The biggest play of Montana State’s 1976 Division II National Championship season, when the Bobcat steamrolled over opponents with 281.1 rushing yards a game, might have been a wobbly pass.
Tight end Butch Damberger, then a sophomore with two First Team All-Big Sky awards in his future, remembers how the halfback pass that he caught from Don Ueland looked as it tumbled through the Texas sky toward the end zone during the second quarter of the 1976 Pioneer Bowl in Wichita Falls, Tex.
"It wasn't the prettiest pass ever, by any means," Damberger laughs. "As I remember, it was wobbly, kind of an end-over-ender. I just stood there and waited for the ball, and when it finally got there I was able to catch it."
Sonny Holland, then MSU's all-time winningest head coach who piloted that '76 championship run, has the same memory. "It wasn't a beautiful thing, except that it got there, and it did what it was designed to do."
The touchdown catch by Damberger, a Cut Bank native who was an MSU assistant 11 years, gave MSU a 14-0 lead going into halftime of the NCAA Division II National Championship Game.
"I remember that we were pretty confident going into the game, and with each play became more and more confident," said MSU cornerback Ron Muri, now a Billings businessman. "I remember that by halftime we knew that we could get this done."
Montana State was able to parlay that halfback pass and a field goal by Jeff Muri early in the third quarter into an insurmountable lead, which resulted in the second Bobcat national championship in football but the first by a member of the Big Sky Conference. That historic achievement stands fourth on the list of all-time memorable moments in league history.
While the team felt like underdogs throughout the season, Montana State had the air of a championship contender from the beginning. The Bobcats topped North Dakota 18-14 in Grand Forks, then returned home to drill North Dakota State 34-7. MSU was not done with the Bison, but a week later the Cats tasted defeat for the only time during the Bicentennial year, a 24-10 loss at Fresno State.
Old-timers around Bozeman gleefully tell tales of the rivalry between Montana State and Boise State, the Big Sky’s top two programs of the era, during the 1970s. Either the Cats or BSU won every Big Sky title from 1972-77, and only once from 1971 to 1981 did one of the two teams not finish as high as second. MSU never beat the Broncos in Boise until 1993, when Cliff Hysell, an assistant coach in 1976, led the Cats to victory.
But the ’76 contest was in Reno H. Sales Stadium, and it was a thriller. Montana State’s 14-0 halftime lead seemed safe, but BSU fought back. With MSU clinging to a 21-20 lead Les Leininger recorded a sack on a two-point conversion try to preserve the lead. Jeff Muri’s 35-yard field goal late in the game preserved the win, and MSU had set the course for a championship season.
With Boise State in MSU’s rear view mirror, the Bobcats flipped on the cruise control. The Bobcats pounded Weber State 44-0, drilled Idaho State 28-7, were never really challenged by Idaho in a 29-14 win, then sputtered offensively for the first 30 minutes before dusting the Grizzlies 21-12. MSU wrapped up the program’s sixth Big Sky championship in 13 seasons with a 33-0 demolition of NAU.
The post-season beckoned, but first the Bobcats had to take care of some business in the tropics. Slated to close the regular season against Hawaii in Aloha Stadium, Montana State took control of the contest against the highly favored Rainbow Warriors in the second quarter when Tom Kostrba rambled 20 yards to give MSU a 14-7 second-quarter lead, then Keith Swenson all but sealed the game with a four-yard run before the half ended. Kostrba struck again in the third quarter, and the Bobcats played keep-away in the second half to coast to a 28-7 win.
The Bobcats opened the NCAA Division II Playoffs with a narrow 17-16 win over New Hampshire in Bozeman. The Wildcats had a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but UNH missed an extra point. Stunningly, the same scenario would play out in 2011, when Steven Bethley deflected a New Hampshire PAT in the final minute of the game to preserve a 26-25 Montana State playoff win. Even more unlikely was the fact that Wildcats coach Sean McDonnell was a member of UNH’s 1976 team.
A week later, the Bobcats would travel to the frigid northern plains to face North Dakota State in the Grantland Rice Bowl, which doubled as a Division II semifinal contest. The brutal cold was complicated by a blasting wind, but it didn’t matter to MSU’s ball control offense. The Cats rushed for 174 yards and Damberger caught a touchdown pass – this one from the quarterback, Paul Dennehy – on the only play of the day to cross the goal line. Montana State beat NDSU 10-3, the team’s second win of the year over the Bison, which sent the Bobcats to Wichita Falls, Tex., for the national championship contest.
One of the most memorable aspects of the '76 National Championship Game is that it was easier for the Bobcats to qualify
for the game than it was for the team to get there.
"We were at the airport waiting for the flight, when there was a problem with the charter," said Damberger. "So we turned around and went back to the Fieldhouse to practice."
"We had a series of problems with flights, starting with the Hawaii game (a 28-7 Bobcat win in the regular season finale), so going back to the Fieldhouse to practice was not a big thing," Holland said. "Those kids really didn't let anything shake them up. They knew that if they were on time for the kickoff nothing was a big thing."
Arnie Sgalio, Montana State's SID at the time and the league’s long-time director of information who eventually served as an executive with ESPN Regional Television for nearly two decades, said that attitude was a tribute to the coaching staff.
"That team had travelled a lot that year, it had logged some miles," said Sgalio, who would serve as the Big Sky Conference Information Director for nearly two decades after leaving Bozeman. "That was a good team, it just didn't beat itself. But I really remember the coaches. That was a great coaching staff. Sonny Holland of course was the head coach, and Don Christensen and Sonny Lubick and Howard Ross and Cliff Hysell were the assistants. It was really a classy outfit. They had a very businesslike attitude. Nothing bothered them."
The Bobcats took control of that game early. Paul Dennehy threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Ron McCullough early in the second quarter, then Damberger's catch later in that period gave MSU a considerable amount of momentum.
"Then they made a run at us," Holland said. After Muri's field goal, Akron scored 13 straight points to narrow the margin to 17-13. "But I don't think their guys were as prepared for a championship game as ours were," Holland said. "They were going up to Division I, and they thought they had better personnel and better depth, and I'm not sure they didn't. But I don't think they were as prepared."
Muri has no doubt which group of players turned the game in MSU's direction. "Our offensive line was dominant," he said.
"I believe, and I think Coach Holland would agree, that it was the best offensive line in Montana State history." Sgalio remembers an incident in the press box that tells the tale of that game. "Akron's SID was Ken McDonald, and he said to me at one point, 'I thought your running backs were slow.' And I said, 'Ken, we're killing you up front.' And that was true. Montana State was able to run the ball at will. Our running backs were good, but the holes were huge."
Rick Vancleeve, a defensive lineman on the '76 National Championship squad, remembers well MSU's domination in the trenches. "We didn't have nearly as much speed as them, but it came down to them not being as physical as us. Our offensive line basically won the game, and got to where they were overpowering their guys."
"Howard Ross coached those kids (in the offensive line)," Holland says, "and they were really well-schooled. They knew what their assignments were, they knew exactly what they were supposed to do, and they got to the point where they developed into a dominant offensive line. Plus, there was great senior leadership there."
A Bobcat offensive lineman, guard Lee Washburn from Bozeman, was involved in one of the game's most memorable moments. "Tommy Kostrba scored a touchdown that pretty much put it out of reach," Vancleeve recalled. "He handed the ball to Lee Washburn, and Washburn spiked the ball and took the penalty." "The most shocked people in the stadium were me and the coaches," said Holland, who nearly four decades later continues to travel with the Bobcats at the behest of current head coach Rob Ash. "They'd worked that out ahead of time, and knew that the game was out of reach. It just wasn't the kind of thing those kids would do, but looking back on it now we can laugh about it."
Another memorable incident happened after the game, when an ABC announcer interviewed defensive lineman Les Leininger, and All-America from Westby. The question was how his eight-man football background helped him prepare for a moment like he'd just experienced. "Well," Leininger replied, "they give you the ball and you run your ass off." "He was being honest," Holland laughs.
One of the most memorable moments of the entire post-season came when the Bobcats stepped off the airplane at Gallatin Field. "My most vivid memory is Sonny stepping off that plane and holding up the trophy for all of our fans to see," Vancleeve said.
"The hair on the back of my neck still stands up when I think about that," Holland said. "That was a special moment."
nd it's one that hasn't been forgotten, according to Muri. "The guys from that team are still so close," Muri said. "We get together each fall. That's why I look forward to football season so much, getting to see all of those guys at Bobcat games. It was a special thing.
