Photo by: UM Kaimin
BOBCATS 125: Dan Sundling
5/8/2022 2:00:00 PM | Football
Dan Sundling broke all Bobcat rushing records a couple years before another Glendive product would come along and do the same
Leading to the 2022 season, the 125th anniversary of Montana State's first football season, we will look at 125 of the greatest Bobcats. You can find details here and a directory here.
Dan Sundling, HB, 1962-64
PREVIOUS ALL-TIME TEAM: None
HONORS: First Team All-Big Sky in 1963 and (unanimous) in 1964
A CLOSER LOOK: They call Dan Sundling "Runner," and that alone should tell us that his emergence as a star running back at Montana State marked the transformation of the school's run game from a deception-based option attack to a power game with a featured back. Sundling was certainly that. In 1963 the Glendive product "came from sophomore obscurity when he barely earned a ltter to rate as one of MSC's all-time great backs," according to the school's brilliant Sports Information Director Ken Nicholson in the 1964 football media guide. He rambled for 672 yards as a junior, landing First Team All-Big Sky honors. His breakout season included a school-record 144 yards against Montana. His individual numbers dipped a bit the next season, but the team flourished. He repeated as a First Team All-Big Sky choice after rushing for 440 yards on 100 carries as the co-captain helped lead the Cats to their first championship in their new league. Sundling was considered one of the school's best ball-carriers in history when his career ended, and that was likely true, but what his exceptional career did was usher in the era of the Bobcat feature back. For 20 years the mantle was passed from one great back to the next - Sundling to fellow Glendive product Don Hass to Paul Schafer to (after a respite) Wayne Edwards to Steve Kracher to Tom Kostrba to Delmar Jones. to Tony Boddie. that the trend was initiated by a guy called Runner seems pretty cool.
FROM FORMER BOBCAT PHIL SCHNEIDER: "That Runner was a tough son of a gun for his size. He was a raw-boned, small running back that was all heart."
Dan Sundling, HB, 1962-64
PREVIOUS ALL-TIME TEAM: None
HONORS: First Team All-Big Sky in 1963 and (unanimous) in 1964
A CLOSER LOOK: They call Dan Sundling "Runner," and that alone should tell us that his emergence as a star running back at Montana State marked the transformation of the school's run game from a deception-based option attack to a power game with a featured back. Sundling was certainly that. In 1963 the Glendive product "came from sophomore obscurity when he barely earned a ltter to rate as one of MSC's all-time great backs," according to the school's brilliant Sports Information Director Ken Nicholson in the 1964 football media guide. He rambled for 672 yards as a junior, landing First Team All-Big Sky honors. His breakout season included a school-record 144 yards against Montana. His individual numbers dipped a bit the next season, but the team flourished. He repeated as a First Team All-Big Sky choice after rushing for 440 yards on 100 carries as the co-captain helped lead the Cats to their first championship in their new league. Sundling was considered one of the school's best ball-carriers in history when his career ended, and that was likely true, but what his exceptional career did was usher in the era of the Bobcat feature back. For 20 years the mantle was passed from one great back to the next - Sundling to fellow Glendive product Don Hass to Paul Schafer to (after a respite) Wayne Edwards to Steve Kracher to Tom Kostrba to Delmar Jones. to Tony Boddie. that the trend was initiated by a guy called Runner seems pretty cool.
FROM FORMER BOBCAT PHIL SCHNEIDER: "That Runner was a tough son of a gun for his size. He was a raw-boned, small running back that was all heart."
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