With more than 100 years of high school football history in Montana, only one team has won the state’s Class AA crown four straight seasons: Missoula County High.
The Spartans turned the trick from 1943-46, a feat that Capital High will attempt to match when it meets C. M. Russell in the final Friday at 7 p.m.
Helena resident Dick Disney, 79, who played on the ’45 and ’46 squads his sophomore and junior years, helped keep the Spartans’ streak alive, in part because of his own game-winning touchdown the final season.
In 1946, after winning their first two games, the Spartans lost to Butte High, 14-0. A 24-game win streak was over, as was an unbeaten streak of 30 successive games (thanks to a tie in ’43), dating back to 1942.
But, after the disappointing loss in ’46, Missoula went on to run the table for their four-peat.
“Going in to the last weekend of the season, there was a three-way tie between Great Falls, Butte and us,” recalled Disney in an interview in his Helena home 63 years later. “The only reason we were able to play in the 1946 championship against Great Falls was because of a Helena win.”
Helena was a huge underdog against the Bulldogs, but pulled off a 7-6 upset, behind Joe Brennan’s touchdown run and the PAT kick by Red “The Toe” Liston.
The win allowed Missoula to the title game with the Bison, where Disney drew first blood in a defensive struggle. Seven minutes into the final period of a scoreless tie, the 145-pound halfback plunged into the end zone from the 1-yard line. Next, Dick Walsh successfully booted the extra point.
Moments later, Walsh intercepted a GFH pass and raced 85 yards for an insurance score. The defense then held on for a 13-0 shutout and the four-peat.
Disney pointed out that one of his teammates, Dell Tyler, played for all four championship teams. Capital High’s Matt Miller and Pat Legg have an opportunity to equal Tyler’s feat.
Disney, who returned to Helena in 1967, had attended grade school in the Capital City, where he gridded for St. Helena’s fifth grade team. His son Mike Disney eventually played football for Capital High.
Disney, a three-time state handball titleist, was one of three former Spartans from the streak who resided in Helena in later years. The other two, Chris Kafentsis and Jack Harrison, have since passed away.
The memories that Disney has of growing up in Helena haven’t faded.
One of his most unforgettable plays came in a pickup game at Vigilante Stadium, when Edean Anderson chipped his tooth on a tackle. She later garnered six consecutive State-Am Women’s Golf championships.
After the Disney family relocated to Missoula, Dick was an eighth-grader when MCHS won the first of its four straight titles in 1943. That initial championship was played at Butte’s Naranche Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, when the Spartans (9-0-1) defeated the Billings Broncs 7-6.
In 1944, the Garden City crew went undefeated and untied at 8-0, culminated by a 27-6 victory over Billings in the title game at Dornblaser Field.
Missoula captured its third successive crown the next season, 25-13 over Butte High. It was the Spartans’ 22nd consecutive victory. Tallying scores for the champs were Jack Jourdounais, Gus Nash, Roy Malcom and Walsh.
The Bulldogs were paced by quarterback Jack Cohn. Cohn, who later served as Helena High’s wrestling coach for over 20 years, scored both Mining City TDs, on a 16-yard run and a 63-yard catch and run.
In the final minutes, Butte threatened again, deep in Spartan territory. Cohn was knocked unconscious and carried from the field after taking a hit on a first-down rush near the eight yard line. Two plays later, the Bulldogs were stopped six inches from paydirt on fourth and goal, helping to cement the Spartans’ historic fourth crown.
Disney’s senior year saw Missoula’s dynasty come to an end, as MCHS dropped two games, including a rugged loss “in the mud” in Billings to the eventual 1947 champion Broncs.
After graduating from Missoula County, he played in the second annual East-West Shrine Game in 1948. Two of his West teammates were Helena High’s Joe Martello and childhood friend Joe Raymond.
“I think one of my favorite parts of our four straight is being able to tease (legendary sports broadcaster) Cato “The Cat” Butler for beating his Bengals every time we played,” Disney laughed.