Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

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JDoub
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Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by JDoub » Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:25 pm

Maybe it's b/c of no Bobcat football this fall, maybe I'm just getting old. I just received my Alumni magazine, read the article on Dane Fletcher & The Pitt. One quote caught me flooding with memories. "Fletcher said that while was growing up all he wanted to do was become a Bobcat. Under the bleachers of Bobcat Stadium, he would play football with friends as the sounds of fans rumbled overhead." I think this was a tradition. Now those bleachers are gone, but so many memories remain.

My family moved to Bozeman when I was 6 years old, just in time to start kindergarten at Longfellow Elementary. We moved in to a house on S. Grand just a couple blocks from Reno H. Sales stadium. When my dad got promoted 10 years later and we moved to Butte, I had a fully developed Bobcat blue & gold bloodline. At least I have a shared experience with Fletcher: our pack of friends would play football under the bleachers at every Bobcat home game. When we heard the crowd roar, we'd rush up to see what was happening, and if we caught the play, we would re-enact it several times - arguing over who would be Paul Dennehy, Delmar Jones, Stu Dodds, Bill Kolar, etc. etc. I, and we, dreamed of being a Bobcat on that field one day. We drew pictures of Bill Kolar in our 4th grade class, that would be displayed at a Booster breakfast.

Crazy thing is, some of us became Bobcats! None of us quite like Fletcher, but great times. What a privilege to wear blue & gold. The guys I remember from that pack:

Mark D'Agostino - great Bobcat LB, very talented athlete (like Fletcher), started a Bobcat legacy
Kurt Ostermiller - became a Bobcat punter
Matt Spain - walked on at MSU, gave it a shot
The Bush brothers - one of them (Jeff? Andrew?) played football at SMU
Steve Ward - MSU ROTC, Army guy just in time for Desert Storm
Jason Martel - of what became Martel Field
Mike Delaney - became a Griz, his dad coached both Bobcats and Griz, great guys really
Craig Alexander - Dean's son
I know there's more guys that I can't remember at the moment
and I remember a kid a couple years younger than us who was a stud and future NFL'er, his sister Shelly Collins was in our class

So when coaches Dan Davies & Mike Kramer presented an offer to me at our house in Butte, I was a bit numb, surreal. I would be a Bobcat. Which I was - for a little over a year, until my knee just couldn't stand up to it anymore (patellar tendon). There were so many players like me - sometimes nostalgia is all we have.

I can't help but think 'how many kids played football under the bleachers' with the same dreams over the decades.

To those privileged enough to be current Bobcats - work like hell each day and cherish every moment! You'll have stories and memories when you turn 50! And to all those kids dreaming - keep playing, working, and dreaming. One of you will be then next Dane Fletcher. Godspeed



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by ilovethecats » Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:34 pm

Add me to the list of kids who played behind the bleachers. Amazing memories. Almost died a couple of times.....



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by wbtfg » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:22 pm

JDoub wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:25 pm
Maybe it's b/c of no Bobcat football this fall, maybe I'm just getting old. I just received my Alumni magazine, read the article on Dane Fletcher & The Pitt. One quote caught me flooding with memories. "Fletcher said that while was growing up all he wanted to do was become a Bobcat. Under the bleachers of Bobcat Stadium, he would play football with friends as the sounds of fans rumbled overhead." I think this was a tradition. Now those bleachers are gone, but so many memories remain.

My family moved to Bozeman when I was 6 years old, just in time to start kindergarten at Longfellow Elementary. We moved in to a house on S. Grand just a couple blocks from Reno H. Sales stadium. When my dad got promoted 10 years later and we moved to Butte, I had a fully developed Bobcat blue & gold bloodline. At least I have a shared experience with Fletcher: our pack of friends would play football under the bleachers at every Bobcat home game. When we heard the crowd roar, we'd rush up to see what was happening, and if we caught the play, we would re-enact it several times - arguing over who would be Paul Dennehy, Delmar Jones, Stu Dodds, Bill Kolar, etc. etc. I, and we, dreamed of being a Bobcat on that field one day. We drew pictures of Bill Kolar in our 4th grade class, that would be displayed at a Booster breakfast.

Crazy thing is, some of us became Bobcats! None of us quite like Fletcher, but great times. What a privilege to wear blue & gold. The guys I remember from that pack:

Mark D'Agostino - great Bobcat LB, very talented athlete (like Fletcher), started a Bobcat legacy
Kurt Ostermiller - became a Bobcat punter
Matt Spain - walked on at MSU, gave it a shot
The Bush brothers - one of them (Jeff? Andrew?) played football at SMU
Steve Ward - MSU ROTC, Army guy just in time for Desert Storm
Jason Martel - of what became Martel Field
Mike Delaney - became a Griz, his dad coached both Bobcats and Griz, great guys really
Craig Alexander - Dean's son
I know there's more guys that I can't remember at the moment
and I remember a kid a couple years younger than us who was a stud and future NFL'er, his sister Shelly Collins was in our class

So when coaches Dan Davies & Mike Kramer presented an offer to me at our house in Butte, I was a bit numb, surreal. I would be a Bobcat. Which I was - for a little over a year, until my knee just couldn't stand up to it anymore (patellar tendon). There were so many players like me - sometimes nostalgia is all we have.

I can't help but think 'how many kids played football under the bleachers' with the same dreams over the decades.

To those privileged enough to be current Bobcats - work like hell each day and cherish every moment! You'll have stories and memories when you turn 50! And to all those kids dreaming - keep playing, working, and dreaming. One of you will be then next Dane Fletcher. Godspeed
This is such a great post. It gave me goosebumps. Thanks for sharing!



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by Hi-Line Bobcat » Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:29 pm

I loved playing football at football games when I was little. We used to play “smear the queer” and if you played with older kids it was a blood bath. Now days kids hardly during games, granted it’s hard at Bobcat stadium now, either because they stopped letting them due to fear of kids getting hurt or kids don’t want to anymore.Beyond that, I think technology such as smart phones have totally turned kids off of playing tackle football at games. Hell we used to go out at halftime of the high school games and play, it was the highlight of the week, absolutely loved it.


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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by Cats15 » Wed Oct 21, 2020 8:28 am

+1 Playing football behind the grandstands! I also would walk around under the endzone bleachers hoping someone dropped a dollar bill :)... I would walk in with my parents and then not see them for the rest of the game. I also remember the old band stand further back in that corner that, as kids, we would run around on. ( I am not old enough to remember when the band actually used it)



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by Bobcat4Ever » Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:49 pm

Anyone remember running around under the original folding bleachers in the Fieldhouse? Our big reward was finding dimes — as the smallest coin they seemed to have fallen through the cracks most often. I found like six in one day and I thought I was set for life. Little did I know it would take fifty more years to collect enough dimes.



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by AFCAT » Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:25 pm

I don't have any interesting stories to tell of my youth at Reno, but I heard a remarkable one from my brother.

My brother has a friend who went to four years of school at MSU in the late 1980s and graduated. His friend even sent two children to MSU. My brother invited his friend to a football game last season. His friend was excited to attend the game but didn't know where the stadium was located and asked him for directions. :shock: :( ](*,)


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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by FTG247365 » Wed Oct 21, 2020 2:29 pm

Bobcat4Ever wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:49 pm
Anyone remember running around under the original folding bleachers in the Fieldhouse? Our big reward was finding dimes — as the smallest coin they seemed to have fallen through the cracks most often. I found like six in one day and I thought I was set for life. Little did I know it would take fifty more years to collect enough dimes.
The floor was either wet or sticky from spilled pop. The your shoe would stick or squeak when you walk around.



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by ilovethecats » Wed Oct 21, 2020 2:57 pm

AFCAT wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:25 pm
I don't have any interesting stories to tell of my youth at Reno, but I heard a remarkable one from my brother.

My brother has a friend who went to four years of school at MSU in the late 1980s and graduated. His friend even sent two children to MSU. My brother invited his friend to a football game last season. His friend was excited to attend the game but didn't know where the stadium was located and asked him for directions. :shock: :( ](*,)
:lol:



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by 94VegasCat » Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:19 pm

Spent many Saturday afternoons running around under those old end zone bleachers. I had a pretty healthy respect for walking around on top of them as well. Always felt like a misstep would send me tumbling to the ground below. Playing catch with then first year Head Coach, Stu Starner is one of my fondest memories.


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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by JDoub » Thu Oct 22, 2020 10:23 am

ilovethecats wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:34 pm
Add me to the list of kids who played behind the bleachers. Amazing memories. Almost died a couple of times.....
and that's the way it was ...... feeling close to death
94VegasCat wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:19 pm
Spent many Saturday afternoons running around under those old end zone bleachers. I had a pretty healthy respect for walking around on top of them as well. Always felt like a misstep would send me tumbling to the ground below. Playing catch with then first year Head Coach, Stu Starner is one of my fondest memories.
ditto - and Stu Starner was a warm individual. We worked out in the fieldhouse for winter conditioning quite a bit, and Coach Starner always called me by name, and asked me how school is going, how my family is doing, etc, and I played football. Not even the football coaches did that (Kramer was my position coach, Dave Arnold HC) except Dan Davies.
Hi-Line Bobcat wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:29 pm
I loved playing football at football games when I was little. We used to play “smear the queer” and if you played with older kids it was a blood bath. Now days kids hardly during games, granted it’s hard at Bobcat stadium now, either because they stopped letting them due to fear of kids getting hurt or kids don’t want to anymore.Beyond that, I think technology such as smart phones have totally turned kids off of playing tackle football at games. Hell we used to go out at halftime of the high school games and play, it was the highlight of the week, absolutely loved it.
agreed. and if there wasn't blood, you weren't doing it right. My dad got tired of giving me his handkerchief, and told be to bring a towel "just in case there's blood"
Bobcat4Ever wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:49 pm
Anyone remember running around under the original folding bleachers in the Fieldhouse? Our big reward was finding dimes — as the smallest coin they seemed to have fallen through the cracks most often. I found like six in one day and I thought I was set for life. Little did I know it would take fifty more years to collect enough dimes.
I do remember collecting sticky coins, soaking them clean, and adding them to the coins I stole from my sister's tips she made at JB's Big Boy - that was my arcade money :cry:



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Re: Nostalgia, Reno H Sales, Fletcher

Post by Cataholic » Fri Oct 23, 2020 10:36 am

JDoub wrote:
Thu Oct 22, 2020 10:23 am
ilovethecats wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:34 pm
Add me to the list of kids who played behind the bleachers. Amazing memories. Almost died a couple of times.....
and that's the way it was ...... feeling close to death
94VegasCat wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:19 pm
Spent many Saturday afternoons running around under those old end zone bleachers. I had a pretty healthy respect for walking around on top of them as well. Always felt like a misstep would send me tumbling to the ground below. Playing catch with then first year Head Coach, Stu Starner is one of my fondest memories.
ditto - and Stu Starner was a warm individual. We worked out in the fieldhouse for winter conditioning quite a bit, and Coach Starner always called me by name, and asked me how school is going, how my family is doing, etc, and I played football. Not even the football coaches did that (Kramer was my position coach, Dave Arnold HC) except Dan Davies.
Hi-Line Bobcat wrote:
Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:29 pm
I loved playing football at football games when I was little. We used to play “smear the queer” and if you played with older kids it was a blood bath. Now days kids hardly during games, granted it’s hard at Bobcat stadium now, either because they stopped letting them due to fear of kids getting hurt or kids don’t want to anymore.Beyond that, I think technology such as smart phones have totally turned kids off of playing tackle football at games. Hell we used to go out at halftime of the high school games and play, it was the highlight of the week, absolutely loved it.
agreed. and if there wasn't blood, you weren't doing it right. My dad got tired of giving me his handkerchief, and told be to bring a towel "just in case there's blood"
Bobcat4Ever wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:49 pm
Anyone remember running around under the original folding bleachers in the Fieldhouse? Our big reward was finding dimes — as the smallest coin they seemed to have fallen through the cracks most often. I found like six in one day and I thought I was set for life. Little did I know it would take fifty more years to collect enough dimes.
I do remember collecting sticky coins, soaking them clean, and adding them to the coins I stole from my sister's tips she made at JB's Big Boy - that was my arcade money :cry:
They don’t allow kids to bring footballs into the stadium anymore.🤷‍♂️



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