Holmes, Feller Named Grizzly Cup Winners

By JOEL CARLSON

Tyrone Holmes, of the Montana football team, and McCalle Feller, of the Lady Griz basketball team, were named the annual winners of the Department of Athletics’ Grizzly Cup this week.

Holmes becomes the 44th football player to win the Cup, which was first awarded in 1921 to three-sport standout Larry Higbee and has no set criteria other than the requirement that the annual winners excel in all facets of being a student-athlete. Feller is the third women’s basketball player to be honored.

The Grizzly Cup was awarded to a single athlete from 1921 to 1987. Marsha Hamilton, who competed in gymnastics and track and field, was the only female winner during that era, claiming the award in 1977.

Feller Lady Griz BasketballNo Grizzly Cup was awarded between 1988 and 2008. Since its revival in 2009, the award now goes to one male and one female student-athlete.

Holmes, of Eagle Point, Ore., was a starter at defensive end for Montana since the first game of his sophomore year, but it was his fourth-year tour de force that is worthy of its own page in the Griz history book.

Honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference as a sophomore and junior, Holmes exploded as a senior, recording a nation-leading 18 sacks. He was named to four all-America teams at season’s end and capped his career by being named the STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year.

He finished his career ranked second in program history with 34.5 sacks and 49.5 tackles for loss.

A four-time Academic All-Big Sky Conference selection as a marketing major, Holmes was named earlier this year to the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars last month in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

Tyrone Holmes 3Feller, who joined the Montana women’s basketball team as a non-scholarship walk-on in 2012-13, had a career trajectory that was even more ascendant than Holmes’.

After scoring just eight points as a true freshman, she earned a scholarship and was voted her team’s Grace Geil Most Improved Player as both a sophomore and junior while working herself into one of the Big Sky’s top players as a senior.

Honorable mention All-Big Sky as a junior, Feller averaged 16.7 points as a senior and knocked down 75 3-pointers last season, the most in program history, on her way to second-team all-league honors.

Despite scoring just eight points her first year, Feller, who was on teams that won 91 games in four years, became the 33rd player in program history to reach 1,000 for her career.

A journalism major from Lewistown, Mont., Feller was a four-time Academic All-Big Sky Conference selection.

Grizzly Cup winners

1921               Larry Higbee (football/basketball/baseball)

1922               Gil Porter (football/basketball/track)

1923               Gil Porter (football/basketball/baseball/track)

1924               Angus “Cammie” Meagher (football/baseball)

1925               Russ Sweet (football/basketball/track)

1926               Ted “Chief” Illman (football/basketball/baseball)

1927               Clarence Coyle (football/basketball/track)

1928               Ed Chinske (football/basketball/baseball)

1929               Tom Davis (football/track)

1930               Ray Lewis (football)

1931               Glenn Lockwood (basketball/track)

1932               Lowell Dailey (football)

1933               Dale Hinman (football/basketball)

1934               Al Dahlberg (football/basketball/track)

1935               Naseby Rhinehart Sr. (football/basketball/track)

1936               Henry Blastic (football/basketball)

1938               Bill Lazetich (football/basketball/track)

1940               Bob Thornally (football)

1941               Tom O’Donnell (football)

1942               Bill Jones (football/basketball)

1943               Henry Dahmer (football)

1948               Charles “Timer” Moses (basketball)

1949               John Helding (football/basketball/baseball)

1950               Jack O’Loughlin (football/baseball)

1951               Ray Bauer (football)

1952               Robert “Lefty” Byrne (football/basketball/baseball)

1953               Jack Luckman (basketball/track)

1954               Ed Anderson (football/basketball/baseball)

1955               Murdo Campbell (football/baseball)

1956               Dale Shupe (football/track)

1957               Don Williamson (football/baseball)

1958               Naseby Rhinehart Jr. (football/track)

1959               Mike Granbois (track)

1960               Rudy Ruana (skiing)

1961-62        Bob O’Billovich (football/basketball/baseball)

1963               Paul D. Miller (football)

1964               Tim Aldrich (basketball)

1965               William M. Rice (basketball/track)

1966               Gary B. Peck (basketball/baseball)

1967               Greg Hanson (basketball)

1968               Willie Jones (football/track)

1969               Mick Harrington (track)

1970               Roy Robinson (football/track)

1971               Lonzo Lewis (football/basketball)

1972               Steve Okoniewski (football)

1973               Earl Tye (basketball)

1974               Robin Selvig (basketball)

1975               Rock Svennungsen (football)

1976               Dean Erhard (track/cross country)

1977               Marsha Hamilton (gymnastics/track)

1978               Tim Kerr (football)

1979               Ed Cerkovnik (football)

1980               Craig Zanon (basketball)

1981               Rocky Klever (football)

1982               Greg Iseman (football)

1983               Brian Salonen (football)

1984-86        Larry Krystkowiak (basketball)

1987               Scott Zanon (basketball/track/football)

1988-2008    No Grizzly Cup awarded

2009               Jordan Hasquet (basketball) / Jade Roskam (volleyball)

2010               Anthony Johnson (basketball) / Lauren Beck (basketball)

2011               Erik Stoll (football) / Jaimie Thibeault (volleyball)

2012               Bryan Waldhauser (football) / Katrina Drennen (cross country/track)

2013               Mathias Ward (basketball) / Olivia Weber (golf)

2014               Brock Coyle (football) / Jordan Sullivan (basketball)

2015               Jordan Gregory (basketball) / Brooke Moody (soccer)

2016               Tyrone Holmes (football) / McCalle Feller (basketball)