Hank Mohland – Low Proflle Missoula Track Star
Hank Mohland – Low Profile Track Star from a very large Missoula family
Legendary track coach Guy Stegner got his final and twelfth win in the 45th Montana interscholastic track meet on May 20, 1951. Missoula won by one point over Helena, making it Missoula’s seventeenth win overall. Butte coach Harry Dahlberg was attending for his 30th time and had his team won it would have been his eleventh. Events that weekend included the presentations of eighteen individual awards in the theatrical competition held at the University of Montana’s Little Theater, as well as four rounds of competition in extemporaneous speaking and seven rounds of debate – Helena’s Dale Jorgenson and a Great Falls team winning these. Roger Mergerth of MCHS, a freshman, handily defeated top seeded Dave Cohen of Billings to win the boys singles tennis championship. A Missoula team composed of Roxy Perrior and Shirley Thomas won the girls’ doubles title.
The Daily Sunday Missoulian featured several photos of the competitors in various events and a group photo of Missoula’s track team. Included were Dunn, Orr, Weckerly, Weishaar, Nelson, Captain Damaskos (who was unable to participate), Delaney, Mohland, Lindsay, Ray, and Koon. One of the photos featured Connie Orr and Jerry Koon finishing 1st and 2nd in the low hurdles race, “which gave Missoula points to keep lead in Interscholastic.” A photo of the high hurdles winner featured “Lindsay, Missoula, face turned, looking for Mohland, who dropped out . . .” Another photo included “class A discus winners, receiving awards from Miss Jamie Brennan, president of Spurs, left to right; Grimes, Helena, Halvorson, Billings, Ritt, Great Falls, England, Dawson, and Hank Mohland, Missoula, winner and high class A scorer of meet . . .”
A summary of events included the following remarks:
“In the low hurdles, Connie Orr and Jerry Koon went away from the field and won handily.”
“Doug Delaney again went over 12 feet in the pole vault, despite breaking his glass pole early in the meet. Billings’ Bob Halvorson was second, with Rudy Weishaar snatching third with an 11.4 leap.
“Hank Mohland who has been ill again this past week, came up with his best discus throw of several weeks in the finals to beat England, Dawson, by 4 feet and Ritt, his arch-rival by 9 feet. . . In the shotput Ritt’s Friday throw remained the best of the A shot, and the same was true of Mohland, Grimes, Roban and Rogers.
“Hill of Helena had edged Mohland of Missoula by one-eight of an inch in the broad jump Friday and held that margin Saturday (20.11 7/8 – 20.11 ¾) . . .”
“ . . . in the second (relay) Gallatin, then Great Falls and Missoula in a tie, Koon, Mohland, Delaney and Orr running hard for half a point.”
“Coach Guy Stegner spoke at the end of the meet. ‘I have never had a team of which I have been so proud. They fought their hardest, from Nelson, newest man on the squad, to the veterans, and this last victory pleased me most.’ Missoula won the meet without Captain Deno Damaskos, who had the fastest furlong and 440-yard time in the state previously. He pulled a muscle earlier in the week.”
Herman ‘Hank’ Mohland later competed at the University of Montana where he was listed as Captain of the track team in 1958. Some of his teammates from Missoula included John Datsopolous, Roy Lynn, Naseby Rhinehart Jr and Kenneth Werslund. Russell Sheriff from Helena competed for this team in the Discus and Shot.
Hank Mohland was killed in a head-on car crash near Columbia Falls in 1971. At the time of his death he was working on a Masters degree at the University of Montana. He was survived by his wife, Elaine, and two children. He was a Korean War veteran. He is listed in the smoke jumpers file of the National Smokejumper Association as an MSO jumper in 1957. Also, his file lists “Plane Crash in Laos? Year?”
Herman Mohland came from a huge Missoula family. His parents were John and Mary Mohland. He was one of a family of 13 children that included 7 sons and 6 daughters. The youngest daughter, Jackie Mohland Steele, passed away in Missoula in 2011. Born in 1936, her obituary states that she was raised on a sugar beet farm where the current Missoula detention is located on Mullan Road. She attended Lowell Grade school and MCHS. Her sister Norma Mohland passed away in Missoula in 2016 and was survived by one brother, Walt, who lived in Michigan.