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Here’s a question I get all the time: Who is the greatest quarterback in Butte High history?

I can’t speak for the ones I never watched, but my answer is always my Bute High Class of 1993 classmate Josh Paffhausen. That is because I am speaking from my heart and my very vivid memories of living through the 1991 season.

As a junior that year, Paffer led the Bulldogs to the Class AA State title. (Though some of the outstanding players on an incredible defense might argue with that sentence.)

He led the Class AA in all-purpose yards two years before taking his talents to the University of Montana.

With the Griz, Paffer was a backup to Dave Dickenson on the 1995 NCAA I-AA national championship team. He played receiver for the Grizzlies the next two seasons — though I will always contend he should have played quarterback. (Again, that’s my heart talking.)

If it wasn’t for a knee injury that forced him to play most of his senior season without an ACL, I believe Paffer would have been an NFL prospect as a receiver.

I played against Paffer in junior high school, and he was out of this world. In my eyes, he always will be.

For years, my head was telling me that the greatest Butte High quarterback in my lifetime might be Dallas Cook. Him putting the Bulldogs on his back to overcome a 16-point fourth quarter deficit in the semifinals in 2012 was the stuff of legends.

Cook’s Bulldogs won the State title for the first time since Paffhausen’s Bulldogs in 1991.

I was born in 1974, so I wasn’t old enough to remember Barry Sullivan helping lead the Bulldogs to the 1977 State title, and I only have a faint memory of Don Douglas leading the way to the 1981 State title.

Of course, a lot of guys over the age of 70 will argue against Paffer, Cook, Sullivan and Douglas. They will tell you, without a doubt, that Bob O’Billovich was the greatest Bulldog quarterback.

O’Billovich is arguably the greatest Bulldog athlete of all time. He is, after all, in the Montana Grizzly Hall of Fame for basketball and football.

Old timers still like to talk about what it was like to watch the great Bobby O play any sport. For years, I could only imagine what it is like to watch someone who was good enough to be all-conference in three sports in college.

We could only wonder how it must have been to watch such greatness from a player from our hometown. We’ve had so many great athletes to watch — including recent professions Rob Johnson and Colt Anderson.

Bobby O, though, was in a class all by himself. He transcended the game to the point that people still talk about watching him play. They might not remember who won the game, but they remember watching Bobby O.

They tell their children and grandchildren about watching Bobby O play it like some old men used to talk about the time they saw Babe Ruth.

He went on to be drafted in the NFL, played in the CFL and coached a Grey Cup champion in Canada, where he served as a player, coach and administrator for nearly half a century.

Along the way, he was always a champion of his home town and alma matter.

O’Billovich was part of the Butte Sports Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1987, and we have probably never seen another reach the legendary status of the great Bobby O.

Until now, that is.

I think it is safe to say that we finally know what it is like to watch a Butte Rat who transcends the game. His name is Tommy Mellott, and he just might be giving Bobby O a run for the title of “Greatest Bulldog.”

The 2020 Butte High graduate lettered 12 times at Butte High while competing in football, basketball and track.

Tommy, of course, was best known for playing football at Butte High. He led the Bulldogs to the Class AA State title game in 2019.

In Butte, we have known about Tommy’s greatness for quite some time. We also knew about his character. We knew the second we heard his MSU nickname, “Touchdown Tommy,” that he would not like it because Tommy was always a team-first guy.

He took the Bobcats to the FCS national championship game as a freshman, and he has them as serious title contenders this year.

Right now, Tommy’s Bobcats are ranked No. 2 in the FCS, and they have rolled to a 9-0 record. Only one of those games have been close.

Without question, Tommy is the leader of that team — on and off the field.

Tommy has to be one of the favorites to win the Walter Payton Award, which is the Heisman Trophy for FCS players. Through nine games this season, Tommy has passed for a career-high 19 touchdowns compared to just one interception. He has eight more TDs on the ground.

In his four seasons leading the Bobcats, Tommy has a hand in 80 touchdowns — 43 passing, 36 rushing and one receiving.

That comes after he had a hand in 102 touchdowns at Butte High — 71 passing and 31 rushing.

Whether he likes it or not, the nickname “Touchdown Tommy” fits him perfectly.

Any NFL general manager or scout who saw him bust that 76-yard touchdown in Saturday’s win at Eastern Washington would be crazy to not put him on their draft board. Maybe he won’t play quarterback at the NFL level, but he has the athletic ability to play some position.

I would also never bet against Tommy playing quarterback at any level. Never bet against Superman.

I also would not be surprised if Tommy decides to pursue a career outside of football instead. He is one of the smartest student-athletes I covered in 25 years as a sportswriter.

Bulldog fans will always remember Tommy for his heroics on the Naranche Stadium turf. Many will also remember how he was also always a great role model off the field, court and track. They will remember the stories of how he went to the kindergarten birthday party for a young superfan he befriended during his Bulldog days.

They will remember how he was a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Butte and how he wrote an inspirational letter to the 2020 sixth grade graduates of his old elementary school, Margaret Leary Elementary, after COVID halted their graduation ceremony.

I remember Tommy’s Bulldog days more for his work off the field. I used to meet with coach Arie Grey for pregame stories on Wednesday afternoons.

When I would walk into the coach’s office, I would find Tommy breaking down film. He was usually teaching his coaches more than they were teaching him.

When Tommy committed to Montana State, I emailed Bill Lamberty, the school’s longtime sports information director, to tell him the Bobcats just landed someone who is truly special.

Less than two years later, Bill emailed me back to tell me how right I was. “You should hear the way his teammates talk about him,” Bill marveled.

At the time, Tommy was a freshman.

Now that he is a senior, the legend of Touchdown Tommy just continues to grow and grow. Even Montana Grizzly fans like him.

No matter what happens with Tommy’s career after his college days, fans will someday tell their children and grandchildren about the times they got to see Tommy Mellott play.

They will tell them about his greatness. They will tell them about his character. They will tell them about the time they met him and Tommy treated them like they were old friends.

They will tell how Tommy was always a champion of his hometown and alma matter.

Yes, I think it’s fair to say that Tommy Mellot is a modern-day Bob O’Billovich.

Maybe someday my head will convince my heart that he was even better than my buddy Paffer.

 — Bill Foley, the founder and president of the Josh Paffhausen Fan Club, 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.