Four Montana legends honored at 2024 Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame banquet

MISSOULA — Friday night at the Adams Center, the past was honored and celebrated for the University of Montana as UM held its Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame banquet.

Hosted by UM radio voice Riley Corcoran and put on by many inside and out of the athletic department, four former Griz legends saw their names enshrined forever in Montana athletics.

Kelly (Pilcher) Beattie became the ninth former Lady Griz to be inducted int the hall of fame, as the Missoula native returned home to be celebrated for her decorated Grizzly career in the early 1990s.

“I was so lucky and blessed to get this opportunity to play here,” she said. “And I played on some amazing teams. I mean, that’s why I’m here. It’s because my teams were amazing. I had amazing teammates. So it’s been fun to think back to some of those days because it was just a blessing and a lot of fun.”

Three former football standouts rounded out the group, which included Scott Gurnsey, Colt Anderson and Dylan McFarland. UM’s longest serving president George Dennison was also posthumously honored with the Grizzly Lifetime Honors Award for his decades of support for Grizzly Athletics and its student-athletes.

Anderson’s impact is legendary at Montana. A Butte native who walked on for the Grizzlies in the mid 2000s and who blossomed into one of the most decorated and well-known players in program history, Anderson went on to play in the NFL where he currently coaches as the special teams coordinator for the Tennessee Titans.

“It really is truly special, you know, like the names I’ve mentioned, Dave Dickenson, Tim Hauck, those are guys I grew up watching, and they were really, you know, my role models, but superheroes at the same time,” Anderson said. “I didn’t think I’d ever be in the same category as them. And so, extremely honored to be here.”

Kalispell native Dylan McFarland was a standout on the offensive line in the early 2000s for the Grizzlies, and helped lead the team to the 2001 national championship before also embarking on a NFL career and then completing his law degree at UM as well.

“You start having these thoughts about the people that got you where you are in your life, and to actually sit down and reflect on what that means,” McFarland said. “My seventh, eighth, ninth grade basketball coach, who taught me so much about things, and just all the people that helped me. My parents, my brother, my sister, you know, like they gave up their time, gave up money for me to play. It’s pretty spectacular. And so I’m excited to be here in celebration for everyone.”

To round it out, Gurnsey was also an early 1990s star for Montana before going on to be a longtime radio voice for Griz fans after his playing days.

Gurnsey was one of the pioneers of what fans think of in modern Grizzly football, and his standout play, especially against rival Montana State, was one of many that helped lay the groundwork for the program.

“It’s a brotherhood. And even guys that I didn’t play with, guys that I’ve never met, it’s almost like, you see somebody in another state, and you instantly have that bond and that connection,” Gurnsey said. “It’s like your long lost friends, and that’s a pretty cool thing. And I think that University of Montana, they’re not alone in that, but find me somewhere better.”