Jeff Bolton (2015) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Jeff Bolton

Induction:
2015

It was one of the most productive phone calls Butch Damberger ever made.

"I was making calls to get high school teams to come to our (summer team) camp, and when I called Wood River High School (in Idaho) I talked to John Blackman (the school's coach, who had played at MSU). He was interested because he was an alum, and also because he had a pretty good player."

That player turned out to be Jeff Bolton, arguably the greatest offensive lineman in Bobcat history. Bolton impacted the program early, playing in eight games as a true freshman. After missing the first two games of 2003 with an injury, Bolton joined the starting lineup and never left.

He didn't just play well, he played everywhere. His senior season alone, Bolton started four games at left guard, one at right guard, and six at center. He started at both guard positions during his sophomore season, and as a junior started six at right tackle, two at left tackle, and the rest at one of the guard spots.

"His overall athleticism allowed him to move around," said Damberger, who coached Bolton in 2002. "He was quick enough to play center, big and strong enough to play guard, and intelligent enough to handle it all."

Bolton's emergence to stardom ran concurrent to, and nearly mirrored, that of his Hall of Fame classmate Lulay. Both played roles as true freshmen in the team's shocking and thrilling dash to a Big Sky title in 2002, and both became program mainstays for the three years after.

Those final three years of Bolton's career takes Damberger back to a time long before, to a small high school gym in Idaho. "I went down for a visit and watched Jeff play basketball," Damberger says. "He was really agile, had very good hands, he was impressive. for a big guy. And when I got back to the office I said, 'We've really got something here.'"