Big Sky Conference

Former players dedicate statue to Holland in front of Bobcat Stadium

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You’d be hard pressed to find someone associated with Montana State football that does not know Mr. Bobcat.

From the retired number 52 hanging outside the press box to the end-zone adorn with his name, Sonny Holland is widely recognized as the greatest Bobcat of them all. As with all things in life, even legacies fade with time. As reality grows into myth, sometimes those too young to share in a legacy first-hand need a reminder of what came before them.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Holland roamed the sidelines as MSU’s legendary head coach. It’s been exactly 40 years since Holland’s 1976 Bobcats claimed the Division II national championship. Holland has remained close to the program, traveling with the MSU team during the Rob Ash years and giving talks filled with wisdom to the current Bobcats during Jeff Choate’s first season this fall.

As memories fade, legends grow and Holland is sure to be never forgotten. Those who played for him during his seven seasons at the helm (1971-1977) remember the man with a reverence that has resonated for the last four decades, a respect so strong a group of them came together to honor ‘The Chief” with the ultimate tribute.

Saturday marks Homecoming at Montana State with the University of North Dakota coming to Bozeman to take on MSU in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams. The weekend also marks the 40th and 60th anniversary celebrations of the two national titles Holland played a key hand in bringing back to Bozeman.

To honor Holland, a group of former Bobcat players spearheaded by Brad Daws, Rick Vancleeve, Ron Ueland, Wayne Edwards, Bert Markovich, Paul Dennehy and Delmar Jones spent the last 10 months on a project that came to fruition on Friday night. At Bobcat Stadium, a collection of more than 200 onlookers including friends, family and MSU alumni gathered as a nearly 12-foot tall, nearly 4,000-pound bronze statue of Holland was unveiled.

Montana State unveiled of Bobcat legend Sonny Holland on Friday night/by Brooks Nuanez

Montana State unveiled of Bobcat legend Sonny Holland on Friday night/by Brooks Nuanez

“I hope the statue generates a discussion of who Sonny Holland is and what he stands for,” said Markovich, the captain of the 1976 Bobcats who has practiced law in Seattle since 1983. “I hope the younger generations can learn that a selfless individual who works hard and puts others before himself, the impact you can have on the lives of other people. In his unassuming way, he became legendary.”

The statue shows Holland depicted in his coaching years running, looking back wistfully at Bobcat Stadium. It is inscribed with his famous saying, ‘This is the time…This is the place…Go Cats!’ The statue is detailed right down to Holland’s wristwatch showing 1 p.m., the traditional kickoff during Holland’s coaching days.

“It’s our way of recognizing somebody who has influenced all of our lives,” Daws said. “Most of us would say, next to our fathers, he has been the most influential man in their lives. We wanted to leave something that is here long after any of us are gone. This is something that will stand the test of time and recognize the face of Bobcat football.”

Daws was an All-America defensive end who graduated in 1975 and still lives in Bozeman. Vancleeve was a two-time All-Big Sky defensive tackle who was a key cog as a sophomore for the ’76 ‘Cats who is now the head of the Bobcat Quarterback Club. Ueland was an All-America linebacker who graduated in 1973. Dennehy was a three-time All-Big Sky quarterback who led the 1976 Bobcats as a sophomore who now lives in Billings. Markovich was the senior captain for the 1976 Bobcats. Edwards was an All-Big Sky halfback who graduated in 1973. Jones was also a star tailback and a freshman of the 1976 national championship squad.

“The tribute is really impressive when you consider this is a group of guys he coached with and some that he played with that wanted to honor him,” Choate said. “It’s one of the really unique and cool things about this university is the connection to the past. For us to go anywhere, we have to make sure we know where we are coming from.”

Choate himself was only six years old the last time the 78-year-old Holland served as MSU’s head coach. Only three members of his staff — offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham, offensive line coach Brian Armstrong, special teams coordinator B.J. Robertson — were born before 1976. Choate’s players are generations removed from MSU’s last national title in 1984 let alone the glory days of MSU football when Holland led the Bobcats to the 1956 national title as a player and the ’76 championship, with MSU winning seven conference crowns in between.

Sonny Holland statue front 3:4“Sonny has spoken with our team a number of times and our kids are very educated on the history and tradition of what a great program this is,” Choate said. “We start every single meeting talking about how many years we’ve been playing football and how many championships have been won around here. Every single day, that’s the first thing we talk about. I think that’s important to have those guys engrained into them that it’s special to be a Bobcat and this is a very unique place.”

Vancleeve, a Montana State Hall of Fame inductee in 2014, took over the Quarterback Club duties from Doug Alexander a few years ago. He has worked closely with Choate since Choate became Montana State’s 32nd head coach in December of last year.

“One thing that Coach Choate has done a good job of is realizing there is a ton of history but it’s hard to see and we don’t have many things we have that people can identify with the tradition of Montana State,” Vancleeve said. “There’s nobody more important than Sonny Holland. It’s important his players get to see that. I know Coach Choate is ecstatic. He actually had me talk to the team about it so he could prep them when this day comes.

“The articles and speeches will say he hasn’t played here in 60 years and hasn’t played in 40 years. But if somebody thinks of Bobcat football today, they think of Sonny Holland. Now they will never be able to forget.”

The idea for the statue has been bouncing around as a topic of conversation among Holland’s former players for a few years, Daws said. The project really started gaining momentum in January of this year with weekly teleconferences between the group. Incrementally, they began making calls to former teammates who played for Holland, who won 47 games between 1971 and 1977 before stepping down to take a job in the alumni foundation for the next 15 years before retiring.

“It was so much fun because in some cases, you were talking to teammates you hadn’t talked to for 40 years,” Daws said. “These conversations would sometimes go on for hours. The thing that was so impressive is we did not approach one former player that didn’t say, in effect, not yes but hell yes.”

Sonny Holland with MSU president Waded Cruzado and Bert Markovich

Sonny Holland with MSU president Waded Cruzado and Bert Markovich

The group contracted Bigfork based bronze artist Ken Bjorge to construct the sculpture. Bjorge has constructed bronze sculptures since 1988, specializing in wildlife while contributing portrait commissions like Holland’s to colleges as well. Bjorge crafted the statue of coach Jim Owens at the University of Washington and Heisman trophy winning running back Earl Campbell at the University of Texas. Bjorge’s piece personifying Holland is nine and a half feet tall and the steel base donated by Sletten Construction pushes the structure to almost 12 feet tall.

“He had done marvelous pieces across the country and the fact that he was a Montana artist really made it a no-brainer,” Daws said.

During Friday’s ceremony, Markovich served as the emcee. Montana State athletic director Leon Costello gave a three-minute address, calling Holland “a living legend” and giving synopsis of Holland’s standout career.

“When Sonny talks, you can hear a pin drop,” Costello said. “There’s many reasons for this respect. Maybe it’s his incredible record against that other school over the mountain, his knowledge for the game he loves, his passion for Montana State University and Bobcat athletics, his selflessness, his sincerity, or maybe it’s his sense of humor. I, like many, it’s not one of these things alone but a combination of all of them.”

Holland gave a speech before unveiling the statue to the delight of those in attendance. MSU President Waded Cruzado also gave her remarks, praising Holland’s abilities as an unwavering ambassador for MSU over the last six decades.

“The first night I heard this man talk, I was hanging on every word,” Cruzado said. “There’s something about Sonny and his use of words. There’s something about the reality he brings to us but more important, there’s something he inspires in us to stretch, to aspire to greatness, to accomplish the impossible. That’s why he is such a beloved figure and the greatest Bobcat of all.”

IMG_1320Before he was the greatest Bobcat of all time, Holland first made his name as the Grizzly killer. Holland made a living out of beating the University of Montana both as a player and a coach, a triumph that formed the foundation of a football career filled with storied success. As a freshman center and middle linebacker out of Butte High School. Holland starred on Montana State College’s 1956 national championship team. He went on to earn All-America honors three times and defeat Montana four consecutive times as a player.

Holland returned to his alma mater as the head coach in 1971. By 1977, he owned a national title as a coach and six more victories against the Grizzlies. All told, he posted 10 wins in 11 outings against UM, part of a successful career that included three total Big Sky Conference titles, two national championships and 81 total victories before he abruptly walked away from the profession at the age of 39.

The coaching tree he left behind only enhanced Holland’s greatness as a Bobcat. Sonny Lubick took over for Holland in 1978, leading the team to its first-ever No. 1 ranking. In 1979, Lubick led the Bobcats to their seventh Big Sky Conference championship since 1963. He would go on to great fame as the defensive coordinator for Dennis Erickson’s national championship teams at Miami. Erickson and Cliff Hysell also coached on the staff; Erickson would go on to big-time college football and NFL notoriety while Hysell was MSU’s head coach from 1992 until 1999.

“He was tough but fair-minded,” Daws said. “I don’t know if this was the Butte upbringing, but he really demanded physicality and toughness. On defense, he demanded we played hard and fast. We had to compete for playing time every single practice. Nothing was guaranteed, even if you were all-conference the year before or an All-American. You had to compete for playing time. That transparency of knowing what was expected of you as a college athlete influenced all of us.

“I hope we are doing him service by honoring him because he is a man of honesty and integrity.”

Sonny Holland

Holland was recognized as an all-time great the moment he stepped off the field as a player for the final time. The Mining City product was a three-time All-America selection as a center and his No. 52 jersey was immediately returned after the final buzzer of his last game in 1959. He’s been in Montana State’s Hall of Fame for 30 years and this past summer, he was an inaugural inductee for the recently created Montana Football Hall of Fame. In 2011, MSU did an $11 million renovation on Bobcat Stadium, adding 7,200 seats in the south end-zone and naming it for Holland.

“The lessons learned from the man, the way he coached, Coach Holland made you believe in yourself and he believed in you,” Markovich said. “He was such a strong presence, this big man, the best football player who ever played for Montana State but there was this gentleness and this humility. He always deferred the credit to the players and the assistants. He was a hell of a guy and you never wanted to disappoint him. You would play your guts out for you because you knew he genuinely cared for you. Playing for him was one of the high points of my life.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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