Brody Grebe reps No. 41 with pride for Montana State
Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services
LEGACY: Forty One is More Than a Jersey Number at Montana State
12/30/2024 9:24:00 PM | Football
The Legacy of Bobcats Lost in World War II, Montana's status as 41st state imbue strong meaning in MSU's legacy jersey
The number 41 held deep meaning at Montana State University decades before Bobcat football coach Jeff Choate's walks through Brick Breeden Fieldhouse inspired him to ask senior safety Brayden Konkol of Belgrade to wear that jersey number during the 2019 season.
"There's that plaque on the south wall near the facilities offices," Choate said of the marker memorializing the school's football players lost during World War II. "I'm kind of a manager-by-walking-around, and also a history guy, so I probably read that plaque 20 times.
That plaque served as inspiration for creating a legacy jersey in the MSU program, with a senior from Montana wearing No. 41 every season as a tribute to Montana's status as the 41st state admitted to the Union while honoring the school's 1941 football team, emblematic of the deep losses the school suffered during World War II.
"There isn't just an emotional tie to 41," Choate said, "there's real substance because of Montana being the 41st state and the '41 team."
Bobcat football's heritage of pride runs deep. Former head coach Mike Kramer introduced the block M helmet decal as a nod to the large M on Mount Baldy in 200, and at the suggestion of President Waded Cruzado the MSU rodeo team leads the team into Bobcat Stadium before each home game as a tribute to the school's agricultural heritage. Choate introduced helmet decals including the state's flag, the 406 area code, and the 3-7-77 portion of state law enforcement's motto.
Current Bobcat coach Brent Vigen enhanced the tradition this year, adding a uniform patch with the number 41 as a nod toward the jersey tradition and the Treasure State. Vigen also helped create a tradition of the flag handoff before home games, with a former Bobcat from Montana handing the state flag to the current team member designated to carry the state flag into Bobcat Stadium that day.
The idea for introducing a legacy jersey coalesced in the days leading up to the 2018 Cat-Griz game, and when Bozeman's Grant Collins, who wore 41 that season, made several game-changing plays to spark Montana State's come-from-behind win in Missoula that year Choate was moved to action. "Even going back to players like Brad Daly, there were so many great players from Montana who wore that number," he said.
The tradition of the legacy jersey in college football dates back decades. Texas A&M's No. 12 representing a culture of selflessness is worn each season by a walk-on whose only role on the team is kickoff coverage. At Syracuse, No. 44 was handed off from one star running back to another for decades until the school retired it permanently in 2015. No. 44 became so significant at Syracuse that it was incorporated into the campus address and telephone number. At Michigan, jersey No. 98 was retired for decades when it was bestowed on quarterback Devin Gardner as a legacy jersey in 2013.
For Bobcat All-America defensive end Brody Grebe, who wears No. 41 in 2024, pride stems from his relationship to his predecessors. "It's a big honor, obviously, knowing the guys before me who wore it." RJ Fitzgerald, who wore No. 41 in 2022, says it means "representing something bigger than yourself. You're representing your state, your community, your hometown, the players you've played with. Hard-nosed, tough. Montana's a ranching state that's been built on hard work, and that's kind of the root of it."
Choate said the legacy number and other symbols help players understand Bobcat football's connection to the school's heritage and the Treasure State's history. "I wanted to find ways to connect us to the state," he said. "RJ Fitzgerald and Troy Andersen took a lot of pride in the state of Montana, Grant Collins was going to bleed for his hometown school, but getting (out-of-state players such as) Jahque Alleyne or Travis Jonsen or Kevin Kassis to understand that this place is special and unique (was important), and here's some of the things that make it special and unique. So that was all part of bridging the gap between what it means to say 'I'm going to school and playing football at Montana State' and 'I'm a Bobcat.'"
Kramer, Montana State's head coach from 2000-06, grew up on a farm and through the course of his adult life has become a military historian. He says Land Grant schools in the rural west naturally served as wellsprings of patriotic duty, and that working the land strengthens ties to it. "When your (school's) mission is dedicated to the history of the state, and Montana as a farm and ranching state, it's natural that so many men (felt) obligated and compelled to defend the nation, defend the land," he said.
Connections to agriculture and military history lie in Montana State University's roots. The 1862 Morrill Act establishing Land Grant institutions required service to the state through agriculture research, extension and outreach. It also mandated military preparation for male students under 26 years of age. These foundational elements intersected in 1897 when Capt. George Ahern was assigned by the U.S. Army to Montana State to teach military science in fulfillment of the military preparation requirement. He also joined the college of agriculture faculty to teach forestry, and volunteered as an assistant football coach. When the school's first head coach, Charles Lisle, was unable to travel, Ahern took a lead role in coaching the team in road games.
Ahern was a West Point graduate who served in Montana Territory during the Sioux Wars, was assigned as Sitting Bull's consigliere for a time, and led early expeditions into what would become Glacier National Park. Less than a year later, Ahern was deployed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The strong commitment to military service Ahern helped build during the school's earliest time carried into the 20th Century, when America's two world wars hit Montana State hard.
The school lost 22 out of approximately 350 students from its 1917 enrollment during World War I, and star athlete Cy Gatton was among the most traumatic losses. Montana State students found Gatton's scrappy play against much larger foes emblematic of the school, and after his plane was shot down in France just before the Great War's Armistice in November 1918 students lobbied relentlessly to rename campus athletics fields in his honor. When the football team began playing on campus again in 1921 after calling Roundup Stadium home for three seasons, three different Gatton Fields stood as a memorial.
Montana State also suffered devastating losses during World War II. Among those who died in the war were 14 men who played on the Bobcat football teams between 1935 and 1941. That number did not include the entire starting lineup from the 1941 team, as was misreported in later years, but three of them played in 1941, and each of the "Golden Ghosts," as national sportscaster Bill Stern called them, hailed from the Treasure State. One of those men, Al Zupan from Sand Coulee, played for the 'Cats from 1934-36 and died in the war in 1943 . His brother Bill played on the 1941 team and was the only pre-war Bobcat to return to the field afterward.
Bill Zupan remained proud of his service and of his Bobcats throughout his life, so when Kramer asked him to address MSU's 2005 team on Veteran's Day he accepted enthusiastically. Zupan discussed how football and Montana State had changed through the years, the war, and most poignantly how much his teammates meant to him and the rebirth so many veterans found in returning to college and to the gridiron.
Current Bobcat football coach Brent Vigen calls the program's legacy jersey "a meaningful tradition" which he says captures the program's essence. "College football means so much in this state, and from the beginning the heart of this program has been players from Montana. When you add the deep feelings this school will always feel for the 1941 team and all the former players and students who served their country, it's one of the great traditions anywhere."
#GoCatsGo
"There's that plaque on the south wall near the facilities offices," Choate said of the marker memorializing the school's football players lost during World War II. "I'm kind of a manager-by-walking-around, and also a history guy, so I probably read that plaque 20 times.
That plaque served as inspiration for creating a legacy jersey in the MSU program, with a senior from Montana wearing No. 41 every season as a tribute to Montana's status as the 41st state admitted to the Union while honoring the school's 1941 football team, emblematic of the deep losses the school suffered during World War II.
"There isn't just an emotional tie to 41," Choate said, "there's real substance because of Montana being the 41st state and the '41 team."
Bobcat football's heritage of pride runs deep. Former head coach Mike Kramer introduced the block M helmet decal as a nod to the large M on Mount Baldy in 200, and at the suggestion of President Waded Cruzado the MSU rodeo team leads the team into Bobcat Stadium before each home game as a tribute to the school's agricultural heritage. Choate introduced helmet decals including the state's flag, the 406 area code, and the 3-7-77 portion of state law enforcement's motto.
Current Bobcat coach Brent Vigen enhanced the tradition this year, adding a uniform patch with the number 41 as a nod toward the jersey tradition and the Treasure State. Vigen also helped create a tradition of the flag handoff before home games, with a former Bobcat from Montana handing the state flag to the current team member designated to carry the state flag into Bobcat Stadium that day.
The idea for introducing a legacy jersey coalesced in the days leading up to the 2018 Cat-Griz game, and when Bozeman's Grant Collins, who wore 41 that season, made several game-changing plays to spark Montana State's come-from-behind win in Missoula that year Choate was moved to action. "Even going back to players like Brad Daly, there were so many great players from Montana who wore that number," he said.
The tradition of the legacy jersey in college football dates back decades. Texas A&M's No. 12 representing a culture of selflessness is worn each season by a walk-on whose only role on the team is kickoff coverage. At Syracuse, No. 44 was handed off from one star running back to another for decades until the school retired it permanently in 2015. No. 44 became so significant at Syracuse that it was incorporated into the campus address and telephone number. At Michigan, jersey No. 98 was retired for decades when it was bestowed on quarterback Devin Gardner as a legacy jersey in 2013.
For Bobcat All-America defensive end Brody Grebe, who wears No. 41 in 2024, pride stems from his relationship to his predecessors. "It's a big honor, obviously, knowing the guys before me who wore it." RJ Fitzgerald, who wore No. 41 in 2022, says it means "representing something bigger than yourself. You're representing your state, your community, your hometown, the players you've played with. Hard-nosed, tough. Montana's a ranching state that's been built on hard work, and that's kind of the root of it."
Choate said the legacy number and other symbols help players understand Bobcat football's connection to the school's heritage and the Treasure State's history. "I wanted to find ways to connect us to the state," he said. "RJ Fitzgerald and Troy Andersen took a lot of pride in the state of Montana, Grant Collins was going to bleed for his hometown school, but getting (out-of-state players such as) Jahque Alleyne or Travis Jonsen or Kevin Kassis to understand that this place is special and unique (was important), and here's some of the things that make it special and unique. So that was all part of bridging the gap between what it means to say 'I'm going to school and playing football at Montana State' and 'I'm a Bobcat.'"
Kramer, Montana State's head coach from 2000-06, grew up on a farm and through the course of his adult life has become a military historian. He says Land Grant schools in the rural west naturally served as wellsprings of patriotic duty, and that working the land strengthens ties to it. "When your (school's) mission is dedicated to the history of the state, and Montana as a farm and ranching state, it's natural that so many men (felt) obligated and compelled to defend the nation, defend the land," he said.
Connections to agriculture and military history lie in Montana State University's roots. The 1862 Morrill Act establishing Land Grant institutions required service to the state through agriculture research, extension and outreach. It also mandated military preparation for male students under 26 years of age. These foundational elements intersected in 1897 when Capt. George Ahern was assigned by the U.S. Army to Montana State to teach military science in fulfillment of the military preparation requirement. He also joined the college of agriculture faculty to teach forestry, and volunteered as an assistant football coach. When the school's first head coach, Charles Lisle, was unable to travel, Ahern took a lead role in coaching the team in road games.
Ahern was a West Point graduate who served in Montana Territory during the Sioux Wars, was assigned as Sitting Bull's consigliere for a time, and led early expeditions into what would become Glacier National Park. Less than a year later, Ahern was deployed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The strong commitment to military service Ahern helped build during the school's earliest time carried into the 20th Century, when America's two world wars hit Montana State hard.
The school lost 22 out of approximately 350 students from its 1917 enrollment during World War I, and star athlete Cy Gatton was among the most traumatic losses. Montana State students found Gatton's scrappy play against much larger foes emblematic of the school, and after his plane was shot down in France just before the Great War's Armistice in November 1918 students lobbied relentlessly to rename campus athletics fields in his honor. When the football team began playing on campus again in 1921 after calling Roundup Stadium home for three seasons, three different Gatton Fields stood as a memorial.
Montana State also suffered devastating losses during World War II. Among those who died in the war were 14 men who played on the Bobcat football teams between 1935 and 1941. That number did not include the entire starting lineup from the 1941 team, as was misreported in later years, but three of them played in 1941, and each of the "Golden Ghosts," as national sportscaster Bill Stern called them, hailed from the Treasure State. One of those men, Al Zupan from Sand Coulee, played for the 'Cats from 1934-36 and died in the war in 1943 . His brother Bill played on the 1941 team and was the only pre-war Bobcat to return to the field afterward.
Bill Zupan remained proud of his service and of his Bobcats throughout his life, so when Kramer asked him to address MSU's 2005 team on Veteran's Day he accepted enthusiastically. Zupan discussed how football and Montana State had changed through the years, the war, and most poignantly how much his teammates meant to him and the rebirth so many veterans found in returning to college and to the gridiron.
Current Bobcat football coach Brent Vigen calls the program's legacy jersey "a meaningful tradition" which he says captures the program's essence. "College football means so much in this state, and from the beginning the heart of this program has been players from Montana. When you add the deep feelings this school will always feel for the 1941 team and all the former players and students who served their country, it's one of the great traditions anywhere."
#GoCatsGo
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