BOBCAT CALENDAR 1930: One Era Begins While Another Ends for Bobcat Football Program
6/7/2020 10:05:00 AM | Football
After dedicating Gatton Field, Montana State posts final winning season until post-World War II years
90 Years Ago – 1930
June 7: Each day leading to Montana State's 2020 season opener, scheduled for September 5, we will look at the season as many years ago as it is days until kickoff of the Gold Rush game.
90 YEARS AGO – The 1930 season began with emotion and promise, and ended with win against Mt. St. Charles (Carroll College). Along the way the Cats dropped the annual Copper Bowl clash in Butte but won thrillers against regional rivals Idaho and Wyoming, both away from home, and opened its first permanent home field.
Montana State opened with back-to-back wins against the Centerville club team from Butte, including the 44-0 season-opening win on September 13 that marked the first football game played on Gatton Field. In the years following World War I Montana State students rallied around the idea of naming the school's athletic field after the beloved fallen war hero, who came to Montana State from Gallatin High and was killed in action just before the November 1918 Armistice. Gatton had transferred to the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1916, likely to explore aviation training, and by the next spring for the Army Air Corps at Fort Sheridan and then to the University of Illinois' aviation school. He was among the first 200 American airmen stationed in France, and flew many successful missions. The highly decorated airman's plane was shot down over a French farm on or around November 4, 1918, and he died after jumping from the burning airplane.
On Gatton Field Dedication Day, the brick gate which remains on the Montana State campus on the south side of Grant Street near the north entrance to the Shroyer Gym complex was donated by Gatton's mother, who had since moved with her daughters to Seattle. Among those who spoke about Gatton during the dedication ceremony were Fred Bennion, who had coached the Bobcats during Gatton's time and had since returned to Bozeman and Montana State as an extension agent. For their part the 1930 Bobcats made the best of the day, whipping "formidable Regis College" 26-19. One week later the Bobcats used their formidable passing attack to score all of the team's points in the third quarter or a 20-13 win against Wyoming on the Cowboys' Homecoming date. Montana State lost to the Grizzlies in Butte, 13-6, one week later, then was drilled 53-7 at Nebraska and dropped a narrow 19-6 decision at BYU against former coach Ott Romney. The Bobcats closed the season with a Thanksgiving Day win over Mt. St. Charles (Carroll) in Great Falls, 21-0.
In addition to permanently memorializing Cy Gatton, the 1930 Bobcats brought an end to not only the careers of several brilliant, legendary Bobcats, but to Montana State's most successful period in the pre-World War II era. From Ott Romney's arrival in 1922 until the end of the 1930 season the Bobcats posted a 44-29-3 record, became competitive in the Rocky Mountain Conference (beating Wyoming, Utah State, Colorado, and BYU each multiple times), and snapped a 21-year winless streak against the Grizzlies. From the end of the 1930 season until World War II (which shut down the school's football program for four seasons), Montana State posted a 26-50-7 record without a single winning season.
In 1930, Bobcat football fans said goodbye to future hall of famers Max Worthington and Austin DeFrate, and Worthington was lauded as one of the few Bobcats ever to captain both the football and basketball teams in the same season. Nine decades later, Worthington remains one of the most revered Bobcats in history and DeFrate's name remains among the school's all-time greats.
MOST COMMON STARTING LINEUP: Left End-Max Worthington, Left Tackle-Fred Mills, Left Guard-Victor Bauer, Center-Joe Hazen, Right Guard-Stewart Wagner, Right Tackle-Elmer Mencer, Right End-Peck McFarland, Quarterback-Austin DeFrate, Left Halfback-Robert Long, Right Halfback-Fred Keenan, Fullback-Vic O'Leary.
POST-SEASON HONORS: All-America – none. All-Rocky Mountain – (2nd) Max Worthington, End; Austin DeFrate, Quarterback. All-State – (1st) Max Worthington, End; Austin DeFrate, Quarterback.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: none
ROCKY MOUNTAIN STANDINGS: 1-1 in RMC, tied for 5th place but not eligible for conference title because too few games were played. Montana State's leage games in 1930 were few, but dramatic. The Cats beat Wyoming in Laramie, 20-19, while dropping a 19-6 game at Brigham Young.
June 7: Each day leading to Montana State's 2020 season opener, scheduled for September 5, we will look at the season as many years ago as it is days until kickoff of the Gold Rush game.
90 YEARS AGO – The 1930 season began with emotion and promise, and ended with win against Mt. St. Charles (Carroll College). Along the way the Cats dropped the annual Copper Bowl clash in Butte but won thrillers against regional rivals Idaho and Wyoming, both away from home, and opened its first permanent home field.
Montana State opened with back-to-back wins against the Centerville club team from Butte, including the 44-0 season-opening win on September 13 that marked the first football game played on Gatton Field. In the years following World War I Montana State students rallied around the idea of naming the school's athletic field after the beloved fallen war hero, who came to Montana State from Gallatin High and was killed in action just before the November 1918 Armistice. Gatton had transferred to the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 1916, likely to explore aviation training, and by the next spring for the Army Air Corps at Fort Sheridan and then to the University of Illinois' aviation school. He was among the first 200 American airmen stationed in France, and flew many successful missions. The highly decorated airman's plane was shot down over a French farm on or around November 4, 1918, and he died after jumping from the burning airplane.
On Gatton Field Dedication Day, the brick gate which remains on the Montana State campus on the south side of Grant Street near the north entrance to the Shroyer Gym complex was donated by Gatton's mother, who had since moved with her daughters to Seattle. Among those who spoke about Gatton during the dedication ceremony were Fred Bennion, who had coached the Bobcats during Gatton's time and had since returned to Bozeman and Montana State as an extension agent. For their part the 1930 Bobcats made the best of the day, whipping "formidable Regis College" 26-19. One week later the Bobcats used their formidable passing attack to score all of the team's points in the third quarter or a 20-13 win against Wyoming on the Cowboys' Homecoming date. Montana State lost to the Grizzlies in Butte, 13-6, one week later, then was drilled 53-7 at Nebraska and dropped a narrow 19-6 decision at BYU against former coach Ott Romney. The Bobcats closed the season with a Thanksgiving Day win over Mt. St. Charles (Carroll) in Great Falls, 21-0.
In addition to permanently memorializing Cy Gatton, the 1930 Bobcats brought an end to not only the careers of several brilliant, legendary Bobcats, but to Montana State's most successful period in the pre-World War II era. From Ott Romney's arrival in 1922 until the end of the 1930 season the Bobcats posted a 44-29-3 record, became competitive in the Rocky Mountain Conference (beating Wyoming, Utah State, Colorado, and BYU each multiple times), and snapped a 21-year winless streak against the Grizzlies. From the end of the 1930 season until World War II (which shut down the school's football program for four seasons), Montana State posted a 26-50-7 record without a single winning season.
In 1930, Bobcat football fans said goodbye to future hall of famers Max Worthington and Austin DeFrate, and Worthington was lauded as one of the few Bobcats ever to captain both the football and basketball teams in the same season. Nine decades later, Worthington remains one of the most revered Bobcats in history and DeFrate's name remains among the school's all-time greats.
MOST COMMON STARTING LINEUP: Left End-Max Worthington, Left Tackle-Fred Mills, Left Guard-Victor Bauer, Center-Joe Hazen, Right Guard-Stewart Wagner, Right Tackle-Elmer Mencer, Right End-Peck McFarland, Quarterback-Austin DeFrate, Left Halfback-Robert Long, Right Halfback-Fred Keenan, Fullback-Vic O'Leary.
POST-SEASON HONORS: All-America – none. All-Rocky Mountain – (2nd) Max Worthington, End; Austin DeFrate, Quarterback. All-State – (1st) Max Worthington, End; Austin DeFrate, Quarterback.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: none
ROCKY MOUNTAIN STANDINGS: 1-1 in RMC, tied for 5th place but not eligible for conference title because too few games were played. Montana State's leage games in 1930 were few, but dramatic. The Cats beat Wyoming in Laramie, 20-19, while dropping a 19-6 game at Brigham Young.
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