mtgrizrule
Well-known member
Nice article, I am hard on him. Articles like this are nice to give better insight of a person. Speaking of which, he seems like a great person, and kudos to his family for making it through a very adverse situation and doing well. :thumb:
Montana is more than just letters stitched across the front of Jack McGillis’ basketball jersey.
It’s the ranch in Choteau where he was born, the youngest of Chip and Terri McGillis’ three children.
It’s snowboarding at Snowbowl.
It’s wakeboarding on Flathead Lake.
It’s family.
It’s a place that’s not always easy to define, yet the allure is undeniable. And sometimes it’s a little easier to see from a distance. It’s a place with enough gravity to pull a native son home from a promising basketball career in the Pac 10.
“It’s a pretty big honor having the opportunity to play for your home state,” said McGillis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward for the Griz who played his first two seasons of college ball at Oregon State. “It kind of means a little bit more as far as pride goes. When you go on the road, you represent your home state of Montana. When you put the jersey on, you know you represent so much more than just trying to get a win. It’s your family and friends, the alumni – it matters.”
McGillis took the scenic route home. After leading Missoula Hellgate to the 2005 State AA championship – he was named the state tournament MVP – lots of schools showed interest in McGillis. But the best the Griz could offer was an opportunity to walk on with a chance to earn a scholarship.
Washington coach Lorenzo Romar made the same offer and McGillis accepted. But then the Beavers came calling with a scholarship that was too good to turn down, so McGillis began his career in Corvallis, Ore.
“I think it was important for Jack to go away to school,” his mother Terri said. “He just excelled at Oregon State. He became very close to his tutor there. He studied a lot and his grade point average was very high. He was given an award in their school of business for their most outstanding business student. Without a lot of other things to do, he really focused on his academics and his commitment as a basketball player.”
McGillis agrees it was a valuable experience.
“I grew up a lot,” he said. “Athletically, I got a lot better as a basketball player. As a person, I’m so glad I got away for the first two years of college and got to experience something different. It was a fun experience. When I came back, I was ready to come back.”
And his family was ready to have him back. His sisters, Macall and Courtney, both attended UM. His maternal grandparents, Jack and Joanne Long, are fixtures at Griz games. And his mother Terri, who shouldered the load of raising her three children after Chip was killed in a car accident when Jack was 5, has missed only a handful of her son’s games at home or on the road, at Montana or Oregon State.
To say Jack and Terri are close doesn’t begin to describe the relationship.
“We’re like very, very close, like best friends,” Terri said. “He lost his dad when he was 5. That was a big part of why I’m 100 percent behind him. When he was in Oregon, if he called and said he needed me to be there I’d get up at 5 in the morning and drive to Portland and go to the game and drive back the next day.”
“Growing up it was me, my two sisters and her,” Jack said. “Growing up seeing a single mom raising three kids, I guess it was a little different household. Maybe that led to the openness and the strong relationship we have. We were always really close, it was not your typical mother-son relationship.”
Those family ties, Terri says, are a big reason McGillis wears the Maroon & Silver.
“He misses his dad every day,” Terri said. “He misses his father not being at the games. The feelings he has makes me overcompensate because the male role model in his life has been my father and that’s a big part of why he transferred back to Missoula. My dad’s 78 and he wanted to be able to play for my parents. They’ve been extremely involved in his life.”
In her seat opposite the Griz bench in Dahlberg Arena, Terri can be a vocal fan.
“She’s so funny, she yells the most random things,” Jack said. “Before I started playing basketball my mom had no background in sports. A lot of guys on the team come from sporting families, but that’s not my situation. She was a cheerleader in high school, so it’s like she’s cheering over there.
“After the games she asks me about aspects of the game. It’s pretty funny listening to her comments. Usually it’s along the lines of, ‘No. 22 is so mean to you guys. He was the biggest meanie out there. What’s his problem?’ or ‘Why’d that ref foul you out? What’s his deal?’ ”
McGillis immediately opened eyes at Oregon State. He played in 28 games as a true freshman, even starting once. He started six of 32 games as a sophomore, averaged 5.7 points a game and scored what is still his career high of 24 points in an overtime loss to Cal.
But the key thing to note is that the majority of what McGillis accomplished at OSU came in losses. The Beavers were 15 games below .500 – 8-28 in league games – in his two years in the Pac 10.
“I just wanted to win,” McGillis said. “In my basketball career at OSU, that’s something I really didn’t get to experience that much. I had my individual success, but winning as a team far outweighs that. Coming here, that was my main goal. I wanted to fit in how ever I could and make that happen.”
It hasn’t been with eye-popping numbers. McGillis averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds last season and is averaging 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds this season heading into Saturday’s game at arch-rival Montana State.
“He’s played his junior and senior years with one of the best guards we’ve had in Anthony Johnson, then we had (Jordan) Hasquet last year and now (Brian) Qvale and (Derek) Selvig,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said. “I think he’s surrounded by more overall talent than what he played with in his freshman and sophomore years. That might explain why his stats aren’t jumping through the roof.”
“Different situations have different results, but at the end of the day college basketball is college basketball,” McGillis said. “I don’t need to go out and score 20 points a night for us to win. My role is defense and rebounding and if that’s what I have to do in order for this team to be successful, I’m fine with that. I just try to play with aggression every night and try to maintain that attitude, defend and rebound, and that’s the equation for this team to be successful.
“That wasn’t the situation at Oregon State. We have an opportunity to make the postseason and go to the NCAA tournament. That would have never happened had I stayed at Oregon State.”
The Griz went 17-12 in McGillis’ junior year, including a disheartening home loss to Montana State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Griz are currently 13-6 overall and 4-3 in league, facing three more road games before playing four of their final six at home.
“I think the way things are headed that we’re going to peak at the right time,” McGillis said. “Our goal is to win our conference tournament. Each game is obviously extremely significant as far as postseason seeding goes and fighting to host the tournament. Realistically, we can win our tournament if we do the things we’re capable of doing, and make a postseason appearance.
“It’s been a fun ride and the script really hasn’t ended. We still have a lot of potential that hasn’t been reached and we still have an ending that could be great.”
He’s Angus Donald McGillis IV to those who know him best. His father went by Chip and Chip’s father by Don. Jack comes from Terri’s father. Tinkle occasionally calls him Angus and that’s all his good friend Hasquet calls him.
He’s proud of the lineage. His father’s death at 33 has given McGillis a perspective not shared by many 20-somethings.
“I used it as motivation later in life,” McGillis said of how he coped with his father’s death. “There were times when obviously it was trying. There were some trials and tribulations early on. I didn’t want to sit there and dwell on it, have excuses or feel sorry for myself. I had to keep moving forward and firing on all cylinders and use it to breed success in my life.
“You take everything with a grain of salt. You don’t take anything for granted, knowing that it’s never as bad as it seems and it’s never as good as it seems. In the grand scheme of things a loss isn’t as bad as it seems after you’ve been through something like that.”
Tinkle appreciates the winding road that has led McGillis back to Missoula.
“I’m super proud of how far he’s come with what he’s gone through,” Tinkle said. “Obviously, he has great support from family and friends. It’s not an easy thing being a local kid, coming in and trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations. I think Jack’s done a nice job of keeping everyone else’s perception and expectations separate from what the team needs him to do.”
McGillis will graduate in the spring with a double major of political science and communications, earning his final credits this summer while studying for two weeks in Germany and two more in Italy. Then he’ll bum around Europe for a while longer with his cousin Austin Mullins, the former Grizzly football player. He’s taken and performed well on his entrance exams for law school, something he’ll pursue after he’s taken a year off. A career in politics might await.
His sights right now, however, are set squarely on getting his team to the postseason. Having Montana on the front of that jersey will make it all the more special.
“I was born on a ranch in Montana ... I think that helped shape me as a person,” McGillis said. “Going out of Montana and looking in, Montana just has this essence about it. Going away I realized that and you don’t realize it just growing up in Montana. You have to get away to really realize that. I love Montana, I always will. It’s such a unique state that people kind of take for granted when they live here – the resources, the things you can do, the people I know; it’s pretty special.”
Montana is more than just letters stitched across the front of Jack McGillis’ basketball jersey.
It’s the ranch in Choteau where he was born, the youngest of Chip and Terri McGillis’ three children.
It’s snowboarding at Snowbowl.
It’s wakeboarding on Flathead Lake.
It’s family.
It’s a place that’s not always easy to define, yet the allure is undeniable. And sometimes it’s a little easier to see from a distance. It’s a place with enough gravity to pull a native son home from a promising basketball career in the Pac 10.
“It’s a pretty big honor having the opportunity to play for your home state,” said McGillis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward for the Griz who played his first two seasons of college ball at Oregon State. “It kind of means a little bit more as far as pride goes. When you go on the road, you represent your home state of Montana. When you put the jersey on, you know you represent so much more than just trying to get a win. It’s your family and friends, the alumni – it matters.”
McGillis took the scenic route home. After leading Missoula Hellgate to the 2005 State AA championship – he was named the state tournament MVP – lots of schools showed interest in McGillis. But the best the Griz could offer was an opportunity to walk on with a chance to earn a scholarship.
Washington coach Lorenzo Romar made the same offer and McGillis accepted. But then the Beavers came calling with a scholarship that was too good to turn down, so McGillis began his career in Corvallis, Ore.
“I think it was important for Jack to go away to school,” his mother Terri said. “He just excelled at Oregon State. He became very close to his tutor there. He studied a lot and his grade point average was very high. He was given an award in their school of business for their most outstanding business student. Without a lot of other things to do, he really focused on his academics and his commitment as a basketball player.”
McGillis agrees it was a valuable experience.
“I grew up a lot,” he said. “Athletically, I got a lot better as a basketball player. As a person, I’m so glad I got away for the first two years of college and got to experience something different. It was a fun experience. When I came back, I was ready to come back.”
And his family was ready to have him back. His sisters, Macall and Courtney, both attended UM. His maternal grandparents, Jack and Joanne Long, are fixtures at Griz games. And his mother Terri, who shouldered the load of raising her three children after Chip was killed in a car accident when Jack was 5, has missed only a handful of her son’s games at home or on the road, at Montana or Oregon State.
To say Jack and Terri are close doesn’t begin to describe the relationship.
“We’re like very, very close, like best friends,” Terri said. “He lost his dad when he was 5. That was a big part of why I’m 100 percent behind him. When he was in Oregon, if he called and said he needed me to be there I’d get up at 5 in the morning and drive to Portland and go to the game and drive back the next day.”
“Growing up it was me, my two sisters and her,” Jack said. “Growing up seeing a single mom raising three kids, I guess it was a little different household. Maybe that led to the openness and the strong relationship we have. We were always really close, it was not your typical mother-son relationship.”
Those family ties, Terri says, are a big reason McGillis wears the Maroon & Silver.
“He misses his dad every day,” Terri said. “He misses his father not being at the games. The feelings he has makes me overcompensate because the male role model in his life has been my father and that’s a big part of why he transferred back to Missoula. My dad’s 78 and he wanted to be able to play for my parents. They’ve been extremely involved in his life.”
In her seat opposite the Griz bench in Dahlberg Arena, Terri can be a vocal fan.
“She’s so funny, she yells the most random things,” Jack said. “Before I started playing basketball my mom had no background in sports. A lot of guys on the team come from sporting families, but that’s not my situation. She was a cheerleader in high school, so it’s like she’s cheering over there.
“After the games she asks me about aspects of the game. It’s pretty funny listening to her comments. Usually it’s along the lines of, ‘No. 22 is so mean to you guys. He was the biggest meanie out there. What’s his problem?’ or ‘Why’d that ref foul you out? What’s his deal?’ ”
McGillis immediately opened eyes at Oregon State. He played in 28 games as a true freshman, even starting once. He started six of 32 games as a sophomore, averaged 5.7 points a game and scored what is still his career high of 24 points in an overtime loss to Cal.
But the key thing to note is that the majority of what McGillis accomplished at OSU came in losses. The Beavers were 15 games below .500 – 8-28 in league games – in his two years in the Pac 10.
“I just wanted to win,” McGillis said. “In my basketball career at OSU, that’s something I really didn’t get to experience that much. I had my individual success, but winning as a team far outweighs that. Coming here, that was my main goal. I wanted to fit in how ever I could and make that happen.”
It hasn’t been with eye-popping numbers. McGillis averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds last season and is averaging 6.1 points and 3.7 rebounds this season heading into Saturday’s game at arch-rival Montana State.
“He’s played his junior and senior years with one of the best guards we’ve had in Anthony Johnson, then we had (Jordan) Hasquet last year and now (Brian) Qvale and (Derek) Selvig,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said. “I think he’s surrounded by more overall talent than what he played with in his freshman and sophomore years. That might explain why his stats aren’t jumping through the roof.”
“Different situations have different results, but at the end of the day college basketball is college basketball,” McGillis said. “I don’t need to go out and score 20 points a night for us to win. My role is defense and rebounding and if that’s what I have to do in order for this team to be successful, I’m fine with that. I just try to play with aggression every night and try to maintain that attitude, defend and rebound, and that’s the equation for this team to be successful.
“That wasn’t the situation at Oregon State. We have an opportunity to make the postseason and go to the NCAA tournament. That would have never happened had I stayed at Oregon State.”
The Griz went 17-12 in McGillis’ junior year, including a disheartening home loss to Montana State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Griz are currently 13-6 overall and 4-3 in league, facing three more road games before playing four of their final six at home.
“I think the way things are headed that we’re going to peak at the right time,” McGillis said. “Our goal is to win our conference tournament. Each game is obviously extremely significant as far as postseason seeding goes and fighting to host the tournament. Realistically, we can win our tournament if we do the things we’re capable of doing, and make a postseason appearance.
“It’s been a fun ride and the script really hasn’t ended. We still have a lot of potential that hasn’t been reached and we still have an ending that could be great.”
He’s Angus Donald McGillis IV to those who know him best. His father went by Chip and Chip’s father by Don. Jack comes from Terri’s father. Tinkle occasionally calls him Angus and that’s all his good friend Hasquet calls him.
He’s proud of the lineage. His father’s death at 33 has given McGillis a perspective not shared by many 20-somethings.
“I used it as motivation later in life,” McGillis said of how he coped with his father’s death. “There were times when obviously it was trying. There were some trials and tribulations early on. I didn’t want to sit there and dwell on it, have excuses or feel sorry for myself. I had to keep moving forward and firing on all cylinders and use it to breed success in my life.
“You take everything with a grain of salt. You don’t take anything for granted, knowing that it’s never as bad as it seems and it’s never as good as it seems. In the grand scheme of things a loss isn’t as bad as it seems after you’ve been through something like that.”
Tinkle appreciates the winding road that has led McGillis back to Missoula.
“I’m super proud of how far he’s come with what he’s gone through,” Tinkle said. “Obviously, he has great support from family and friends. It’s not an easy thing being a local kid, coming in and trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations. I think Jack’s done a nice job of keeping everyone else’s perception and expectations separate from what the team needs him to do.”
McGillis will graduate in the spring with a double major of political science and communications, earning his final credits this summer while studying for two weeks in Germany and two more in Italy. Then he’ll bum around Europe for a while longer with his cousin Austin Mullins, the former Grizzly football player. He’s taken and performed well on his entrance exams for law school, something he’ll pursue after he’s taken a year off. A career in politics might await.
His sights right now, however, are set squarely on getting his team to the postseason. Having Montana on the front of that jersey will make it all the more special.
“I was born on a ranch in Montana ... I think that helped shape me as a person,” McGillis said. “Going out of Montana and looking in, Montana just has this essence about it. Going away I realized that and you don’t realize it just growing up in Montana. You have to get away to really realize that. I love Montana, I always will. It’s such a unique state that people kind of take for granted when they live here – the resources, the things you can do, the people I know; it’s pretty special.”
