summer was, however, it was how it ended that really stood out.
On the team bus home, the Miners heard word that Jim “Fonz” Hanley was on his last days. Fonz, of course, is one of the Legends in 3 Legends Stadium.
So, the Miners’ bus made its first stop outside the assisted living center where Fonz was surrounded by his family. They unveiled their championship banner, and the team tipped its cap to the Butte legend.
Fonz mustered up enough strength to raise his arm and recognize the champions.
A few days later, Fonz left the world knowing that his Miners were on top. A better ending to his remarkable life could not have been written.
Also this summer, the Butte Sports Hall of Fame returned with a class that was long overdue.
The individuals who joined the Hall were the late Tony Banovich, Corey Bolton, Ron Collins Sr., Don Douglas, Deanna Dugdale, the late Hoot Gibson, Bob Given, Ray Jay Johnson, Gary Kane, Julie (Leary) Nadeau, the late Don “Lefty” Orlich, Tom Roberts, Debbie Silk and the late Ed Yeo.
Thanks to Harrison Ford, the ceremonies were moved to the Maroon Activities Center, which proved to be a perfect venue.
Butte High’s football team, which was led in part by freshmen Cayde Stajcar and Hudson Luedke, qualified for the playoffs and went to Great Falls High for a road playoff victory.
Montana Tech swept Carroll College on the gridiron.
Sure, the Orediggers only played the Saints once, and Carroll went on to win the Frontier Conference title. But, hey, a sweep is a sweep.
In Bozeman, Butte’s pride and joy, Tommy Mellott, continued to be Tommy Mellot. That says it all.
The fall also gave us the story of Jack Prigge.
Prigge, a Butte High senior who will take his golfing talents to Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California, overcame a nine-shot deficit in the final round to win the Class AA State championship in Helena.
He capped the incredible comeback by beating Tyler Avery of Kalispell Glacier in a sudden-death playoff. In doing so, Prigge became the first Butte High boy to win a State golf title since Gary Koprivica in 1963.
Prigge’s title highlighted a performance that saw Butte High’s boys bring home a trophy from State for the first time since 1974. Like they did in the year of my birth, the Bulldogs placed third.
The retirements of Murphy and McGree could easily be the story of the year. The Miners could be the story of the decade, and Prigge’s comeback is one for the ages. Mellott’s interview following the Montana State win over Montana will melt your heart.
The retirement of BC grad and Olympian Brad Wilson, whose 12-year career closed with him ranked in the Top 10 in the World Cup moguls, is also a huge story.
Yes, the year 2022 was a great one for sports fans in the Mining City.
It took a super-human game by Dougie Peoples to walk away with the story of the year.
And he sealed that story with a hug.
— Bill Foley, whose moguls career did not end in the Top 10, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com.Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of Dec. 26.
Monday
6 p.m. — OFU vs. Poi Time
7 p.m. — ISOs vs. Towel Boys
8 p.m. — Parish vs. Rooney’s Republic
Tuesday
6 p.m. — The Backups vs. OFU
7 p.m. — Logan’s vs. Bomb Squad
8 p.m. — Logan’s vs. Lacey Agency
9 p.m. — Parish vs. ISOs
Wednesday
6 p.m. — The Backups vs. Wolfpack
7 p.m. — Dream Team vs. Bomb Squad
8 p.m. — Towel Boys vs. Rooney’s Republic
Thursday
7 p.m. — Wolf Pack vs. Dream Team
8 p.m. — Lacey Agency vs. Poi Time -
Stenson, Gurnsey, Tierney, Holter highlight Shrine selections
Four senior players from the Mining City will get to play one more home high school football game.
The rosters for the 76th Montana East-West Shrine Game were released on Christmas morning, and three Butte High Bulldogs and one Butte Central Maroon got the call.
Representing Butte High on the West Side roster will be Jace Stenson, Cameron Gurnsey and Zach Tierney. They will be joined by Butte Central’s Kyle Holter.
The game will be played June 17 in Butte. The premier All-Star football game will be making its first appearance in the Mining City since 2019.
Helena Capital head coach Kyle Mihelish will once again lead the West Side into battle. Mihelish has 24 years of coaching experience in Montana, the last 15 of which came at Capital. Mihelish’s Bruins won the Class AA State title this past season.
The East Team will be coached by Lewistown coach Derek Lear, who guided the Golden Eagles to the Class A State crown.
Stenson, who started at quarterback for the Bulldogs the last two seasons, is listed on the roster as an athlete. He earned All-State honors behind center this past season, leading Butte High to a playoff appearance and playoff win. Stenson has committed to play football at Montana Tech.
Gurnsey will play receiver for the West Side, the same position he will play at the University of Montana. He took home All-State honors at the position as a senior.
Tierney will play guard for the West Side. The future Montana Tech Oredigger earned a first-team All-State nod at that position as a senior. He was also honored as a defensive lineman.
Holter will play cornerback for the West. He received All-State recognition at that position this past season. He also received all-conference honors as a receiver. Holter has yet to announce his college plans.
No Butte players were named to the alternate list.
The players were nominated by their schools and coaches and selected as the “best of the best.” They join an elite fraternity of players, many who have gone on to distinguished collegiate and professional careers.
In the last 10 years, the game has raised more than $1 million for the Shriners Hospital for Children in Spokane.
Note: Tyler Kovick of Helena Capital was also named an alternate at defensive back for the West Side. His name was inadvertently omitted from a list sent out by the Shriners.
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Podcast No. 36: Meg Murphy
When it comes to women’s sports in the Mining City, there should be no debate. Whether you are talking about an athlete or a coach, Meg Murphy is the best.
As an athlete, Murphy helped lead Butte Central to a state basketball title and two state track titles. She won the individual state title in the shot put as a junior and senior in 1981 and 1982. As a senior, she led the Maroons in scoring as BC went 23-1 and captured the school’s first girls’ basketball title.
Murphy, who played collegiately at Creighton University and Montana Tech, started coaching at a young age, and she did not stop until her retirement in March.
As a coach, Murphy led Butte Central to five state titles in two sports. Her teams won the state softball title in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Her last two title teams went undefeated, winning 52 straight games before she had to step down because she took over the Montana Tech women’s basketball program. BC’s 1996 team was a contender in 1996, but that year the State tournament we rained out.
In basketball, Murphy’s Maroons won it all in 2011 and 2016. The 2016 team went unbeaten. In all, Murphy guided the Maroons to 280 wins. She was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Click here to listen in as Murphy talks about her great career as a player and a coach and the lifelong friendships the came from both.
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Sidelining Big Sandy coach sets a dangerous precedent
The thing about battling depression is that it helps to talk about it.
It really, really helps.
I learned that the first time I felt like killing myself, when I was in seventh grade. I woke up my mom in the middle of the night and told her that I felt like I wanted to die.
The only reason I only talked to her that night was because I did not know how to kill myself.
If I had any kind of access to a firearm, I would not be here. I would be remembered, by some, as that seemingly happy kid who shot himself in January of 1988. (Click here for the podcast version of this column.)
Just saying out loud what I was thinking and seeing my mom’s reaction actually helped snap me out of that deep depression just enough.
The bet is that most people who followed through with suicide never talked to anybody first. If they had, they would probably still be here.
In the years since night in seventh grade, I have battled depression off and on. The times when I snapped out of it the fastest came when I talked about it or wrote about it.
Staying silent only made the dark times darker. It made the despair so much harder to take.
That is why it was so disheartening to see that a high school boys’ basketball coach in Big Sandy, Montana apparently lost his job because he openly discussed his own depression and suicidal thoughts with his players.
Instead of seeing if coach Thomas Dilworth needed some help, the school district placed him on administrative leave.
In his previous five seasons coaching the Pioneers, Dilworth said he did not have one negative review. His team did not play in the Class C State tournament, but that did not stop the school district from bringing the coach back for a sixth season.
It was not until after the coach spoke to his players that the district sat him down.
Dilworth said he has struggled with his mental health and depression since he was 14. He said he battles post-traumatic stress, and he recently went through a tough custody dispute involving his daughter, who moved to Germany.
“I felt overwhelmingly compelled that I needed to kind of share what I had been going through the last two years with the boys, and I did,” the coach told MTN Sports.
He said he told the players how tough it was to move forward each day. He even said he gave up driving at times because he kept thinking about which pole he would run his vehicle into.
The coach went to Facebook to tell people that he did not voluntarily step down, like Big Sandy Public Schools Superintendent Dan Schrock claims.
Maybe his openness about his depression and mental health battles is not what forced the district to sideline the coach. Maybe there is something else that they are not telling us.
Right now, though, it sure looks like the district is punishing the coach for doing exactly what he should do if he is suffering in the darkness of depression.
He should talk about it.
In doing so, the coach also showed the players that it is OK to talk about such feelings. They can see that a tough guy can still be vulnerable to feeling sad.
Then, the school district contradicted that brave message.
Most people suffer some kind of depression or mental health issues. It is just a fact of life. Most people who say they do not, are lying through their teeth.
That is because society has made sure that depression and mental health issues come with a stigma, and that stigma kills.
By getting rid of a coach because he spoke out about his battles, we are sending a horrible message to children and adults alike. We are setting a dangerous and deadly precedent.
“My biggest concern is the message that has been sent to the kids about if you talk about mental health, there’s going to be a bad consequence,” Dilworth told MTN Sports.
A little more than four years ago, I lost one of my best friends, Joe, to suicide.
Everyone was shocked that Joe took his own life. Joe, who had sole custody of his young son, always seemed happy.
Coincidentally, the day Joe passed away came on the same day that I found myself falling into the dark beast that is depression.
I was with my family at Lagoon, an amusement park in Farmington, Utah. Lagoon is our happy place, but for some reason I was not feeling happy.
My wife and three kids were in the pool at Lagoon A Beach when I suddenly started to feel really sad. I had no idea why I felt so down, but I felt like I had to get out of the water and get dressed.
I found an empty table and sat by myself. Despite the sounds of laughter and happiness of hundreds of people enjoying the beautiful summer day, I felt the uncontrollable urge to cry.
So, I put my head down on the table as the unexplained tears streamed down my face.
Eventually, I pulled my head up and thought about my friend Steve Vezina, the Dillon coach who was beloved by so many. Vez passed away nearly a year before this Lagoon trip, and I remembered a couple of years before when I was sitting in the same area as the Katy Perry song “Roar” came over the speakers.
That is the song that accompanied the tribute video the students and teachers of Beaverhead County High School made for Vezina when he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
I texted Vez to tell him that they were playing his song in Utah.
Vezina had such a love of life. It was so great that it took cancer four years to take him when it should have only taken four months.
I remembered how much Vez loved to live, and I laughed at the thought of the kick in the ass he would have given me for feeling sad at such a happy place.
With that, the darkness faded into light. I went back into the locker room, changed into my swim shorts and got back in the pool.
That time, I was able to conquer the beast that is depression. At the same time, my friend Joe was losing his battle.
Hardly a day goes by when I do not think of Joe. I cannot help but think that his life would have been saved if he would have just talked to someone. Anyone.
I cannot help but think that he would still be here if he had a coach or friend like Coach Dilworth.
The coach should be praised for his honesty, courage and leadership. His words might have saved his life, and they might have saved the lives of some of his players.
Sidelining the coach for speaking truth to the stigma only makes the stigma more powerful.
If his benching really was about his words to his players, then those who made the decision should be ashamed of themselves.
When offered the decision to try to save lives from the darkness of depression and mental illness, they chose to do the opposite.
In doing so, they went against everything being an educator should be all about.
— Bill Foley can be reached at foles74@gmail.com.Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Dial 9-8-8 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
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Podcast No. 35: Tom O’Neill
The entire world has heard of former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill. He shot a very famous bad guy — thrice.
Before Rob was a household name, however, his older brother, Tom, was a well-known character in the Mining City. Known affectionately as “Tommy O,” the older O’Neill has been a long-time radio man and musician in Butte.
He is a founding member of the middle-age sensation that is High Ore Road, a band that will perform New Year’s Eve at the McQueen Club.
Screenshot Tommy O is the public address announcer for the Butte Central Maroons, Butte High Bulldogs and Montana Tech Orediggers. Quite simply, he is the best there is.
Click here to listen in as we talk about Tom getting into radio, the many bands he has played for and how him giving all those atomic wedgies just might have created a legendary Navy SEAL.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of Dec. 19.
Monday
6 p.m. — Parish vs. Poi Time
7 p.m. — OFU vs. Rooney’s Republic
8 p.m. — OFU vs. Lacey Agency
Tuesday
6 p.m. — Parish vs. The Backups
7 p.m. — Logan’s vs. Towel Boys
8 p.m. — Logan’s vs. ISOs
9 p.m. — ISOs vs. Dream Team
Wednesday
6 p.m. — Bomb Squad vs. Wolf Pack
7 p.m. — Rooney’s Republic vs. The Backups
8 p.m. — Towel Boys vs. Bomb SquadThursday
6 p.m. — Rooney’s Republic vs. Poi Time
7 p.m. — Rooney’s Republic vs. Wolf Pack
8 p.m. — Lacey Agency vs. Dream Team -
Podcast No. 34: Sheriff Lester
For the past 10 years, Ed Lester has served as the sheriff of Butte-Silver Bow.
In all, he has worked in law enforcement in the Mining City for the last 33 years. In 2012, Lester defeated incumbent John Walsh in the race for sheriff. He then easily won re-election in 2016 and 2020.
Before he became a police officer, Sheriff Lester competed in football, basketball and track at Butte Central. He also played baseball through his legion years. He graduated high school in 1984, and attended Montana Tech before graduating from Montana State University.
Click here to listen in as we talk with Sheriff Lester about his years in law enforcement, the trials and rewards of being sheriff, his days as an athlete, his family and his plans for 2024.
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KC Kids Hoops will take two weeks off after Saturday
The Knights of Columbus Little Kids Hoops league will play Saturday at the Felix Madrazo Gym.
The league will then take two weeks off (Dec. 24 and Dec. 31) for the holidays. Play will resume Jan. 7.
Games for boys and girls pre-kindergarten through second grade go from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Games for players in the third through sixth grade go from 10:30 until noon.
Also, Butte Central will hold KC Little Kids Hoops Appreciation Night the next home boys’ and girls’ basketball games. The BC boys play Thursday night at home against East Helena. The girls play at home Tuesday against Corvallis.
All players will be admitted to those games for free and will be recognized during the game. They will also get a chance to make a shot for a pop at halftime.
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Podcast No. 33: Luke Powers
Luke Powers will lead the Belgrade boys’ basketball team against Butte High Thursday night in Belgrade.
It will be the second time he has faced the school he graduated from and coached for four seasons.
Click here to listen in as Powers talks about his days as a Bulldog. He played hoops for John Mike Dennehy and then John Thatcher. He specialized in the hurdles under coach Charlie Merrifield.
Thatcher called Powers one of the hardest-working players he ever coached. He was good enough in the hurdles that he ran track at Dickinson State University.
Listen as Powers talks about his coaching beginning in North Dakota, where he was wildly successful before coming home to lead the Bulldogs. Listen as he talks about the painful ending to his Butte High career. Listen as he discusses his new outlook on coaching — and life — after leaving the Bulldogs.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 