The Amazing History of 1897 Montana Football??

Starting with some background — the very first college football game was played in Brunswick, New Jersey on November 6, 1869. Just four years after the end of the Civil War.

Rutgers beat New Jersey (Princeton today) by a score of 6–4 as about a hundred face painted, pennant waving, rabid fans looked on.

Custer’s Last Stand took place on June 25, 1876, just 7 years after the first football game.

Some Brief Montana History for Perspective

Montana became a state on November 8, 1889, again 20 years after the first college football game.

And 13 years after Custer’s last words, “Don’t take any prisoners.”

Sorry an old Montana joke. Don’t get me started on North Dakota jokes.

The Custer Battlefield is just down the road from me. Well, 150 miles down the road

College Football Finally Arrives in Montana

The first college football game in Montana occurred on September 15, 1895, when the Butte Football Club defeated Iowa State 12–10 in Butte.

Let that sink in for a minute. How exactly did Iowa State get to Montana in 1895?

They didn’t fly, didn’t take the bus, I doubt Montana had electricity yet.

It had to take at least a week on the Oregon Trail by covered wagon to even get to Butte. We’re talking 1,144.5 miles.

And we’re talking about Montana — with 10 months of snow and two months of soggy sledding.

Slightly different than Iowa. Plus, you’d have to cross the mountains of the Continental Divide of about 10,000 feet above sea level.

And why would you go that far for a football game to begin with?

They would have had to use the Internet of the day — the telegraph — to even pick a date.

Who in their right mind would even think about doing this?

And to add to the Iowa State 12–10 loss Pop Warner the coach of Iowa St. had bet heavily on his team, but he did eventually man up and settled with his bookie.

No NCAA rules back then. Betting on anything in Montana was as natural as breathing.

To break it down college football has been played in Montana for over 125 years.

Before paved roads, electricity, before radio, before automobiles, air conditioning, before WWI and WWII.

The Brawl of the Wild

The yearly game between the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman and the University of Montana Grizzlies in Missoula is called, “The Brawl of the Wild.”

A giant trophy goes with it.

For perspective it’s about six hours by car to go from Bozeman to Missoula.

The very first Brawl of the Wild was played on November 26, 1897. University of Montana won by a score of 18–6.

MSU won the next two years in a row with shutouts.

No season in 2020 because of Covid. First time in over 125 years these two teams didn’t play.

Some Final Thoughts

Who needs an NFL team of overpaid prima donnas when you have this kind of football history?

The University of Montana has played 1,147 football games and won 616 of them with 26 ties.

Montana State has played 945 games and won 456 with 32 ties

We may not be Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State or Notre Dame but we love our history and all the things that happened both before and after football in Montana.

Go MSU Bobcats — and throwing up in my mouth a little — Go U of M Griz.

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