Ferch Family

[bcats]

An article in the Billings Gazette about former MSU greats.

Home / Sports
Ferch family still at home on the hardwood
StoryDiscussionImage (2)By GREG RACHAC
Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2009 12:35 am | 1 Comment

Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font size
PAUL RUHTER/Gazette Staff
Tom Ferch scores the first two points of the game while playing on a basketball team with his two sons Kral and Shann at the Big Sky State Games on Saturday. .
Loading…
.Related Stories
Related: Feature Photos: 2009 Big Sky State Games
Kral Ferch is renowned in Montana sports lore for being one of the greatest dunkers the state has ever produced.

A star at Park High School in Livingston and later at Montana State University in Bozeman, Ferch put together an incredible highlight reel of jams on the strength of his legendary jumping ability.

But these days Ferch's number in age has nearly matched that of his vertical leap in the 1980s - 45 inches.

He readily admits his dunking skills have diminished.

"It's really dropping off," said Ferch, now 43. "I think I can still do it in warm-ups but the thought is so painful that I rarely try.

"I always dream about it. I always miss that part of my life. It was so fun. It's a bummer you can't keep doing that forever."

It doesn't keep him off the basketball court, though.

Ferch, his father Tom and his brother Shann have reunited this weekend for the Big Sky State Games.

Kral now lives in Redmond, Wash., and works at Microsoft. Shann, 41, is a professor of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.

Tom, 68, coached his sons to a pair of State A titles in Livingston. He still resides in Bozeman.

Tom is the patriarch of one of the more recognizable basketball families in these parts, and he still competes at a high level himself.

It's obvious where his sons' talent came from.

Tom plays worldwide with some of the top competition in his age range, notably with a team called the Sambucca Jazz in the Master's Basketball Association.

Just two weeks ago he returned from Prague where his team - East Bank Saloon of Portland, Ore. - won a championship. He is currently preparing for his fourth Senior Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in October.

Kral called his dad a "freak of nature."

"He's probably right," Tom said with the hint of a grin. "I play four or five days a week with the college kids and I lift three days a week. I work at it."

The trio's love for basketball brings them together every so often, though not frequently enough, they said.

"Not as often as we'd like or as often as you'd think," Kral offered. "The Big Sky Games is probably the main one that we do. I wish we had more time to do other tournaments in Montana, some of the odds and ends in all the little towns.

"I've always dreamed that we'd do that. Just pick a month sometime and play. Maybe we'll do that one of these days."

Shann, who like his brother has three children, keeps busy playing five days a week with several products of Gonzaga's successful basketball program, guys like John Stockton, Richie Frahm and Micah Downs.

After teaming with Kral for two years at Livingston they joined forces for a couple years at Montana State, where they made appearances in the NCAA and NIT tournaments.

But when Kral left MSU, so did Shann: The younger Ferch transferred to Pepperdine before his junior season.

Shann looks back fondly on the time he spent playing with his brother.

"As a point guard you loved being able to throw the ball anywhere in the sky and have him go get it," Shann said. "But a lot of people don't realize he was such a great all-around player. I think he averaged 17 points and 7 or 8 boards a game his senior year at Montana State.

"He's kind of a quiet-warrior type. He hates when people score on him. He's still like that."

Shann seems like he has that same intensity.

The Ferches are playing with two teams this weekend. They suit up with former Montana Grizzly Mike Chavez and former MSU Bobcat Carlos Taylor, among others. It makes for a pretty dangerous lineup.

But being able to play with one another again is certainly the biggest perk.

And for everything their dad taught them about the game through the years, even now Kral and Shann still find time to give back the only way they know how.

"I love it," Tom said. "They take care of me and feed me the ball every once in a while for a shot or two."

It's clearly a family business.

[stevo]

I loved to watch Kral leep. Shann, good player but unlike his brother he was kinda stuck on himself. Little mad he gave MSU the finger and left. How do you say "pre-madonna"

[GOKATS]

I loved to watch Kral leep. Shann, good player but unlike his brother he was kinda stuck on himself. Little mad he gave MSU the finger and left. How do you say "pre-madonna"

I for one say 'prima donna'.

[stevo]

Not sure the correct spelling. Lokked it up and found it both ways? If thats what your getting at?

[SonomaCat]

Not sure the correct spelling. Lokked it up and found it both ways? If thats what your getting at?

I'd never heard of the alternate version, but I guess it is out there in the "urban" dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... id=1201473

[SonomaCat]

Shann also happens to be a very talented and widely published writer (he writes under another name ... can't remember it right now). Looking back at his decision to leave Bozeman, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a lot to do with just leaving his comfort zone in Bozeman and challenging himself/seeing/experiencing more of the world. From a writer's persepctive (and this guy has a writer's soul), that kind of self-discovery can be a pretty big motivator for one's decisions.

So I'm not sure if he was big leagueing anybody by transferring to SoCal, but perhaps just putting himself in a position to experience a lot of things he hadn't experienced to that point and wouldn't be able to experience for awhile in Bozeman.

Just a theory.

[hokeyfine]

i think stevo is referring to anything before 1980.