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KCAC could use a hand
The Knights of Columbus Athletic Club is having a new carpet installed in the weight room, and volunteers are needed to help finish the product on Wednesday.
Volunteers are asked to come for one of two shifts — at 4:30 or 6:30 p.m. — to help replace and rearrange the equipment moved to install the carpet.
The KCAC is Butte’s most affordable workout gym. For just $20 per month, you can have access to the weight room, basketball court, sauna and showers.
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We’re all lucky Coach Peoples survived
When I was 15 years old, I didn’t think Don Peoples Jr. had a sense of humor at all.
I tried to make him laugh several times, but he would never bite. For instance, he just rolled his eyes at me when I explained that my strict weight-lifting regiment consisted solely of 12-ounce curls.
It never occurred to me that I was not as funny as I thought I was until I tried to make Coach Peoples laugh.
Every time I tried to be funny in Coach Peoples’ presence, I felt like I had to tap the microphone and ask, “Is this thing on?”
Coach Peoples was in his first year as the head coach of Butte Central’s football team when I was a freshman in 1989. He was also the freshman boys’ basketball coach that season, too.
Now, I like to think that I am pretty funny. The truth is, though, I was never the class clown. I was always the guy who got in trouble for laughing at the class clown.
Looking back, that is probably why I usually played less than a minute per game as a freshman on the basketball team. Coach Peoples would look down the bench for a sub, and he’d see me laughing at Derek Hendrickson or Scott Doherty.
Derek and Scott could make me laugh without laughing themselves, so they got into the games because they looked more serious than I was.
At least that is what I like to tell myself.
One time, Coach Peoples told Derek to go to give Brodie Kelly a rest, but he said it in a way that would make any 15-year-old boy laugh. My reaction to Derek’s response probably kept me out of three games.
Coach Peoples always told us that he wanted us to have our game faces on. We had to have our game faces on in the hallway and classrooms the day of the games. He didn’t want to see us goofing around.
That was always too tough for me because I wasn’t sure what a game face was. I liked to laugh and smile too much. I liked to goof around. I still do.
I didn’t play football my sophomore year, and Coach Peoples cut me from the basketball team later that year. I transferred to Butte High — where I also got cut from the basketball team — and I assumed I would dislike Coach Peoples for the rest of my life.
I figured I would be just like my dad, who still doesn’t like his high school football and wrestling coaches.
Then, a funny thing happened. I got to know Coach Peoples.
It turns out that he has a sense of humor after all. He is actually really funny. No, he doesn’t make me laugh quite like Derek and Scott did at the end of the bench, but he has a smart sense of humor that makes him super fun to talk to.
Several years ago, Butte Central graduate Rob O’Neill became famous for shooting a certain bad guy — thrice. Coach Peoples joked that the BC student section should use that during sporting events.
“We got spirit, yes we do,” Coach Peoples suggested. “We got bin Laden, how ’bout you?”
Even in the hard times, Coach Peoples can make a good joke.
In 2014, his Maroons lost a heartbreaker in the Class A State Championship game to Dillon. Seconds after that pesky little Nate Simkins caught a 2-point conversion from J.D. Ferris for a one-point lead, the Maroons were about in field goal range for Danny Peoples, the head coach’s son who had a remarkable kicking and quarterbacking career at BC.
Simkins, though, punched the ball out of a BC receiver’s arms, and Jason Ferris recovered it.
That loss still hurts Central’s players, coaches and fans. It still hurts Coach Peoples.
A few years later, though, Coach Peoples joked that it was probably good for his son that the Maroons lost that fumble.
“It probably saved Danny from being the guy who missed the big kick,” the coach said.
(For the record, we all know Danny would have made it.)
Coach Peoples even jokes about the close calls he had as a quarterback for Butte Central.
He talks about the interception he threw in overtime against Butte High, and he gives all the credit for the Maroons advancing to the state championship game to running back Brian Morris.
Judge Morris, though, will tell you that Coach Peoples’ career was much more than a punch line.
Over the years covering the Maroons for the paper and Butte Sports, I grew to respect Coach Peoples so much. I grew to regret my decision to quit football my sophomore year because I have seen how Coach Peoples helped turn boys into men.
Had I stayed on the BC football team, it might have helped me mature much faster than I did. You see that happen with his players all the time.
You also see those players compete.
Year after year, Coach Peoples’ Maroons have played with and beat the very best of the Class A, even though the school is small enough for BC to play in the Class C. He led the Maroons to the state title game in 1992 and again in 2014.
His Maroons also advanced to the semifinals many times over the decades.
A couple of years ago, Coach Peoples picked up his 200th win as head coach of the Maroons. Only Butte High legend Harry “Swede” Dahlberg won more games as a football coach in Butte.
Coach Peoples should be a shoo-in for the Butte Sports Hall of Fame, and Coach Peoples has basically coached his entire adult life for free.
His brother Kevin, who is the defensive line coach at Missouri, made more money coaching football in the time you read this sentence than Don and Doug Peoples did — combined — over the last 35 years at BC.
Coach Peoples doesn’t coach for the money or the glory. He coaches because he cares about the players and he loves Butte Central.
Last week, we nearly lost coach Peoples. He traveled to Missouri to watch the Tigers take on the Tennessee Volunteers in a huge SEC showdown.
The night before the game, Coach Peoples, who exercises at least an hour every day, wasn’t feeling well, so he went to the emergency room. That is when Coach Peoples collapsed with a major heart attack.
They say he had the dreaded “widow maker,” and very few people have ever survived that. If he was anywhere other than the hospital when he suffered the heart attack, Coach Peoples would have been a goner.
Instead, he had two stints put in, and he was released from the hospital after a couple of days.
The day after the heart attack, the Tigers beat the Vols 36-7, and head coach Eliah Drinkwitz gave the game ball to Kevin Peoples to give to his brother.
When Coach Peoples heard this, he pointed out that he played football in high school and college. He said he coached for 35 years.
Yet, it took a heart attack for him to finally get a game ball.
When word got out that Coach Peoples was joking about his heart attack, we all breathed a sigh of relief because we knew that was going to be OK.
He is definitely one lucky man. But really, we are all lucky that Coach Peoples is still here. The world is a better place with him in it. Losing him at the age of 59 would have been an unspeakable tragedy.
Still, I can’t help but wish I would have known that funny side of Coach Peoples when I was 15.
— Bill Foley, who still gets in trouble for laughing at the class clown, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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KC winter league starts next week
The Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s winter basketball league will start Monday, Nov. 27.
The four-man teams will play games twice a week, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Felix Madrazo Gymnasium. The league will run 10 weeks with a double-loss tournament at the end.
Cost is $125 per team, and teams can sign up at the bar or by contacting Dan Boyle at (406) 491-2529.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Connor Kachmarik, Kherington Adams
Butte Central eight graders Connor Kachmarik and Kherington Adams are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after the young Maroons ran to titles at the 86th running of the Veterans Day Race in Butte.
Kachmarik takes home the boys’ honor after winning the 14-and-under male division in the 2.5-mile race. Kachmarik, 14, finished the course in 19 minutes, 36.5 seconds, a time that was good for second overall among male runners.
Adams, 13, receives the girls’ honor after finishing the course in 19:50 to win the 14-and-under title in the 2.5-mile race. She was also the overall female winner.
Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, teamed up with the ButteCast to honor the finest athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
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Little Kids Hoops to take week off
The Knights of Columbus Athletic Club Little Kids Hoops program will take next weekend off because of Thanksgiving.
Play will resume on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Felix Medrazo Gym.
The league is at about the halfway point of the season, so there is still time for players to join the fun. The league is free and open to all boys and girls from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Action begins each Saturday at 9 a.m. for players in kindergarten through second grade. Players in third through sixth grade play from 10:30 until noon.
Players don’t have to show up each week, and there are not coaches or set teams.
Alumni of the league include state champions and players who went on to compete in the Frontier Conference and Big Sky Conference.
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Podcast No. 147: David Hutchins
David Hutchins is a very interesting man. He describes himself as curious by nature. He is a biomimetic materials scientist, an environmental engineer, an educator and an assembler of rusty bits.
He says he spends his free time tinkering in the sacrifice zones, dreaming on two wheels and documenting the process.
Hutchins has long pushed for transparency and public participation to enhance Butte’s Superfund cleanup, and he has come up with some unique ways to try to accomplish that. One was an art show at the Northside Tailings back in September. He was part artist and part Bill Nye the Science Guy.
The Northside Tailings will eventually be part of the cleanup under the Consent Decree. Hutchins has studied the beauty and danger of the site for years. He can help shed some light on the problem and the problem of leaving waste in place as part of that cleanup.
A Missoula native who has lived in Butte the past 12 years, Hutchins manages the Biomimicry Institute’s Launchpad Program, and he is a faculty member at Montana Tech.
Oh, and Hutchins is one of a handful of local scientists who come under attack for pointing out inconvenient truths regarding the health and safety of citizens in Butte-Silver Bow during the Superfund process. Those attacks and attempts to discredit his work, however, only strengthened his resolve.
Listen in to this episode of the ButteCast as Hutchins talks about that resolve and why he will always fight for what is right. Listen in to hear his opinion of the cleanup in Butte and his years of findings while investigating the Northside Tailings and other areas in the sacrifice zone.
Listen in to why he is still optimistic about the Mining City and why he has no plans to leave. Listen in as he explains biomimicry.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warrantee.
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Podcast No. 146: Robin Jordan
In the 1980s and 1999s, Robin Jordan was a household name in the Mining City.
Most, though, knew her by her maiden name, Robin Taylor, or her nickname, “The Robinator.” She was the smooth-sounding professional between songs on Y95, which later became KBMR.
That station was one of several in the Mining City where Robin’s voice was heard. She started at Tech’s KMSM, and she worked for KXLF radio and KBOW.
Robin was a 1977 graduate of Butte High School and a 1981 graduate of the University of Montana. She was the daughter of an English teacher and a music teacher, and she took much from both of her parents into her career.
While Robin hasn’t been on the airwaves in many years, she is still very much a part of the community, albeit in a more behind-the-scenes fashion. She is a writer and editor of The Butte Weekly, a newspaper that, among many other things, keeps a keen eye on the local government.
Listen in to hear how Robin kind of accidentally got in the radio business as a student at Montana Tech. Listen as she talks about her many stops along the way, and listen to hear some stories about the many characters she worked with over the years. She worked with the likes of Shag Miller, Ron Davis, Connie Kenney, Arch Ecker and Rick Foote, just to name a few.
Listen in to hear that Robin still has that smooth voice.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.
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Just say no to FTC and FTG
It is probably safe to say that I am not a great person to seek out for fashion advice.
I am, after all, a guy who considers a Red Sox hat and a Butte hoodie from 5518 Designs as proper attire for a wedding.
When it comes to fans of the Montana State Bobcats and Montana Grizzlies, though, I have some pretty sound fashion advice. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the FTC and FTG garbage.
That is what it is, too. It’s garbage.
The “T” stands for “the” and the “C” and “G” stand for “Cats” and “Griz.” You can guess what the “F” stands for.
It certainly doesn’t stand for class.
Think about it. Would you really want your young child or grandchild to ask you what that means? Would you feel good about the answer?
To me, the apparel with those three letters on it represents everything that is wrong with sports. It is disrespecting the players who represent what is right about the games, too.
Recently, a good friend of mine asked on Facebook when the new “FTG” apparel will be released. He is a huge Bobcats fan, and he wants to send a message to his Grizzly fan friends leading up to Saturday’s Cat-Griz game in Missoula.
I gave him three reasons not to wear that stuff: Jake Olson, Tanner Huff and Cameron Gurnsey. All three are former Butte High Bulldogs now on the Grizzly roster.
Not only were Jake, Tanner and Cameron great Butte High Bulldogs who we proudly cheered on when they played at Naranche Stadium, they are also great guys.
The same could be said for Bobcats Tommy Mellott, Casey Kautzman and Aaron Richards. Mellott is one of the all-time greatest Bulldogs, and Kautzman was our best kicker. Richards was a standout for the Butte Central Maroons. He also rocked a stellar Jackie Moon hairdo on the basketball court.
Believe me, it was impossible to not cheer for that hairdo.
How could any people from Butte wear a hat that says “FTC” when those three are on the team?
It is also worth pointing out that Tommy and Casey were recipients of the Mariah Day McCarthy Scholarship, which is also a clear sign of a great guy. MSU cheerleader Kenzie Mason, another Butte High graduate, took home the Mariah’s Challenge Scholarship, too.
Now, I get that fans want to hate the biggest rival of their team. I spent too much of my time hating people like Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and Derek Jeter simply because they wore uniforms I don’t like.
They also terrorized my favorite teams for most of their careers. That might have had something to do with it.
I loved Johnny Damon until he switched uniforms, and then I hated him.
That is really silly. Luckily, I snapped out of that thinking and started to appreciate the greatness of the player Damon was when I watched him make an incredibly smart and gutsy play running the bases during the 2009 World Series for the Yankees.
Even though he switched sides in the rivalry, he was still the same “Idiot” who helped the Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino. Red Sox fans should always love him for that.
After a few years forgetting it, I finally remembered.
As silly as it is that we hate players because of the color of their jersey in professional sports, it is about 10 million times worse to hate college players. Especially when we are talking about college players from a school in state.
When I was a student at the University of Montana, we were awful to the Bobcats. We chanted horrible things at them at basketball and football games. We had a blast.
We also wore obscene anti-Bobcat shirts that we bought at the bars at closing time.
So, I get the student sections yelling things at the players on the opposing team. It is part of the fun of going to college. As much as they pay for tuition and room and board, they should be allowed to have all the fun they want.
Once you have children of your own, however, hating an in-state college football team is not a good look.
Another good friend of mine nearly had to fight his way out of a Missoula restaurant when he spoke up because the crowd went wild when the Bobcats lost a game at Idaho a couple of weeks ago.
It should be noted that MSU’s roster includes a handful of former standout players from Missoula. The ones I know are incredible young men off the field, as well.
We should all cheer for the Bobcats and Grizzlies when they are playing teams from outside the state. Well, maybe “cheer” is a strong word, but we certainly should not be rooting against another school made up largely of Montana players.
We certainly shouldn’t be hooting and hollering in a restaurant when one team loses, and we shouldn’t wear hats and shirts that belittle the other side.
I am genuinely one of the rare people who has become completely neutral on the Cat-Griz Game. I grew up cheering for the Bobcats and celebrated the 1984 national title. Then I went to the University of Montana and celebrated the 1995 national crown.
So, I have long said that I will cheer for the team with the most Butte players on it. Until recently, that was always the Grizzlies.
This year, it is a tie at three. With Tommy playing quarterback, which is by far the most noticeable position, I will probably lean a little toward the Bobcats.
When Big Jake makes a great catch or Tanner makes a tackle, though, I might lean a little back the other way. If it comes down to a Casey boot, though, there is no question which way I’m rolling.
“Kicker” is my guy.
For the most part, though, I will just sit back and enjoy watching what promises to be a great game.
(Of course, now that Montana Tech has a home playoff game on Saturday, I will have to record the Cat-Griz Game.)
Now, everyone is going to fan how they want to fan, and nobody can make a diehard Bobcat fan to be happy for the Grizzlies.
But like Tommy said in his postgame interview last year in Bozeman, we should respect the other side. Even if you don’t like them, you should respect the effort that the other players are putting in to play at their best.
Without an opponent trying like heck to beat your team, the games wouldn’t be worth watching anyway.
Again, you can fan how you want to fan. But if you’re a Butte fan aggressively cheering against a team with Butte guys on it, you are doing it wrong. Way wrong.
If you are wearing some clothing with those three letters on it, well, maybe you should go to 5518 Designs and take my fashion advice.
The Red Sox hat is optional.
— Bill Foley, who is trying to come to terms with his past horrible fandom, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Nuggets, Montana Strom claim titles in Rock 3 on 3 League
The Nuggets and Montana Storm walked away with league titles Sunday as the Rock 3 on 3 Youth Basketball League at the Maroon Activities Center.
The Nuggets beat the Warriors in a 19-18 overtime thriller in the championship game of the league for boys in third and fourth grades.
Beau Benski, Cashton Schneider, Chase McQueary and Mason Ferko make up the championship team. Camden Rohan, Tucker Butiro, Tucker McIntyre and McCaul Wiley play for the Warriors.
Montana Storm beat Post UP Malone 15-10 in the championship game for boys in the fifth and sixth grade. Luke Baker, Owen Arthur, Riley Estes and Charlie Everett play for the Storm. Bridger Smyth, Cole O’Connor, Landon Wrampe, Trace Simon and Benny Donaldson make up Post Malone.
The Nets beat the Kings 13-11 to win the B championship in the older division. Mason McIntyre, Drew Kachmarik, Tevyn Berger and Andrew Osterman play for the Nets.
Click the link below for final standings and Sunday’s scores.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Hunter Boyle and Ellison Graham
Elks Hoop Shoot champions Hunter Boyle and Ellison Graham are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Weeks.
The honors come after they topped all shooters at the Nov. 4 Elks Hoop Shoot at the Maroon Activities Center. They will represent the Mining City at the District Competition Jan. 13 in Dillon.
The 8-year-old Boyle takes home the boys’ award after leading all shooters by making 21 of 25 shots. He won the boys’ 8-9 division title.
Boyle is a third grader at Butte Central. As a second grader, he played on a fourth-grade team for the Team UpTop Basketball Club. Even though he was undersized and younger than his teammates and opponents, Boyle played with a fearless style. He could score from inside and out.
Graham, who just turned 13 on Veterans Day, made 20 out of 25 shots to win the girls’ 12-13 division. Graham is a seventh grader at East Middle School.
Graham, who moved to Butte with her family a little more than a year ago, is also old hat to winning Hoop Shoots. She is now 5 for 5 in winning local competitions, shooting in Great Falls and now Butte.
In 2021, Graham won a national championship in Chicago. She placed fourth in 2022.
Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, teamed up with the ButteCast to honor the finest athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 