Old Missoula

Horse Racing, Baseball Popular Early Day Sports in Garden City

By Ray T. Rocene

Photo at left is Clark Griffith

Hunting, fishing, horse racing, harness racing, baseball and cockfighting were early day sports in the Missoula area. Baseball came strong 70 years ago and in 1892 Missoula imported a baseball team from the Pacific Coast led by Clark Griffith, later head of the Washington Senators and manager of major league teams. Football started at Montana State University in 1897 with a winner, then little success for the next few years.

Baseball continued strong through the next decade with the Missoula Giants consistent contenders in State League baseball. In 1911 the Union Association brought Missoula’s first professional league baseball, with the Missoula Highlanders winning the pennant in 1912. The sport folded after a heavy losing season in 1913. Hamilton and Kalispell hired outstanding teams in the 1910-11-12 era. The Western Montana League was a strong organization of 1916 with Hamilton winning the pennant. The Missoula City League started in 1918 and furnished baseball through the next 18 seasons.

Football continued at the State University, with the Grizzlies ending the Bobcat string with a 79-0 win from the Bobcats in 1904. The 1909 Grizzly team was undefeated, as was the 1914 team which played a scoreless tie with Idaho.

In 1915 Grizzlies tied touring Syracuse, a power in the east, at 6 to 6. The 1916 season brought but one defeat in six games.

Missoula High School football got under way in 1907, the Spartans moving into the state finals in 1912 when they lost the title game to Gallatin. Missoula also had strong contenders several other seasons, with Billy Kelly starting his spectacular career there in 1919. Loyola also had a strong team in 1914.

Basketball appeared in 1904 and in 1911 Missoula played in the first state hoop tournament at Bozeman. Grizzlies presented several strong teams on the court, first won the state title in 1918 after tying in 1915. Missoula County High consistently made a good showing and advanced to semifinals in state basketball tournaments.

The Montana Interscholastic tournament was born in 1904 and continued expanding through the years to become one of the greatest high school spring sports events in the west. Missoula had to drop out for three years after using an ineligible, Dan Gish, in sweeping the 1908 tournament.

Golf came in 1916 and 1917 to the old Missoula Country Club south of the State University. Tennis dated back to the 1890s in Missoula and there were several state championships won during the early years by local racket wielders. Bowling started around 1906, lapsed to resume on the Rochester alleys a few years later and grow into the most popular of Missoula sports events.

Both prize-fighting and wrestling had a whirl here, with some outstanding athletes appearing in both sports. Historic Maurice Thompson fought here several times as did Johnny Tillman, Joe Benz, Lou Bodie and others and Hamilton also staged boxing cards successfully.

Hockey had a brief splurge in 1910-11 on the Clark Fork River.

Trapshooting was a very popular sport with gunners through the first dozen years of the century.

Indoor baseball played with a softball was a very popular winter sport here in 1910-12.

Through the years the hunters and fishermen enjoyed outdoor sports with season and bag limitations gradually coming to regulate activities.

Sam Elder was an outstanding figure in harness racing for years. Race tracks west of the city were popular with horsemen, later moved to the southside Missoula County Fairgrounds.

 

In that era every town had a good baseball team as veteran fans of Bonner, Polson, Corvallis, Stevensville, Hamilton, Victor, St. Regis, Plains, Paradise, Ronan, St. Ignatius, Dixon, Thompson Falls, Hot Springs, Kalispell, all will recall.