My freshman year, I froze my ass off sitting in the "new" Dornblaser field, and watched the Cats crush us in the old ugly stadium in Bozeman. But next year... WaGriz opened with that game against Eastern. I don't remember much (good tailgate parties!), but the Griz got a gift from the refs. I can't remember the Eastern coach's name, but he was a character and said he 'always felt like a whore on a Saturday night when he came to Missoula.' Great start to the era!
Say what you will about all the great players and coaches we've had that helped build the Grizzly football program into what it is today, but who ever made the decision to locate WaGriz where it it today, and the people who decided against making it a multipurpose stadium, and the architects and engineers who designed and planned the stadium deserve a TON of credit for the success we've enjoyed all these years. I remember thinking 'wow, this is a real stadium. It actually looks different that the usual high-school pile of metal bleachers I was used to seeing.' And it kept growing from there, and the Cats still haven't come close to catching up.
I hate to think what would have happened if we got stuck with one of those concrete multi-purpose stadiums that were so popular in the mid/early 80's. Just imagine how different things would be if there was a track between the field and stands. ugh...
