Steve Kracher, now Cal Poly's equipment manager, gained nearly 3,000 yards for the Cats
Steve Kracher Sees Past, Future Cross on Saturday at Alex G. Spanos Stadium
10/31/2014 8:20:00 AM | Football
Bobcat legend, long-time CP equipment man hasn't watched Cats for several years
Montana State faces a crucial Big Sky showdown with first-time league foe Cal Poly on Saturday in a contest pitting two of the top rushing teams in the nation. The Mustangs lead the Division I Football Championship Subdivision with 347.6 yards a game on the ground, while MSU's 243.5 yards a contest is 11th. Three of the conference's top 10 rushers line up for Cal Poly, while MSU boasts one in the top 10 and another who is close.
But the best ball carrier in Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Saturday might be a modest fellow on the Mustangs sideline with deep MSU roots.
"That was 40 years ago," Cal Poly athletic equipment manager Steve Kracher says with a laugh, recalling his days as the Big Sky's dominant running back when he wore Bobcat Blue and Gold.
A 1996 inductee into the Wendy's of Montana/Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame, Kracher remains one of the legendary figures in MSU football history. His 6.1 yards per carry over the course of his career remains a school record, and his 1974 (6.5 yards a carry) and 1975 (6.1) rates are first and third in school history. He rushed for 2,979 yards in his career, a Bobcat record until 2002. He was a First Team All-Big Sky selection as a junior and senior, earning First Team All-America honors in his final campaign.
Kracher doesn't spend much of his time reliving glory days, although certain times of the year elicit memories. "Our head coach (Tim Walsh), when he introduces me before the players every year he tries to tell them about MSU and me and all of that, and I blush and get humble," Kracher said. "I don't tell them much about those days, other than they ask me questions sometimes. I tell them the first padded helmet I had was when I went to MSU, they just had pads and they were by hat size, they didn't have air or anything."
Dan Davies, the color commentator on Bobcat radio broadcasts for over a quarter century and a former teammate of Kracher's, remembers a "tough, rugged running back," but also recalls what he describes as "a good teammate. In the locker room he was a fun-loving guy, those older guys always joked around and had fun. But on the field he was intense."
Another former Bobcat teammate, Bozeman businessman Brad Daws, came to understand how Kracher compiled his eye-popping statistics by accumulating hundreds of hours scrimmaging against him during their four-year careers. "I never once got a clean, hard hit on him," Daws says. "I never once thought I hit him hard. He had that ability where he'd almost give you a loose leg if you hit him. The other guys, all the way from (Tom) Kostrba to (Wayne) Edwards to Roscoe Schmidt, I can think of a time or two I got a legit hit. But never once did I get a good lick on (Kracher)."
Kracher moved to California's central coast area in the 1980s, coached at Cal Poly in 1985 and '86, and has coached high school football in the area for 35 years. Presently, he is an assistant at Mission Prep, and served as a teacher for 22 years before "it began to wear on me," he said. When Cal Poly's equipment manager post came open eight years ago, a conversation with then-head football coach Rich Ellerson led him to apply.
"'You're organized, you know what's going on as a coach and a former player, you know what the needs are,' (Ellerson) told me," Kracher said. "So I kind of dove into it, and they hired me, and it's kind of a niche in my golden years, so to speak." Although he has just a year-and-a-half left before he can retire from Cal Poly, he enjoys the passion and focus of Division I student-athletes. "Kids are positive, coaches are positive, it's a fun environment to be around."
While Kracher appreciates his role in the world of Division I football, he continues to relish coaching for the interaction with high school athletes and his peers on the coaching staff. "I still enjoy it," he said. "It's a fun group to coach with. The head coach is a former quarterback at Poly, Chad Henry, three of the other assistants are guys that played (high school football) for me, so there's that familiarity."
One thing that won't be familiar for Kracher Saturday is facing his old school. He hasn't been back in Bozeman since being inducted into MSU's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Bobcats' last meeting with Cal Poly came in 2005, just before Kracher began at Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's most recent game stoked fires of both rivalry and friendship, when the Mustangs throttled Montana 41-21 last week at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Kracher said that in spite of a long-standing friendship with Grizzly head coach Mick Delaney he enjoyed the victory. "If you're an old Bobcat you never lose that fire," he chuckled.
Kracher continues to appreciate his time at Montana State, especially for the brand of football that Sonny Holland's Bobcat program – and that era – represents. "Sonny's teams from that decade epitomized football the way football was then," Kracher said. "Not to downgrade the spread offenses or basketball on grass as some people call it now, but I'm glad I got to play football in an era when it was more traditional football. It was physical and tough. It was fun."
The Columbia Falls product also took great pride in representing a program stocked full of homegrown players. "Back in those days our roster was filled with small(-town) Montana kids," he said. "The SID (Ken Nicholson) would come down and take group shots of kids from each area of Montana, and the Butte picture was 15 or 20 kids."
The teammates Kracher lined up closest to he shared much with, he said. "I always take pride that the starting backfield my senior year was Mike Holder at quarterback from little Eureka and Roscoe Schmidt, the big fullback, from Circle, Montana, and I was from Columbia Falls. Heck, we had Ron Iverson at guard from Conrad, a little town, Kenny Verlanic, Anaconda, Markovich, Butte Central, Flaig, Missoula Sentinel. The whole roster, both offense and defense, was heavily Montana kids. I was really proud of that era, where we had a lot of Montana kids playing, and of course our coaches, both Sonnys, and God rest Cliff, they were all Montana guys that really recruited Montana well."
Kracher is not sure what he'll feel Saturday when he gazes at the opposing sideline and sees the school he once played for – "Maybe a little mixed emotions," he said – but he looks forward to visiting Bobcat Stadium in 2015, which may be his final season as Cal Poly's equipment man.
"It will be my last year at Poly and it will be the 40th year since I was a senior, and I haven't really been back there in 20 years," he said. "I'll walk into that stadium and it won't be anything like the old one. Forty years, that's a long time."
But the best ball carrier in Alex G. Spanos Stadium on Saturday might be a modest fellow on the Mustangs sideline with deep MSU roots.
"That was 40 years ago," Cal Poly athletic equipment manager Steve Kracher says with a laugh, recalling his days as the Big Sky's dominant running back when he wore Bobcat Blue and Gold.
A 1996 inductee into the Wendy's of Montana/Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame, Kracher remains one of the legendary figures in MSU football history. His 6.1 yards per carry over the course of his career remains a school record, and his 1974 (6.5 yards a carry) and 1975 (6.1) rates are first and third in school history. He rushed for 2,979 yards in his career, a Bobcat record until 2002. He was a First Team All-Big Sky selection as a junior and senior, earning First Team All-America honors in his final campaign.
Kracher doesn't spend much of his time reliving glory days, although certain times of the year elicit memories. "Our head coach (Tim Walsh), when he introduces me before the players every year he tries to tell them about MSU and me and all of that, and I blush and get humble," Kracher said. "I don't tell them much about those days, other than they ask me questions sometimes. I tell them the first padded helmet I had was when I went to MSU, they just had pads and they were by hat size, they didn't have air or anything."
Dan Davies, the color commentator on Bobcat radio broadcasts for over a quarter century and a former teammate of Kracher's, remembers a "tough, rugged running back," but also recalls what he describes as "a good teammate. In the locker room he was a fun-loving guy, those older guys always joked around and had fun. But on the field he was intense."
Another former Bobcat teammate, Bozeman businessman Brad Daws, came to understand how Kracher compiled his eye-popping statistics by accumulating hundreds of hours scrimmaging against him during their four-year careers. "I never once got a clean, hard hit on him," Daws says. "I never once thought I hit him hard. He had that ability where he'd almost give you a loose leg if you hit him. The other guys, all the way from (Tom) Kostrba to (Wayne) Edwards to Roscoe Schmidt, I can think of a time or two I got a legit hit. But never once did I get a good lick on (Kracher)."
Kracher moved to California's central coast area in the 1980s, coached at Cal Poly in 1985 and '86, and has coached high school football in the area for 35 years. Presently, he is an assistant at Mission Prep, and served as a teacher for 22 years before "it began to wear on me," he said. When Cal Poly's equipment manager post came open eight years ago, a conversation with then-head football coach Rich Ellerson led him to apply.
"'You're organized, you know what's going on as a coach and a former player, you know what the needs are,' (Ellerson) told me," Kracher said. "So I kind of dove into it, and they hired me, and it's kind of a niche in my golden years, so to speak." Although he has just a year-and-a-half left before he can retire from Cal Poly, he enjoys the passion and focus of Division I student-athletes. "Kids are positive, coaches are positive, it's a fun environment to be around."
While Kracher appreciates his role in the world of Division I football, he continues to relish coaching for the interaction with high school athletes and his peers on the coaching staff. "I still enjoy it," he said. "It's a fun group to coach with. The head coach is a former quarterback at Poly, Chad Henry, three of the other assistants are guys that played (high school football) for me, so there's that familiarity."
One thing that won't be familiar for Kracher Saturday is facing his old school. He hasn't been back in Bozeman since being inducted into MSU's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Bobcats' last meeting with Cal Poly came in 2005, just before Kracher began at Cal Poly.
Cal Poly's most recent game stoked fires of both rivalry and friendship, when the Mustangs throttled Montana 41-21 last week at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. Kracher said that in spite of a long-standing friendship with Grizzly head coach Mick Delaney he enjoyed the victory. "If you're an old Bobcat you never lose that fire," he chuckled.
Kracher continues to appreciate his time at Montana State, especially for the brand of football that Sonny Holland's Bobcat program – and that era – represents. "Sonny's teams from that decade epitomized football the way football was then," Kracher said. "Not to downgrade the spread offenses or basketball on grass as some people call it now, but I'm glad I got to play football in an era when it was more traditional football. It was physical and tough. It was fun."
The Columbia Falls product also took great pride in representing a program stocked full of homegrown players. "Back in those days our roster was filled with small(-town) Montana kids," he said. "The SID (Ken Nicholson) would come down and take group shots of kids from each area of Montana, and the Butte picture was 15 or 20 kids."
The teammates Kracher lined up closest to he shared much with, he said. "I always take pride that the starting backfield my senior year was Mike Holder at quarterback from little Eureka and Roscoe Schmidt, the big fullback, from Circle, Montana, and I was from Columbia Falls. Heck, we had Ron Iverson at guard from Conrad, a little town, Kenny Verlanic, Anaconda, Markovich, Butte Central, Flaig, Missoula Sentinel. The whole roster, both offense and defense, was heavily Montana kids. I was really proud of that era, where we had a lot of Montana kids playing, and of course our coaches, both Sonnys, and God rest Cliff, they were all Montana guys that really recruited Montana well."
Kracher is not sure what he'll feel Saturday when he gazes at the opposing sideline and sees the school he once played for – "Maybe a little mixed emotions," he said – but he looks forward to visiting Bobcat Stadium in 2015, which may be his final season as Cal Poly's equipment man.
"It will be my last year at Poly and it will be the 40th year since I was a senior, and I haven't really been back there in 20 years," he said. "I'll walk into that stadium and it won't be anything like the old one. Forty years, that's a long time."
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