BOBCATS BY THE NUMBERS: 32 Days Until Kickoff!
8/4/2021 2:35:00 PM | Football
A look at no. 32 in Bobcat history...
Bobcats by the Numbers takes a look at current and past Bobcats whose jersey numbers correspond to the number of days remaining before Montana State opens the 2021 football season at Wyoming on September 4.
#32
Jory Choate, LB: The most important ability, people will tell you, is availability. Jory Choate proved a data point in that assertion this spring, surviving a spate of defensive injuries and taking advantage of the opportunity by making considerable improvement. While remaining a special teams staple, Choate is playing his way into consideration for playing time at linebacker. He was in on one of the 2019 season's signature plays, a stop on the opening kickoff of Cat-Griz that began a chain of events that led to a Bobcat fumble recovery and an early touchdown that set the stage for MSU's 48-14 thumping of the University.
Spotlight – Dave Miller: There are players in Bobcat football history whose presence outlast their career by decades – Sonny Holland, Dennis Erickson, Don Hass, Steve Kracher, Ron Ueland, Joe Bignell. In 1969 the Billings Gazette conducted a poll which named Montana State's all-time football team. Only a small handful of years after the advent of two-platoon football, one player was selected for the 11 positions that lined up on each side of the ball. Hass, Holland, Erickson… most of that team was probably obvious then, and could be picked today nearly on auto pilot by serious Bobcat fans. A couple of "pass-catching immortals from the 1920's," Max Worthington and Val Glynn, cracked the lineup, but as did a bunch of Bobcat Hall of Famers. Included in that group was a three-year starter at fullback – a position that has existed only occasionally at MSU in the last three decades – named Dave Miller. He was called a "hard, determined runner" who "provides (the) Bobcats with clutch short-yardage punch" by the school's brilliant Sports Information Director and Bobcat Hall of Famer Ken Nicholson, and he used the battering ram mentality to gain 1,217 yards in a three-year career shortened by a knee injury during his sophomore season. Bobcat coach Jim Sweeney considered Miller the best linebacker he'd coached to that point, and he drew equally effusive praise as a bruising blocker. Dave Miller was an All-Big Sky fullback in 1964, and you can bet he was a key cog in that season's Big Sky Conference Championship.
Chronology: Menton Place (1931), Charles Herstrom (1937), George Wallis (1940), Bill Zupan (1941), John Heine (1946-47), Morry Sivertson (1948-49), Dick Newman (1953), Don Edwards (1956), Guy Troisi (1957), Dick Cope (1958), Barton Furry (1959), Bucky May (1960-61), Dave Miller (1963-64), John Cunneen (1965-66), Hans Pidino (1968-69), Roger Crow (1970), Doug Vickery (1971), Mike Vidmar (1974), Bob Burkhart (1972-73, '75), Mike McLeod (1976-79), Heath Hunter (2010-13), Sam Plucker (2015), J. McCarthy (2016-17), Jory Choate (2018-)
32 yards – The amount of ground covered by Travis Lulay as he crossed the goal line with 67 seconds to play against Northern Arizona in 2003. The Cats had trailed 17-7 moments earlier, and after that Lulay touchdown run MSU trailed 17-14. The Bobcats then recovered an on-side kick, and what seemed destined to be a disappointing day in Bobcat Stadium had turned on a dime. With 15 seconds to play Lulay scored from one yard out, and the Bobcats had their improbable victory.
Other #32 Notes: The Buzzetti name in Bobcat annals is more identified with the hardwood than the gridiron. Ed Buzzetti was a brilliant basketball player, a member of the famed Wonder Team which has since become known far and wide as the Golden Bobcats. In fact, he was believed to be the final surviving Golden Bobcat upon his passing in 2005. Ed's brother Ray (featured here because of the year '32 rather than his jersey number) followed him to Montana State from Hardin (the family moved there from Fromberg) and made a mark in both football and basketball. On the hardwood he was called "the greatest guard in the Rocky Mountains" by one publication, and the Montanan said called him "a ball rustler of the highest order, sinking phenomenal shots, dribbling, twisting, turning and pivoting," but he also starred for Montana State in football. Ray helped spearhead one of the finest moments in the school's pre-World War II era in a 1932 upset of the Grizzlies, scoring an early touchdown to pull the Bobcats back into the game then sealing the win with a 21-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run.
#32
Jory Choate, LB: The most important ability, people will tell you, is availability. Jory Choate proved a data point in that assertion this spring, surviving a spate of defensive injuries and taking advantage of the opportunity by making considerable improvement. While remaining a special teams staple, Choate is playing his way into consideration for playing time at linebacker. He was in on one of the 2019 season's signature plays, a stop on the opening kickoff of Cat-Griz that began a chain of events that led to a Bobcat fumble recovery and an early touchdown that set the stage for MSU's 48-14 thumping of the University.
Spotlight – Dave Miller: There are players in Bobcat football history whose presence outlast their career by decades – Sonny Holland, Dennis Erickson, Don Hass, Steve Kracher, Ron Ueland, Joe Bignell. In 1969 the Billings Gazette conducted a poll which named Montana State's all-time football team. Only a small handful of years after the advent of two-platoon football, one player was selected for the 11 positions that lined up on each side of the ball. Hass, Holland, Erickson… most of that team was probably obvious then, and could be picked today nearly on auto pilot by serious Bobcat fans. A couple of "pass-catching immortals from the 1920's," Max Worthington and Val Glynn, cracked the lineup, but as did a bunch of Bobcat Hall of Famers. Included in that group was a three-year starter at fullback – a position that has existed only occasionally at MSU in the last three decades – named Dave Miller. He was called a "hard, determined runner" who "provides (the) Bobcats with clutch short-yardage punch" by the school's brilliant Sports Information Director and Bobcat Hall of Famer Ken Nicholson, and he used the battering ram mentality to gain 1,217 yards in a three-year career shortened by a knee injury during his sophomore season. Bobcat coach Jim Sweeney considered Miller the best linebacker he'd coached to that point, and he drew equally effusive praise as a bruising blocker. Dave Miller was an All-Big Sky fullback in 1964, and you can bet he was a key cog in that season's Big Sky Conference Championship.
Chronology: Menton Place (1931), Charles Herstrom (1937), George Wallis (1940), Bill Zupan (1941), John Heine (1946-47), Morry Sivertson (1948-49), Dick Newman (1953), Don Edwards (1956), Guy Troisi (1957), Dick Cope (1958), Barton Furry (1959), Bucky May (1960-61), Dave Miller (1963-64), John Cunneen (1965-66), Hans Pidino (1968-69), Roger Crow (1970), Doug Vickery (1971), Mike Vidmar (1974), Bob Burkhart (1972-73, '75), Mike McLeod (1976-79), Heath Hunter (2010-13), Sam Plucker (2015), J. McCarthy (2016-17), Jory Choate (2018-)
32 yards – The amount of ground covered by Travis Lulay as he crossed the goal line with 67 seconds to play against Northern Arizona in 2003. The Cats had trailed 17-7 moments earlier, and after that Lulay touchdown run MSU trailed 17-14. The Bobcats then recovered an on-side kick, and what seemed destined to be a disappointing day in Bobcat Stadium had turned on a dime. With 15 seconds to play Lulay scored from one yard out, and the Bobcats had their improbable victory.
Other #32 Notes: The Buzzetti name in Bobcat annals is more identified with the hardwood than the gridiron. Ed Buzzetti was a brilliant basketball player, a member of the famed Wonder Team which has since become known far and wide as the Golden Bobcats. In fact, he was believed to be the final surviving Golden Bobcat upon his passing in 2005. Ed's brother Ray (featured here because of the year '32 rather than his jersey number) followed him to Montana State from Hardin (the family moved there from Fromberg) and made a mark in both football and basketball. On the hardwood he was called "the greatest guard in the Rocky Mountains" by one publication, and the Montanan said called him "a ball rustler of the highest order, sinking phenomenal shots, dribbling, twisting, turning and pivoting," but he also starred for Montana State in football. Ray helped spearhead one of the finest moments in the school's pre-World War II era in a 1932 upset of the Grizzlies, scoring an early touchdown to pull the Bobcats back into the game then sealing the win with a 21-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run.
Players Mentioned
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