Griz Greats: The Silver Anniversary of the 1995 National Champions

Montana's 1995 national championship football team lit up scoreboards across the Big Sky Conference and Division I-AA. But the Griz defense that year played as pivotal a roll in helping Montana claim its first-ever football national title.

Blaine McElmurry came to UM as a small-school star, A hard-hitting safety from Troy, Montana with an underdog's mentality and the desire to be great. By the 1995 season, McElmurry had blossomed into one of the best defensive backs in the conference and in the country.

During that 1995 run to glory, McElmurry anchored the back end of Montana's defense, rolling up 64 tackles and snaring three interceptions to earn first-team All-Big Sky and All-American honors. McElmurry's tone-setting hit early in in UM's 22-20 victory over Marshall in the national title game helped set the tone for the rest of that memorable afternoon.

The Silver Anniversary of the 1995 national champions featuring Blaine McElmurry. Griz Greats is proudly presented by Blackfoot Communications and First Security Bank of Missoula.

Mike Agee played football as an Offensive Guard at the University of Montana from 1993-1996. He was a four year starter out of Kalispell Flathead. As a Junior on the 1995 team, Agee was part of one of the most prolific offenses in I-AA/FCS history and charged with keeping Dave Dickenson upright - A very important task.

Mick Dennehy was the Offensive Coordinator for the Griz football team in 1995. After playing in '71 and '72 as an All-conference Safety for UM, Dennehy became the OC in 1991, a roll he held for 4 seasons, culminating in the 1995 National Championship. A season later, upon Don Reed's retirement he was promoted to head coach where he spent another 4 seasons including taking the Griz back to the national championship game in 1996. After leaving UM Dennehy was the head man at Utah State for five years before retiring himself.

In his Junior season Helena native Andy Larson made history and an indelible mark on the history of Griz football when he made a national championship winning field goal with 39 seconds remaining to stake Montana to a 22-20 lead that would hold up as the final score. Andy talks about what led him to UM coming out of high school, his career as a Griz, what he's been up to since school and of course, The Kick.

Episode 1 features the former Voice of the Griz, decorated play by play broadcaster for 30 years at the University of Montana Mick Holien. Holien started calling Lady Griz Basketball in 1985 before transitioning into football and men's basketball in 1993. He was on the call for the entire 1995 Griz football season, including Montana's 22-20 win over Marshall for the National Championship.

Tootell and Nuanez discuss the state of affairs surrounding University of Montana football prior to the 1995 season and what the National Championship meant to the school, city and state. They further set the stage for the entire Griz Greats Silver Anniversary podcast series.