Big Sky Conference welcomes inaugural hall of fame class

The Big Sky Conference celebrated its inaugural class of Hall of Famers on Saturday at the Davenport Grand, and aptly the Big Sky state was well represented.

Eight of the 14 members of the class attended the banquet, and of those eight, five played or coached for Montana or Montana State during their college careers. Even John Friesz – the Idaho Vandals’ lone representative in the group – was born in Missoula.

Future classes promise to be more diverse as far as the institutions they represent – Eastern Washington didn’t have any alumni among the six Big Sky schools that were part of the inaugural class – but this first group includes many names whose notable careers continued far past their time in the conference.

There was Jan Stenerud, the oldest inductee in attendance and already a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He first moved from Norway to Montana State on a skiing scholarship and later joined the football team right after the Big Sky Conference was formed in 1963.

“I know that American football is a little bit better known than ski jumping in this country,” the 79-year-old Stenerud said . “I’m fully aware of that.”

Fellow Bobcats athlete Ellie (Rudy) van Swearingen also attended. She won the pole vault national indoor championship in 2007 and 2008, and before the banquet called the Big Sky a “special” conference.

“If someone says Big Sky Conference, I feel like we’re family,” she said. “I feel like we should know each other. Probably the same way you should feel about your alma mater.”

Three Montana Grizzlies graduates are part of the class as well: women’s basketball coach Robin Selvig, women’s basketball player Shannon (Cate) Schweyen and quarterback Dave Dickenson.

Dickenson averaged 316.5 yards per game for the Grizzlies from 1992 to 1995, a figure that ranks second most on the Big Sky’s career passing list. After a prolific career in the Canadian Football League as a player, he has been the head coach of the Calgary Stampeders – who are on their bye week – since 2016.

Selvig spent his entire coaching career at Montana, where in 38 years from 1978 to 2016 his teams won 865 games. That ranks 11th among women’s basketball coaches.

“It’s a heck of an honor,” said Selvig, who also played at Montana from 1970-74, when Gonzaga was a member of the conference. “You look back (at how the) Big Sky Conference has (enabled) women’s sports to have a platform and grow as it has. It’s quite humbling and quite an honor.”

Two-time Olympian Lopez Lomong and track and field coach Ron Mann attended and were among two of the three Northern Arizona representatives in the class, along with Olympic runner Angela Chalmers.

Lomong lives in Portland and had not spent time in the Spokane area since competing against Eastern Washington in Cheney during his Big Sky career, from 2005 to 2007. He was pleased to return for the ceremony.

“I think it’s incredible. It’s a great celebration of our sport. Our sport is growing, and it’s good to be able to bring everybody together,” Lomong said, referring to inductees who represent a variety of sports. “We are here to inspire the young generations. … Football players, basketball players, everybody together, this is what the Big Sky Conference is all about.”

Other inductees include Jack Friel, the conference’s first commissioner after whom the basketball court inside Washington State University’s Beasley Coliseum is named. After coaching high school basketball at Colville and North Central, Friel coached Washington State’s men’s basketball team from 1928 to 1958. He died in 1995 at age 97.

Idaho State has three representatives in the class, including Olympic pole vaulter Stacy Dragila, administrator and track and field coach Milton “Dubby” Holt, and defensive end Jared Allen, who played for the Bengals from 2000 to 2003 before playing 187 games in the NFL.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is the lone men’s basketball player among the class. With Weber State during the 2011-12 college season, he finished second in the nation in scoring at 24.5 points per game. As a pro, Lillard is a six-time NBA All-Star.

The banquet was part of the Big Sky’s Football Kickoff weekend.

On Monday, the conference will release its preseason honors and polls for the upcoming fall season.