By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
The tragic passing of former Lady Griz star Julie Deming hit Lady Griz Nation hard. Deming was one of the fan favorites from 1999-2004. Deming was recruited to UM during the 1998-99 season when the Lady Griz were playing at the Sentinel Gym. Deming had many clutch performances in her UM career, but none quite as clutch as when she hit a last second shot to give UM a win over Providence in the 2001 Lady Griz Classic. Deming and Brooklyn Lorentzen led the Lady Griz in a dramatic battle against Louisiana Tech in the Opening round of the 2004 NCAA tournament at Dahlberg Arena. Julie Deming has the rare distinction of having played in two Robin Selvig Milestone games. As a true freshman Deming turned in some clutch minutes as the Lady Griz beat Boise giving Coach Selvig his 500th win. In 2004 Deming ignited the Lady Griz as they closed out the regular season with a rout of Portland State as the coach secured his 600th win at Montana.
It was 40 years ago that the inaugural River Bank Run was held. The event was the brainchild of Missoula Businessman and future Mayor Bill Cregg. The original route of the race was from Bonner to downtown Missoula
Also forty years ago this week in Palm Springs California the battle of the Sexes in sports brought the world tennis hustler and former contender Bobby Riggs who was 55 at the time. Riggs was matched up against top women’s pro Margaret Court Smith. Court-Smith was rounding back into competitive shape after taking time off for the birth of her first child. Riggs easily defeated Court-Smith temporary grabbing the tennis spotlight.
In 2013 the Green Bay Packers will once again be playing on the road this Thanksgiving in Detroit against the Lions. Another team from the home of the “Cheese heads” will be on the road for a game Thanksgiving Day. The Phoenix of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay will be taking a longer trip than their football counterparts. The Phoenix will be off to Alaska to participate in the Great Alaska Shootout.
What do the New York Yankees and the University of Montana football and baseball programs have in common? Both the Griz and the Yanks hold number “37” in high regards. While 37 are worn each season by a specially selected player for the Yankees “37” has been retired. The Yankees choose to retire “37” in honor of Casey Stengel who took the Yankees to 7 world title and 10 World Series in 12 seasons. As proof of the adage “All Managers were hired to be fired” Stengel was let go after the 1960 season as management felt he was too old.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.