Custer County District High School Football Hall of Fame

Theoretically speaking lets play a game. We have no football hall of fame but if we did who would be your choice and why. It could be coaches, player, administrators, alumni, and boosters anyone that has given of them selves to promote the game of football in Miles City. Remember no arguing just state your favorites and why-it is not a contest just a promotion of Cowboy Football and the great people that made it what it is today. Oh, and no current player we do not want to give them bigger heads than they already have.

Criteria- do we need any? All staters, two-time all staters, college players. I think those are good places to start but will indefinitely leave people out. Remember Hershel Walker is arguably one of the greatest College running backs but not nearly as good as a pro. Unless you are a Dallas Cowboy fan and count that horrible trade as a great pro career.

Lets stay with Cowboy Football only. We can make other posts for girl's basketball and Sacred Heart Football (of which there were some tremendous athletes- Kenny Lang).

My first inductee into the Cowboy Hall would be Bunky Thomas.
Why? Because he was a black man playing in a white world and endured tremendous racism. Not to mention that he was a great Football player.

1. Bunky Thomas

The other would be Bob Jauron. Why? Because he treated his black athlete no differently than any other player and he brought Cowboy Football to new heights and expectations. The same type of expectations that are still alive today.

2. Bob Jauron

Hil..plant. I remember Jerry talking about that year and the let down of the system. You guys were good.

Brock "Boogie" Schneider-Nose Guard 85,86. As a junior he was the nose that destroyed the blocking schemes of opponents. As a senior he was all state defensive tackle and played where ever he was needed. He also coached a few all staters during the 90's. Partridge states that he was the best that he ever coached.

"Boogie" Good choice

Were any of the "Kale" brothers standouts? Travis? Trent? Trevor? Tristin?

What about Justin Dighans? I know he went to state wrestling (along with Jim Sanderson) a lot but I'm not sure on football.

Don't throw stuff at me for mentioning kickers, but didn't we have a kicker that was lights out back in the early 90's? (leave the REAL football player comments be lol) kickers are players too.

Kicker: I have a nomination for that...

Colin Vadheim comes to mind. He was the punter in the Mon-Dak all-star game back in '96 and I believe he played college ball at Southern Methodist. He perfected his kicking skills by way of his black belt status in his fathers' Taekwondo class.

Shu - Colin Vadheim was an outstanding kicker, but that's all he did - in games, in practice - ever.

Yes, kickers are "real" football players, but no more than "real" football players who do more than one thing.

I'll take Jeff Muri (who did everything) or even Taylor Harris, who was an outstanding receiver and defensive back in addition to being very nearly the kicker Vadheim was.

Justin Kercheck(Sp) was a good kicker, maybe not HOF but a cool guy too

Ther was someone named Bobby that I played in 82, 83 great linebacker. Tore peoples heads off. Probaly has better than Mr. Baker(and he was good)

Scott -

Are you thinking of Bob Elliot? He was honorable mention AC in 1982 and 2nd team in 1983 at linebacker. I didn't see Mr. Elliot play, but he would be very hard-pressed to be a better linebacker than Joe Baker.

As far as selections for the Cowboy HOF, my next nominee would be my good friend Mark Brubaker (1992-94), who was a two-time all-conference selection (and 1st team AS in 1994) at guard. Best lineman I ever played alongside or against.

What about the Venable Boys- Ryan(snapper)Venable & his little brother Warren was not only a great linebacker but a outstanding tailback who only ran his last 6 games and had a ton of yards.
Can anyone tell me the tolal yards Warren had his last year.

Warren Venable's stats from 1993 were as follows:

Rushing - 100-605-8
Receiving - 13-109-0

He was primarily a wideout in 1992 and caught 25 passes for 314 yards and 4 TDs as the team's leading receiver.

Brian,

Didn't Taylor Harris pretty much break all of Vadheim's kicking records? I know he set the record for most consecutive PATs his junior year (31 I believe) and he also set the record for most field goals over 40 yards his senior season. The most memorable kick was a 47 yarder in the state semifinals. It was 20 degrees that day. It must have been like kicking a block of ice.

Taylor had the potential to kick for a D-1 level team. I know Colorado State asked him to walk on. Taylor would routinely kick 55 yard field goals in practice. But Taylor wanted an opportunity to play reciever as well as kicker and Rocky was the best option for that. Its too bad he didn't focus solely on kicking. He might be in Dan Carpenter's shoes right now.

stone. The funny thing was we were widly expected to win the title that year but we didnt and we graduated 26 seniors. Thats usually devestating to a program and thus the next year was supposed to be a rebuilding year. They forgot to tell the juniors comming the next year that same thing. And what do ya know they went on to win the title. My brother was in that group also. damn him..

Didn't Taylor Harris pretty much break all of Vadheim's kicking records? I know he set the record for most consecutive PATs his junior year (31 I believe) and he also set the record for most field goals over 40 yards his senior season. The most memorable kick was a 47 yarder in the state semifinals. It was 20 degrees that day. It must have been like kicking a block of ice.

Yes and no. He broke a few of them. Some of Vadheim's may never be touched, however.

Harris' stats:

2002 - 32-34 PAT (94.1%), 0-1 FG, 32 pts.
2003 - 33-44 PAT (75.0%), 8-12 FG (66.7%), 57 pts (plus 12-233-1 receiving and a team-leading 10 passes defensed at DB)

Career - 65-78 PAT (83.3%), 8-13 FG (61.5%), 89 pts

He holds the Cowboy records for longest field goal (47 yards vs. Havre in the 2003 semifinal game - which was cold, but not nearly as cold as the 2002 semifinal in Havre - NOT FUN). He also has the second-longest FG (a 45-yarder vs. Sheridan) and the fourth-longest FG (44-yarder, also against Sheridan). He had three FGs in that game, also a team record. The previous record for longest FG was Vadheim's 45-yarder against Dillon in the 1995 quarterfinals.

Harris is the third-most accurate Cowboy kicker career-wise, ranking behind Vadheim and Jeremy Pyle (37-41, 90.2%). Taylor's 2002 ranks as the second-most accurate single season in team history.

Here are Vadheim's career stats:

1994 - 46-52 PAT (88.5%), 1-? FG, 49 pts, plus 14 punts for 561 yards (40.1 avg.)
1995 - 44-45 PAT (97.8%), 9-12 FG, 71 pts, plus 25 punts for 925 yards (37.0 avg.)

Career - 90-97 PAT (92.8%), 10-? FG, 120 pts, plus 39 punts for 1486 yards (38.1 avg.)

Vadheim holds the team records for most PATs made and attempted in a single season and over the course of a career. He also holds the record for most points scored kicking. He is the most accurate kicker in team history for his career and on a single-season basis. He also has the mark for the most PATs without a miss in a single game, going 8-for-8 against Hardin twice.

The record-holder for the most FGs in Cowboy history is Jeff Muri, who kicked 14 in a four-year varsity career (1972-75). He was also 64-81 on PATs (79.0%), placing him third on the career list for most PATs made and second for PATs attempted.

Unlike Vadheim, who only kicked and punted, Muri also lined up at tailback, receiver and quarterback over the course of his career. He scored 13 rushing TDs and 3 receiving TDs and passed for 3 more. His career point total of 212 ranks behind only Joe Baker (222 points). For those of you who are curious, Brennan Haughian ranks third on the scoring list with 190 points.

Mr. Reed,

First of all, let me say well-done on your compilation of stats! It's cool that somebody bothers to "keep the books" on Cowboy football records, and I do find that interesting.

Secondly, I get what you're saying about Colin Vadheim vs. Jeff Muri vs. Taylor Harris, and the point you're making about the fact that kicking and punting was all that Colin did. I get it: Jeff and Taylor had to go through a lot more physically than Colin did by way of the various positions they played on the team.

HOWEVER:

You, yourself, said: "Yes, kickers are 'real' football players".

and: "Vadheim holds the team records for most PATs made and attempted in a single season and over the course of a career. He also holds the record for most points scored kicking. He is the most accurate kicker in team history for his career and on a single-season basis. He also has the mark for the most PATs without a miss in a single game, going 8-for-8 against Hardin twice."

So, although he may not have participated AS MUCH as Muri and Harris, I still maintain that Vadheim's records and accomplishments warrant his place in the Cowboy Football Hall of Fame...that's not to say Muri and Harris don't deserve a place in the Hall, too.

...besides, have you ever heard of a kicker named Jan Stenerud? All the former MSU Bobcat did was kick a football and he's one of 3 kickers in the Pro Football Hall of fame even though that was all HE did.

Lastly...I'm not sure if this is a nomination; it's more of a question...

I remember a big hulk of a man named OJ Grasby - but I don't remember what he played in football or even IF he played as I was still a kid then...I know he was a weightlifter. Does anyone know if he played? What he played? And does he deserve enshrinement in the hall? Anyone?

Yes, I know of Jan Stenerud. He autographed my Green Bay Packers shirt at Briarwood Golf Course when I was about 7. He struck me as a very nice guy.

My point about Vadheim vs. Muri vs. Harris was that I am far more impressed with a player who does more than one thing when it comes to determining HOF credentials.

Things are a little different in college and the NFL, where players specialize. But other than the quarterback position, I'm not a huge fan of the concept of playing (or practicing) one position only at the high school level.

Vadheim was an outstanding kicker/punter. Harris was an outstanding kicker/receiver/defensive back. Muri was an outstanding kicker/running back/receiver/quarterback. Jeremy Pyle was also an all-around player who did a little of everything (and did it extremely well). In my book, the first tie-breaker goes to the player who's the most versatile.

And to be perfectly honest, I can't really be all that supportive of a player who did warm-ups and then kicked by himself for the rest of practice while all of the other players busted their humps for an hour and a half each day.

As long as we're talking about Muris (Jeff mentioned above), what about Darin Muri? He was a two time first team all-state DB and was also an all-state quarterback. The Cowboys were a powerhouse during the 2002 and 2003 seasons, falling just short of the state title each year. Along with being a lockdown corner, Darin set the record for most QB rushing yards in a game (only to have Pat Regan break that record two years later). Darin went on to have a solid career as a three year starter at RMC.

[This message has been edited by Matt W (edited 10/18/2008).]

Here is a list of all the all State kickers. To settle this lets just induct them all. Ken Stagmiller was the first soccer style kicker we had. He started a long tradition of good kickers at CCDHS. The rest followed in his footsteps. Another thing to remember about Colin Vadheim is those booming kick-offs. I remember one going out of the end zone. If he is good enough to punt in college then he must have been a pretty good athlete.

1987 / Ken Staigmiller / 1st / Jr.
1988 / Ken Staigmiller / 1st / Sr.
1989 / Justin Kircheck / 1st / Jr.
1990 / Justin Kircheck / 1st / Sr.
1992 / Brad Schlepp / 1st / Sr.
1995 / Colin Vadheim / 1st /Sr.
1998 / Jason Ridenour / 1st / Jr.
2003 / Taylor Harris / 1st / Sr.

One side note it should be noted that most of my knowlage about all state selections have been provided to me via Brian Reed. He compiled the list which I used above. Thank you Brian for all your hard work on compiling this stuff for us football geeks to comb over at midnight.

I'll second the thanks to Mr. Reed, once again. He and I have had an argument or 2 about football stuff here at Milescity.com, but I cannot argue that he doesn't know his facts.

As a former high school football player (gee, now I sound like Al Bundy from "Married With Children") and sportscaster myself, I do appreciate his record keeping and compilation of stats. We all know that NOTHING backs-up claims of greatness in sports quite like statistics do.

While I'm at it, I'll nominate two more players:

First: Bucky Haynes, who played for the Cowboys in the late-80's I believe. I do not know that Haynes was real spectacular in his high school career, but he ended-up being a starter and a good contributor as a reciever at MSU. He played quite a few games before his career ended with a knee injury his senior year.

Secondly: Scott Kirby, who was a Sacred Heart Transfer and played on the '86 team. He only played the one year for the Cowboys, but went on to break several Division II recieving records at Rocky Mountain College.

So, yeah, neither of these guys were hugely spectacular while with the Cowboys, but did quite well in their college careers, which is why I nominate them.

I have a classmate of mine from the 80-81 season that went on to play for the cats. and won a national title in 84. Bruce randall played on the line for the cats.Along with clay griffith, who went on to play for wash.st. And OJ was a fullback/tailback when he played.

I also have some friends from sacred heart in 80-81 that won the state B title that year, THE SAME YEAR WE WERE SUPPOSED TO WIN IT!!!lol. Anyway, some great guys there. tommy jas, marc creamer, kenny lang, and coached by a fantastic guy glenn hageman.

A note about Bruce Randall- he was also a starter on the Bobcats national championship team. I can not recall the year 83-85 somewhere in there.

A note about Buckey Haynes- he was a punt returner, kickoff returner,cornerback, and tailback. He was fast. He ran a 10.8 100 meters. He was explosive to watch and he never came off the field. However, he was not a power runner and would have been better in a different offense. But by far the most athletic football player I have ever seen in highschool football.
A note about Scott Kirby- he broke the NAIA carrer reception record held by Don Bebe. It was later broken by the little guy that played for the Kansas City Chiefs also from Rocky.

[This message has been edited by Stone (edited 10/20/2008).]

Above- someone mention the Kale Brothers and the Venable brothers. I know that Travis did not play football. He was a hell of a fastball hitter though. I personally know these boys but having not played with any of them or coached them I am not sure if any or all are eligible for our fictional HOF. If any one that played with them would like to nominate any of them feel free. I am not qualified to give much of an opinion but the question was asked and not answered. But it was a question and not a nomination.

However, I will nominate Ryan Venable- he was an all state Center and we supprisingly have not had a lot of those.

Just a correction here. Clay Griffith played for the University of Washington, not Washington State. Clay would be kicking somebody in the head if he heard that mess. I sat in Clay's "family" seats for many Washington home games in Seattle. Not sure I ever impressed upon him just how much I appreciated that very nice jesture on his part. Saw some absolutely great football, in a spectacular stadium in a great setting. Really fun Saturday afternoons that I will never forget.

One side note it should be noted that most of my knowlage about all state selections have been provided to me via Brian Reed. He compiled the list which I used above. Thank you Brian for all your hard work on compiling this stuff for us football geeks to comb over at midnight.

I'll second the thanks to Mr. Reed, once again. He and I have had an argument or 2 about football stuff here at Milescity.com, but I cannot argue that he doesn't know his facts.

Awww, shucks! Thanks, Stone and Shu!

[This message has been edited by Brian A. Reed (edited 10/22/2008).]

BUMP - you're welcome, Brian...I'm also impressed with some of the stats you provided on the thread about the upcoming Billings Central game.

I'll throw-in another nomination: a very good O-lineman in the early-80's named Phil Anderson...I don't have any stats on him, but I know he made all-conference and possible all-state a time or 2.

Mike Lucas and Josh Jackson maybe deserve to be noted as great contributors to the 85 state champion cowboy team!

Bucky Hanyes was an interesting name to bring up. I remember as a kid we would play football and all pretend to be Bucky Haynes.

Jack Raymond used to tell us a story about the pound for pound toughest kid to ever play football at Custer. He was 5'5 and 150 pounds soaking wet. He was, I believe, a safety. He would come up and put a lick on people 4 times his size. If anyone has any recollection of him let me know. His name was Rick Stromeyer. He is brother with Rod and Rusty. He played in the early eighties.??
I believe that he worked for the Oakland Raiders as an IT guy.

I would like to take this opertunity to nominate Charles "Chuck" Goldsmith. He was the best pulling guard I have ever seen.

Somebody asked about the Kale brothers earlier. Trevor was a senior when I was a freshman and I recall he was a devestating blocker at TE. Tristan and I were in the same class and I had a lot of fun playing along side that guy. He was a nasty player, rough and a little dirty, but in a good way. Let's just say he seldom used the ground to get up when there was an opposing player's chest handy. I loved that stuff, opponents hated him. He was 1st team AC and AS DE as a senior. I believe he was a unanimous selection at DE. Even more impressive was that he moved from FB to OT partway through the year and became one of our best lineman, if not the best on that 95 team. He wasn't overly big, but played his tail off every play and was a vital cog in our repeat state title.

Oh yeah, my brother Travis was a pretty fair option QB. 1st team All state in 93. Not sure about the HOF for these two, but great Cowboys. I can't nominate my brother, that wouldn't be right.

So i've put a lot of thought into this and I have two names of players that I played with for you to consider:

Dave Phipps

Kelly Strobel


So after a lot of time these are my top two that I played with......


If you would like to hear my top 5 let me know....

Zier,

I agree, Phipps and Strobel are are my top two. Warren Venable is pretty close as one of the best natural athletes I played with. But Phipps was scary tough!! Played both ways, full back to middle linebacker and just got tougher as the game went on!

Here is what we got so far if I have missed someone let me know. Remember this is just for fun and is fictional.

1. Bunky Thomas
2. Bob Jauron
3. Clay Griffith
4. Jeff Muri
5. Bob "Pappy" Nees
6. Ernie Bighorn
7. Tater Patch,
8. Dallas Taylor
9. Chris Elwood
10. Bruce Randall
11. Lauren(Bo) Laird
12. Jack McGuire
13. Gordie Spear
14. Greg Erlenbush
15. Mitch Gundlach
16. Tillman "Richard" Christianson
17. Matt Giddings
18. Curt Meidinger
19. Brad Bergman
20. Keith Wittenhagen
21. Jason Hirsch
22. Jason 'Scooter' Rohloff
23. Steve Phipps
24. Mark Brubaker
25. Kent Roberts
26. Colin Wood
27. Joe Baker
28. Jerry Partridge
29. Ernie Bighorn
30. Brock "Boogie" Schneider
31. Justin Dighans
32. Colin Vadheim
33. Jeremy Pyle
34. Taylor Harris
35. OJ Grasby
36. Darin Muri
37. Ken Staigmiller
38. Justin Kircheck
39. Scott Kirby
40. Bucky Haynes
41. Ryan Venable
42. Phil Anderson
43. Josh Jackson
44. Mike Lucas
45. Kelly Strobel
46. Charles "Chuck" Goldsmith
47. Travis Raugh
48. Trevor Kale

Dave Phipps

Being a fan of Denver football for years and years, Dave Phipps now reminds me of Bill Romanowski (minus the spitting incident of course)

If you've ever seen an interview with Romo, he's very quiet and very soft spoken. He's very cordial and polite and knowledgable. Nice guy

Strap a helmet on him and tell him to go play linebacker?
One mission. Destroy everyone who's not on his team!

Big mistake to have not mentioned Ed Rohloff and have him at least in the top 10. During his years,he was what defined Cowboy football.

Stone, you did miss a couple I had mentioned. Yeah, I know this is just for fun, but...

...You can't put Richard Christianson on there without putting Lee Baugatz: they were the so-called "2 tons of fun". Aptly-named because Richard weighed about 280. Lee weighed around 266; at that time, that was HUGE. The TWO were a dominating pair on the line.

Speaking of 2 - you've got Ernie Bighorn on there twice...his sister, Lisa was a HOTTIE, by the way...and a kind person, too.

You also left-out 2 I had mentioned from the '85 team: RB's Kenny Wilson and Ben Flower...but, come to think of it, I guess Meidinger and Erlenbusch kind-of stood out more in my memory and may have done better statistically? But I don't know for sure.

Someone else mentioned Coach Ed Rohloff - yes, I know he had his problems, but for all his years and titles won, plus his place in the state coaches HOF, you've GOT to have him on there.

And you had mentioned Rick Stromeyer yourself, where is he on the list?

At any rate, I'd like to thank you, Brady, AGAIN for re-kindling some of the memories by way of this thread. I graduated from the last high school class at Sacred Heart, but I never missed a Cowboy football game when I could help it. I got along well with most of the Custer students and a couple are still close friends of mine...ahhh, the good old days.

"Speaking of 2 - you've got Ernie Bighorn on there twice...his sister, Lisa was a HOTTIE, by the way...and a kind person, too."

Shu, ya she worked at the Dairy Queen with all the other Dairy Queen Dolls. I forgot to name the a few sorry guys. Big Ed, sorry how could I forget you? He was mentioned early on in a post so I just took it for granted that I had put him on the list. The rest have been added. For some reason I do not recall Ben Flower- I do remember a Ben Starburg. Nonetheless, he is on the list. My memory is not what it used to be.


Ike said, "Big mistake to have not mentioned Ed Rohloff and have him at least in the top 10. During his years, he was what defined Cowboy football."

Sorry Ike, he was nominated but I forgot to put his name down. Since I played under him and coached under him for twelve years, I most certainly did not forget him. As for him being in the top ten- they are in no particular order. If you would like I could alphabetize it for you.

BIG ED,is what made miles city football great again. I was in his first group of players to start off his program sophmore in 78-79 and made the varsity we weren't very good yet. junior year we were way better and then senior year went 7-1 but didnt make any playoffs. Ed came in and one of the first things he did was to start the weight program that many high schools werent doing as intensive as ed was. That was a big part of why the cowboys really took off in thier program. And there should never be any third place finishers in the playoffs period! If you come in third you don't deserve to be there. They need to get rid of the first round byes and drop it to eight teams.

hi...plant, ok.

I would like to take this opportunity to nominate-
Kevin Thompson-TE
He still holds the bench press record and was big blocker and he could catch. I remember big Ed lining up in a full house backfield with double tight and throwing to Thompson all day long. He had Conners and the Locamotives realing.

Stone,

Is that Chris Thompson's brother?

Jeremy -

Yes, Kevin Thompson is Chris' little brother. He was a pretty outstanding wrestler, too. I think he was a freshman or sophomore when we (you, me and Chris) were seniors. I remember how strong he was even when I had 25-30 pounds on him during wrestling practice.

Now that the Cowboys are State Champs again, let's DEFINATELY but running back Brennan Haughian in the HOF - the all-time leading rusher.

And I'll add the Love twins, too, outstanding defensive players...

...of course, others from this excellent team could be nominated as well. I'll leave that up to my fellow bloggers.

Jordan Bryant. As good of a passer the Cowboys have ever had.

ok i know this is for fun and all, but this is suppossed to be a hall of fame thing and many are being named for being good players but to hall of fame standards? maybe not. I know many of the people being named and some have great credentials and some are just very good players. Now lets follow what the pros do. No nominations untill five years after high school! Next we'll be naming kids that are juniors. lol.

I was going to say something about this year's group to, but I agree with hiline that maybe we should wait a bit. Either way, Brennan and Jordan are first-ballot hall of famers. The Love twins too, and Kalfell and John Henry Beardsley should get some nods also.

In my very first post I stated, "Oh, and no current player we do not want to give them bigger heads than they already have". Lets wait until they graduate. However, it is safe to say that Brennan Haughian with all his records and a state championship would be nominated to our fictional Hall of Fame. I personally beleive that all the players that were all state should be on the list and some that were not. All state is a great honor and a good measuring stick.

Jason Hirsch was a bad man.

Dave Phipps started at LB his freshmen year of college and did real good. He didn't go back to school after that.

Justin Dighans isn't getting much attention but deserves it. He started DT as a sophomore,played DT and swing back as a junior, got politiced out of the shrine game as a senior, He and Kelly Strobel were shafted their senior year by "whoever nominates" the players for the shrine game.

I believe Scott Gray belongs in the HOF for the job he did carrying my jock strap. I have been told by people from the early years of Cowboy football that there isn't player to pass through CCDHS that could handle a nut bra with the skill Scott did.

[This message has been edited by MTspud (edited 11/26/2008).]