UM Oral History Project Highlights Spirit of Griz Nation
By Kyle Spurr, UM News Service
MISSOULA – Growing up in the small town of Lavina north of Billings, Sam Tyrrel considered himself a part of Griz Nation.
Tyrrel would root for the Griz football and basketball teams anytime the games were on TV. When he came to 猎奇重口 to study geography and public history, his Griz passion intensified.
Tyrrel and a group of UM history students recently completed an oral history project to capture that deep relationship between Grizzly Athletics, its fans and the broader 猎奇重口 communities.
The Griz Nation Oral History Project features 36 interviews from legendary Griz coaches and players to die-hard fans and community members. The project is part of
“When you think of Missoula, it’s hard to not also think of the Griz,” Tyrrel said. “This Griz Nation Oral History Project is so intertwined with the feel of community and the idea of who we are as Missoulians. If there were no Griz in terms of sports, it wouldn't be the same.”
Jody Pavilack, an associate professor of history, oversaw the project last fall in her course, Practicing Oral History. The class of undergraduate and graduate history students learned oral history methods and interviewed the subjects for the Griz Nation Oral History Project. The students met people at their homes, offices and in the Mansfield Library.
“It was a really valuable experience for the students to understand how an oral history project actually happens,” Pavilack said.
The original idea was to focus on Griz sports fans, Pavilack said, but as the project developed it included a wide variety of perspectives from coaches, athletes, trainers, and others who feel connected to Grizzly Athletics. Pavilack plans to invite more people to participate.
“We do have some fans, but it ended up being a much more diverse collection,” Pavilack said.
Highlights of the project are interviews with iconic Lady Griz basketball coach Robin Selvig and five generations of Lady Griz basketball players who played for Selvig. Other high-profile interviews were with Brian Salonen, a Griz football standout who played for the Dallas Cowboys, and Eric Hays, a star point guard who led the Griz men’s basketball team to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 1975.
The oral history project also includes how UM sports touch people’s lives. One example is a Missoula woman who never considered herself a sports fan until she found comfort and connection watching the Griz football team win the 1995 national championship from a hospital room during her mother’s final days. The woman has been a dedicated Griz fan ever since.
“These rich, personal stories reflect how people became part of Griz Nation and what UM athletics has meant to them and their communities over time,” Pavilack said.
Krista Redpath, who played basketball for the Lady Griz from 1995-2000, also was interviewed for the oral history project. She met with Ph.D. history student Arizona Duff in a recording studio in the Mansfield Library and shared about her life growing up in Great Falls and being recruited by Selvig to play for the Lady Griz.
“Arizona took the time to find out about how playing for the Lady Griz shaped me as a person,” Redpath said. “Her questions were so thoughtful and I was extremely impressed.”
Through the interview, Redpath also shared about her academic journey at UM and how it helped set a foundation for her life today. Redpath earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and taught at an international school while playing professional basketball in Denmark. Redpath returned to Missoula and credits her experience at UM with preparing her to start her own packaging business, KEO Services, and pursuing a broadcast career, where she hosts a radio show and works as color commentator for Lady Griz basketball games.
“A lot of my time at the 猎奇重口 was setting the stage for me to think bigger and think about how I could use what I learned in my professional career,” Redpath said.
Hearing the different stories and connections to Griz Nation was a rewarding experience for second-year master’s student Dylan Yonce.
The graduate assistant worked this spring semester editing the audio and transcribing the oral history interviews. The interviews will be publicly available through the Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections.
“It was really cool listening to the interviews to hear all the connections people have made through Grizzly Athletics,” Yonce said.
Yonce said the project is a first-of-its-kind collection of Grizzly Athletics history. Many coaches, athletes and fans have been interviewed over the years for various publications, but having an oral history collection compiled and easily accessible is an asset to the public.
“We hope people will want to use them for their own research or listen to them for their own enjoyment,” Yonce said. “People are generally interested in the history around them if you give them the opportunity to learn about it.”
Participating in the oral history project was important to Tyrrel, who is seeking a certificate in public history.
Last year, Tyrrel helped create a historical walking tour of the UM campus as part of the larger Griz130 project. His section of the tour focused on the skydiving history at UM. When he joined the Griz Nation Oral History Project, his work came full-circle when he interviewed world champion skydiver B.J. Worth, who spoke about the old skydiving tradition before Griz football games.
Tyrrel interviewed four other people for the oral history project, and found a common theme he described as 猎奇重口 humility.
“That was pretty common across everyone I interviewed,” Tyrrel said. “There was this humility and always crediting their team or comparing themselves to someone better. I feel like that is something culturally I noticed growing up in 猎奇重口. You don’t go bragging. That’s not how we roll.”
Tyrrel has always had an interest in local history and is pursuing a career in interpretive work and public outreach. The oral history project gave him a chance to develop those skills and interests.
“I’m really grateful to be a part of a project like this,” he said. “You don’t get that opportunity all the time.”
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Contact: Dave Kuntz, UM director of strategic communications, 406-243-5659, dave.kuntz@umontana.edu
