Second generation Bobcat Bobby Howard (shooting) and fellow seniors Danny Piepoli and Erik Rush (seated, to his left) bid farewell to the Fieldhouse on Wednesday
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcat Seniors Bid Fieldhouse Farewell
3/2/2011 5:55:07 PM | Men's Basketball
MSU's Senior Class of 2011 bonded over an unusual trip in the summer of '08
To Montana State basketball fans, mention of the team's current senior class conjures thoughts of Erik Rush's spectacular dunks, Bobby Howard's relentless energy, and Danny Piepoli's sweet shooting stroke.
Bobcat coach Brad Huse, who brought each of the three to Bozeman four (Howard) or five (Rush and Piepoli) years ago, thinks of something quite different.
“I'll always remember the summer before their sophomore year,” Huse said of the three who have combined to score more than 3,100 points in Bobcat uniforms. “We had a date for the players to come back to campus, and I had those three guys come back three days early. When they asked why, I said, 'Climb in my Suburban, guys.'”
Huse, Howard, Piepoli and Rush drove from Bozeman to Heart Butte on the Blackfeet in northwest Montana to conduct a youth basketball clinic. Each of the four call those three days unforgettable.
“It was neat experience,” Huse said Tuesday, the day before those three will play in Worthington Arena for the final time. “Bobby had been in that area, but I think it was a part of the country that Erik and Danny had never seen and it was something different for all of them.”
The Bobcat quartet worked with a missionary group to conduct the basketball clinic, sleeping on a church floor at night and dining with the locals. The experience is one, Piepoli said, the group will never forget.
“I remember it being extremely moving,” the Pasadena, Calif., native recalls. “I didn't know there were places in the world like that. Everybody is so genuine there and the community was so great. It was a life-changing experience, and I'll never forget it.”
Senior forward Bobby Howard graduated from Great Falls High School, but lived in Browning for a time while growing up. “I've lived up and around there my whole life,” he said as the only member of the group that had previously been to Heart Butte. I knew what I was getting into, but it was also pretty cool.” Howard said that when the others saw animals roaming the open-range area “their eyes got real big.”
The trip to Heart Butte was not the first project Piepoli and Rush worked through together. Roommates for the last five years, the two redshirted together during their second year in the program. That winter, they coached Lion's Club youth basketball together, which remains a source of amusement for the two.
“The funny thing is,” Rush says with a laugh, “we see some of the kids around now and we're like, 'Man, we're getting old.' We remember when those guys were really little. That was another fun experience that we had here. We got to touch the community and help out.”
Rush, Howard and Piepoli each complete their careers having cemented their legacies as players. Howard and Rush each passed the 1,000-point plateau, he 34th and 35th players in school history to do so. Howard and Piepoli stand among the top 10 three-point shooters in school history, while Rush is in MSU's top 10 in free throws.
Their legacies, however, go well beyond stats in a box score or lines in a record book, Huse said. “They are three very special people. They've each touched a lot of lives during their time here, and that's how they'll be remembered.”
Time spent working with youngsters, involvement in the community, interactions with teammates – those events conspire to form a lasting impression on Rush. “It's just memories,” he says wistfully. “You just store them in the back of your head and when you think back about Bozeman and look back at your time here those are some of the things you think about. They were great things to do, and I'm happy I had the opportunity to do them.”
Piepoli concurred, calling his time in Bozeman, like his trip to Heart Butte, “life-changing. It lets you know there's more to this college experience than just basketball. It's an aspect of life that you're going to look back on and realize that you developed who you are during this time.”
From his unique vantage point as a second-generation Bobcat, Howard has enjoyed helping restore “pride in the Blue and Gold,” he said. Like his fellow seniors, Howard wants to “leave this place in better condition than when I got here.”
Mindful that a successful run in the Big Sky Tournament, which starts Saturday, Howard echoes his classmates. “Our season's not over.”
Thursday, March 03
Friday, November 05
Monday, November 01
Sunday, October 31
