Montana Lady Griz coaching Hall of Famer Robin Selvig will be honored over the weekend culminating a legendary 38-year career.
I was fortunate to share eight years during the late 80s and early 90s some of which I want to share with you.
UM was one of the few teams in the country and the sole entity in what then was the Mountain West Conference to have their games on the airways.
I had never done play-by-play when the UM administration approached me while I was doing the public address at Dornblaser Field and asked if I was interested in being “The Voice of the Lady Griz.”
I had just won the PA position in a voice off the previous spring something else I had never done and was spinning country discs at KGVO after Mike Doty heard me describing moonlight bowling on the mike at Five Valleys Bowl.
So the whole thing was quite new to me and little did I know I would still be on the air describing UM games more than 30 years later.
During those early years not all the games were carried on the radio and the budget was so thin that I always rode in the rental car with Robin and shared his room which was quite a trip. And when we were lost – which happened frequently – we know whose fault it was.
Bo, as I know him from his college nickname when he played at UM the last three years for Jud Heathcote, is one intense dude between the lines, quite different off the court, and his highly successful Lady Griz teams were comprised of young women who became family.
Selvig teams were always comprised of the best of Montana high school from the far corners of the state and seldom did a player make the court in their first season instead redshirting to get faster and stronger. In my time I believe there was but one JC player and of course no drop downs.
An absolute riot to travel with every trip had something as Bo’s philosophy included visiting interesting historical sites, the best restaurants the program could afford, and even going to Disneyland with the entire team.
Road trips sometimes were close to a week long and took us even to the east coast as well as a Hawaii tournament.
Since few programs broadcast games it also was always a challenge just getting the game on the air – like stringing several hundred feet of telephone line – then to get him to find my location for the post game.
And we had our share of minor disagreements about the room television as he tried to watch game film and I favored the professional bowling association.
And some of those years I also was writing the game story for the Missoulian.
With a nationwide reputation Bo retires with the eighth most current wins, 865, 21 trips to the NCAA, 24 league titles and 21 Coach of the Year awards.
He will be honored at the Doubletree Friday night and during Saturday evening’s Lady Griz game and it will be quite a night.
Selvig also is the featured speaker at the Great Futures breakfast of the Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County at Kwa Taq Nuk Resort-Casino in Polson on Feb. 15.
The breakfast and program is complimentary and starts at 7:40 a.m.
