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Sam McCullum

GGNez

GGNez

Well-known member
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Sam played for the Vikings and Seahawks in the 1970's and '80's. Prior to that, he played for the Bobcats.

He was inducted to the Montana Football Hall of Fame last Saturday and his speech was truly profound and touching. He spoke of leaving Mississippi in 1967 because of his father's military career. He landed in Kalispell and found that the racist world he was accustomed to didn't exist in Montana. He was welcomed. That made me feel so proud. He went on to describe himself as an insecure kid without much support or guidance. From a couple of great coaches and his "football family" he was able to thrive and ultimately succeed in the NFL, despite never participating in sports prior to his Junior year in high school. I'll have the entire speech in a couple of days and will share it.

You all know of my efforts to inform and clear up misconceptions about sexual assault prevention efforts. Now, I'm compiling stories from people like Sam in order to show the positive, life-altering effects that football can have on young men. Any input from former players here would be helpful and greatly appreciated.
 
I think McCollum teamed with Brent Wilson to take Kalispell to the state Big 32 hoops championship, where Wolf Point and the Weeks brothers beat Kalispell. Wilson, who was 6’ 10” or more, went to Colo St and then transferred to MSU. Willie Weeks played for the Cats too. Wilson crowned his basketball career by playing City League with meninbGrewt Falls when we were in our mid 40’s. He was a good guy. Lost track of him.

This post may be subject to improvement.
 
PlayerRep said:
I think McCollum teamed with Brent Wilson to take Kalispell to the state Big 32 hoops championship, where Wolf Point and the Weeks brothers beat Kalispell. Wilson, who was 6’ 10” or more, went to Colo St and then transferred to MSU. Willie Weeks played for the Cats too. Wilson crowned his basketball career by playing City League with meninbGrewt Falls when we were in our mid 40’s. He was a good guy. Lost track of him.

This post may be subject to improvement.
Click to expand...

Not to nit pick, but Wilson began his college days at MSU under Holst (I think that's who replaced Craft) and the transferred to CSU.
 
GGNez said:
Sam played for the Vikings and Seahawks in the 1970's and '80's. Prior to that, he played for the Bobcats.

He was inducted to the Montana Football Hall of Fame last Saturday and his speech was truly profound and touching. He spoke of leaving Mississippi in 1967 because of his father's military career. He landed in Kalispell and found that the racist world he was accustomed to didn't exist in Montana. He was welcomed. That made me feel so proud. He went on to describe himself as an insecure kid without much support or guidance. From a couple of great coaches and his "football family" he was able to thrive and ultimately succeed in the NFL, despite never participating in sports prior to his Junior year in high school. I'll have the entire speech in a couple of days and will share it.

You all know of my efforts to inform and clear up misconceptions about sexual assault prevention efforts. Now, I'm compiling stories from people like Sam in order to show the positive, life-altering effects that football can have on young men. Any input from former players here would be helpful and greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Sam is the reason that NFL players are afforded the opportunity to go into free agency such as Chris Long has been able to do the last two years. Prior to his lawsuit against the NFL, a kid was locked into lifetime contracts with whatever team signed them. The f**king Vikings cut him because of the lawsuit and the chickenhawks picked him up and he finished his career in that sh*thole.
 
Sam was a great receiver. He also ran punts back for a game or two. If I recall correctly he ran horizontally pretty well but didn’t do as well vertically. So Cats found others to catch punts.

First couple of games I saw Sam play for the Vikings he was returning punts. I couldn’t believe it. Seemed he still ran horizontally a lot but the Vikes kept him there for the year I recall. [emoji16][emoji16]

Didn’t know Sam but I understand he was not only a great receiver but an equally great if not better person.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
CatGrad-UMGradStu said:
PlayerRep said:
I think McCollum teamed with Brent Wilson to take Kalispell to the state Big 32 hoops championship, where Wolf Point and the Weeks brothers beat Kalispell. Wilson, who was 6’ 10” or more, went to Colo St and then transferred to MSU. Willie Weeks played for the Cats too. Wilson crowned his basketball career by playing City League with meninbGrewt Falls when we were in our mid 40’s. He was a good guy. Lost track of him.

This post may be subject to improvement.
Click to expand...

Not to nit pick, but Wilson began his college days at MSU under Holst (I think that's who replaced Craft) and the transferred to CSU.
Click to expand...

Not a nit pick at all. A good correction. I knew I wasn’t quite right on this. Thanks.
 
PlayerRep said:
I think McCollum teamed with Brent Wilson to take Kalispell to the state Big 32 hoops championship, where Wolf Point and the Weeks brothers beat Kalispell. Wilson, who was 6’ 10” or more, went to Colo St and then transferred to MSU. Willie Weeks played for the Cats too. Wilson crowned his basketball career by playing City League with meninbGrewt Falls when we were in our mid 40’s. He was a good guy. Lost track of him.

This post may be subject to improvement.
Click to expand...

He mentioned that when he was invited to play high school basketball, he had to learn everything; the rules of the game, how to dribble a ball, etc.
 
Sam was a good guy, had he played anywhere but Bozeman he would have been a legend with a statue in the court yard!! But we all know Bozeman sucks so what's the point?????????????? I loved playing against him except he had about a 3' vertical that made him hard to defend against...
Go Griz!
 
when i was a young kid i tossed a football back and forth with sam mccullum for a while during some kind of bobs football community outreach in bozeman. still remember the thrill i felt, even today.
 
Sam was a good guy, had he played anywhere but Bozeman he would have been a legend with a statue in the court yard!! But we all know Bozeman sucks so what's the point?????????????? I loved playing against him except he had about a 3' vertical that made him hard to defend against...
Go Griz!
 
I do recall that Wilson helped the Griz in practice as they prepared for UCLA back in the Jud Heathcote era. I was surprised to see him scrimmaging with the Griz after he had completed his career at Colorado State. I remember him going to CSU but I don't recall that he first went to MSU. Anyone else remember that? I do recall the griz recruiting him in the spring of 68 (I think).
 
717s7e said:
I do recall that Wilson helped the Griz in practice as they prepared for UCLA back in the Jud Heathcote era. I was surprised to see him scrimmaging with the Griz after he had completed his career at Colorado State. I remember him going to CSU but I don't recall that he first went to MSU. Anyone else remember that? I do recall the griz recruiting him in the spring of 68 (I think).
Click to expand...

I played against Wilson when we were both freshmen (I think). I had to guard him since our center was injured. I think he only had about 8" on me. As I recall, we lost by 6 points or thereabouts.
 
Got a couple of pics in the media room prior to the awards banquet. I thought those of you who knew him would like to see how good he's looking these days.

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Here’s the story I wrote about Sam for his spot in the Hall of Fame

http://www.montanafootballhof.com/hall-of-famers/#/sam-mccullum/
 
Despite wearing the blue and gold I always respected Sam and was impressed he played for the Hawks. Class athlete and class man. Congrats Sam.
 
While Jeff Epperly ('79-81) and Sam McCullum ('67-70) might be friends, they were not teammates.

. . . During McCullum’s first fall playing football as a sophomore, he broke his hand in the very first practice. He did not have transportation to and from athletics events so he would tag along with Jeff Epperly, a teammate and friend. By the time he was a senior though, McCullum was an all-state athlete who also starred as a defensive specialist on Flathead’s state championship basketball team and a standout track jumper as well.
Click to expand...
 
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