From MSU-
A pair of conference MVPs and a Big Sky Championship team highlights Montana State's 2009 Wendy's Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted on January 22 in Bozeman.
Jen (McGregor) James, who earned Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Year honors in 1996, and 1999 Big Sky Women's Basketball MVP Tennyson (Ballek) Gilpatrick, earn induction into the Bobcat shrine on January 22, the night before MSU hosts the Cat-Griz basketball doubleheader. Former men's basketball standout Don Rae and the Bobcats' 1963-64 Big Sky Championship squad, All-America lineman Jim Argeris and All-Big Sky tailback Delmar Jones also enter the Hall.
When Montana State turned its football program from perennial doormat into dynasty in 1954, Jim Argeris was in the middle of things. Literally. The scrappy 6-1 Wyoming native dubbed "the grinning Greek" earned consensus All-Rocky Mountain Conference honors as a junior center in 1954, when Montana State snapped a string of seven straight non-winning seasons with an 8-1 record and a RMC title. It would be a decade before the Bobcats again posted a losing record, a span which included two league titles and a national crown. Argeris was a mainstay, earning third team all-league honors at guard as a sophomore and first team honors the next two years. Argeris was a two-time team captain.
Tennyson (Ballek) Gilpatrick, one of four Bobcat women with more than 1,200 points and 700 rebounds, earned 1999 Big Sky MVP honors. The Sheridan, Wyo., native was First Team All-Big Sky twice, and Big Sky All-Academic four times. She was a two-time CoSIDA District VII First-Team Academic All-America, won MSU's Women of Achievement award, and was MSU's Big Sky Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1999. She also earned coveted NCAA Postgraduate and WBCA Scholarships. The 6-2 forward was the 1996 Big Sky Conference Sixth Player of the Year, earning MSU's Most Improved Player and MVP honors twice each. Playing her final games at MSU on a broken foot, she averaged 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior while shooting 59 percent from the field, which ranked among the nation's best. Ballek left Montana State ranked in eight career categories.
Delmar Jones left Montana State as the third-leading rusher in Bobcat history with 2,819 yards, which was the fifth-best total in Big Sky history at that time. He remains among Montana State's top 10 in seven career, season and single-game rushing lists. The Helena product gained at least 100 yards in a game 11 times, and earned First Team All-Big Sky honors as a junior in 1977, and second team kudos in '76 and '78.
Jen McGregor remains one of the dominant figures in the history of Montana State's golf program. A member of MSU's inaugural recruiting class, the Billings Central grad became the only Bobcat to earn All-Conference honors four times and MSU's only Big Sky Champion. She led the Bobcats to the program's only Big Sky title in 1995, the year she won medalist honors in the league meet.
Don Rae played as a slick-shooting forward on some outstanding Bobcat teams in the early 1960s. The Butte native earned First Team All-Big Sky honors in 1963-64, when the Bobcats won the league's first-ever championship. Rae finished his career with 1,191 points, the ninth-best total in MSU history at the conclusion of his career and still 20th on the Bobcats' all-time list. Rae averaged 16.8 points per game as a senior, and led team with 19.8 points a game as a junior.
Montana State's 1963-64 Bobcats earned a place in history by winning the Big Sky Conference's first men's basketball championship. Second-year head coach Roger Craft ushered in the new era in Montana State University's athletic history with an experienced squad, led by Wendy's Bobcat Hall of Famers Kermit Young and Don Rae. In fact, the '63-64 Bobcats returned four starters and eight of the top 10 players from the previous season. MSU had not posted a winning season since 1958, but five of its first six in 1963-64. That fast start foretold great achievements, and the Bobcats won their first eight straight league games on their way to an 8-2 inaugural Big Sky campaign. Montana State finished 16-9.
This year's ceremonies begin at 6 pm on January 22 at the GranTree Inn of Bozeman with a no-host social. Dinner begins at 7 pm, with induction ceremonies to follow. For information, call Bobcat Athletics at 406/994-5435.
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