SPOKANE, Wash. — It was a night of honor for the Big Sky Conference's latest hall of fame induction class, including two legends from Montana and Montana State.
Dennis Erickson, who played quarterback at MSU in the late 1960s before embarking on a championship coaching career, entered the hall Saturday, as did the late Michael Ray Richardson, an ex-Griz basketball player who dominated the court in the 1970s.
The induction ceremony was part of the annual Big Sky Kickoff media event, which continues through Monday at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino.
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"It's a tremendous honor for me," Erickson said during a media interview prior to the ceremony. "You know, I played at Montana State and coached at Idaho. Greatest time of my life."
Erickson, 79 and now living in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has a long history in the Big Sky Conference dating to his time as a quarterback at Montana State from 1966-68 when he led the Bobcats to three straight league titles. He was named first-team All-Big Sky in both 1967 and 1968.
From there he transitioned to coaching, joining the MSU staff in 1969. As a head coach he led Idaho to two Big Sky championships, but the pinnacle came at the University of Miami where he won national championships in 1989 and 1991.
As the coach at Idaho from 1982-85, Erickson had a 32-15 record and a 19-9 mark in Big Sky games. The Vandals won the league title in both 1982 and 1985. (He returned to coach at Idaho in 2006 when it was competing in the FBS.)
Erickson was an NFL head coach with the Seahawks and 49ers, and also had collegiate head coaching stops at Wyoming, Washington State, Oregon State and Arizona State.
Erickson, whose first head coaching job at any level was at Billings Central High School in 1970, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019 with a career collegiate record of 179-96-1 (.649).
Erickson noted several of his mentors, including former Montana State head football coaches Sonny Holland, Tom Parac and Jim Sweeney. In particular, Erickson sang the praises of Sweeney, who he played for in 1967.
"Jim Sweeney, other than my dad, probably was the biggest influence on me," Erickson said. "He knew a lot about football. Was way ahead of his time."
Richardson, who passed away last November at the age of 70, starred on the basketball court at Montana from 1974-78. He averaged 24.2 points per game during the 1977-78 season, the Grizzlies' single-season scoring mark. For his career, Richardson averaged 19.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest.
Richardson was a three-time first-team All-Big Sky selection, becoming the first Montana player to achieve that distinction. As a freshman, he led the Grizzlies to an NCAA tournament victory over Utah State in 1975.
He went on to spend eight years in the NBA with the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets. In 1985 he was chosen as NBA comeback player of the year.
Richardson was a four-time all-star and a two-time all-defensive first-team selection, leading the NBA in steals three times.
Another Griz basketball legend, Eric Hays, was among those on hand Saturday to accept the hall of fame honor on Richardson's behalf.
Hays and Richardson played with each other at UM during a historic 1974-75 season in which the Grizzlies nearly knocked off eventual national champion UCLA in the NCAA tournament.
"My senior year was his freshman year, and he was basically a defensive player," Hays said. "He had a good feel for the game, but his defense carried him, got him on the floor, gave him a part-time starter (spot) for us as a team that reached the Sweet 16. And he just developed over time his basketball skills. His offensive skills just exploded."
Richardson was the No. 4 overall pick by the Knicks in the 1978 NBA draft. But his career was derailed after a third positive drug test, and he was banned from the league in 1986 by then-commissioner David Stern.
"He would be extremely honored" by his Big Sky hall of fame induction, Hays said. "I saw him about eight or 10 years ago at a clinic up in Polson and I got to visit with him a little bit. He turned his life around. He was just doing great.
"He was probably one of the four or five best basketball players in the world at the time. It's too bad some things happened that he just lost control over, but he was a great basketball player, a great person. He would be so honored (by) this."
The other Big Sky hall of fame inductions on Saturday included Frank Hawkins, Nevada (football); Eric Heins, Northern Arizona (cross country, track and field head coach); Amber Henry, Weber State (cross country/track and field); Pam Parks, Eastern Washington (volleyball coach/administrator); Jackie Ross Mattox, Idaho (track and field); Willie Sojourner, Weber State (men’s basketball).
