MISSOULA — The University of Montana athletic department announced the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame class of 2026 on Tuesday, celebrating the careers of three Montana legends.
This year’s class includes one of the premiere mid-major basketball players in the nation during his time with the Grizzlies, one of the most decorated female track athletes in program history, and a championship-winning coach who spent a lifetime working to develop Montana student-athletes into people of character.
Two-time All-American basketball standout Will Cherry of Oakland, Calif., and 12-time Big Sky champion runner Loni Perkins-Judisch of Conrad, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for their achievements as athletes. Kris Nord, a Missoula native who mentored both the men’s and women’s tennis teams as well as the golf program, will be inducted as a coach following his 42-years of service to UM.
The careers of these three standout Grizzlies will be celebrated at the hall of fame induction banquet on Sept. 11 and on the field during Montana’s football game against Utah Tech the following day. Banquet details and tickets will be available in the near future.
“It is an honor to welcome another outstanding class to the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame. I had the privilege of working with Kris and watching both Loni and Will compete for the Grizzlies. All three had record-setting careers and left their personal mark on Grizzly Athletics. This department is better off because these three spent time at the University of Montana,” said Director of Athletics Kent Haslam.
The Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 to "pay tribute and give lasting recognition to those student-athletes, coaches, and teams who have made exceptional contributions and brought recognition, honor, and distinction to the University of Montana in the field of Intercollegiate Athletics, and who have continued to demonstrate in their lives the values imparted by their experience."
With the class of 2026 included, the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame is now comprised of 87 former UM athletes, coaches, and teams. Athletes become eligible for nomination 10 years after their careers at the University of Montana end. Coaches become eligible immediately upon their retirement, or departure from UM with good standing.
Will Cherry, men’s basketball, 2009-13
Will Cherry was one of the premiere mid-major guards in the nation as a Grizzly, and a leader on some of Montana’s most successful basketball teams in program history. During his four-year career, the Griz set a school record 14-straight wins in the 2011-12 season, went 93-35 overall, 55-11 in the Big Sky, 6-2 against Montana State, and 8-1 in the Big Sky Tournament.
The program won two Big Sky Regular Season Championships (2012, 2013) and three Big Sky Tournament Championships (2010, 2012, 2013) to make three NCAA Tournament appearances. In his junior and senior seasons alone, the Grizzlies went a combined 34–2 in conference play, posting records of 15–1 and 19–1 respectively, an unprecedented run in one of the most successful programs in Big Sky history.
To this day Cherry remains the team’s all-time steals leader with 265 in his career, ranks 12th on the all-time scoring list with 1,484 points, and sixth in career assists with 397, making him one of only five players in program history to record 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, and 300 assists.
He was a three-time First Team All–Big Sky Conference selection, a two-time Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned three All-Tournament Team honors. He was named to the NABC All-District First Team in both 2011–12 and 2012–13, the Lou Hensen Mid-Major All-American Team following the 2012–13 season, and the CollegeInsider.com All-American Team following the 2009–10 season.
He was selected as the Carl E. Dragstedt Award winner (Team MVP) in 2011–12 and received the John Eaheart Memorial Award for Outstanding Defensive Player four times.
He was a leader on Montana teams that ended Weber State’s season in three consecutive years (2010, 2011, 2012) – twice in the Big Sky Championship game – during the era in which Damian Lillard, later named one of the 75 greatest NBA players of all time, was a star for the Wildcats.
Cherry earned his bachelor’s degree in communications in four years, becoming the first male in his family to earn a college diploma.
Following graduation, he has gone on to a successful 12-year professional career in the top European leagues after a short eight-game stint in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers and another stop in the G League with Santa Cruz where he played in 46 games and averaged 9 points and 4.2 assists per game.
Overseas, he won a Lithuanian League championship in 2015 with Zalgiris Kaunas, a German Cup championship in 2016 with Alba Berlin, an ABA League Supercup in 2017 with Gaziantep in Turkey, and a Croatian League championship in 2018 with Cedevita Zagreb when he was named Croation Cup MVP. He recently completed his 12th season in Europe playing for Boulazac Basket Dordogne at the highest level of professional basketball in France.
Loni Perkins-Judisch, track and field, 2003-08
Loni Perkins-Judisch is one of the most decorated track and field athletes in Montana history, who dominated the 400 meters and sprint events. Perkins earned 12 Big Sky Conference championship titles during her career - four more than any other Grizzly track athlete in program history.
Her eight individual titles are the most ever by a female Grizzly and tie her with Jas Gill and Doug Brown for the most all-time across the entire program. She was a five-time Indoor Big Sky Champion in the 400m (three times), 200m, and Distance Medley Relay, and a four-time outdoor Big Sky Individual Champion in the 400m. She also won seven consecutive Big Sky titles in the 400m and was a four-time Outdoor Big Sky 4x400m Relay Champion.
Her individual performances rank among the best in Montana program history, placing 2nd all-time in the Indoor 400m with a time of 53.48. She also held the Women's Indoor 200m school record at 24.39 and owned eight of the ten fastest outdoor 200m times in program history at the time of her career.
At the national level, Perkins-Judisch was a four-time West Regional participant in the 400m, reaching the finals and placing 8th in 2008. That same year she was named both the Big Sky Indoor and Outdoor Championship Athlete of the Meet - one of just five and six Grizzly women, respectively, to earn those honors. She was also a five-time Big Sky Athlete of the Week and recipient of the Ronald and Julia Blake Memorial Scholarship.
She now resides back in Conrad and runs the family ranch and a photography business.
Kris Nord, tennis, golf, 1982-2024
Nord, a Missoula native and University of Montana alum, has been a staple around the Grizzly Athletic Department for most of his life. The son of a coach, he grew up around the Adams Center, and after a successful collegiate tennis career was later hired to coach UM’s two tennis teams in 1982.
That launched a 42-year coaching career at UM that spanned both tennis teams and women’s golf. After starting as the women’s tennis head coach and the men’s tennis assistant, he took sole charge of the two programs in 1986 and led them simultaneously for more than two decades until the positions were divided into two full-time roles.
Nord was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in women’s tennis in 1986. He later guided Montana men’s tennis to its first Big Sky Conference regular season championship in 2012, earning Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year honors that season and again in 2014.
That year the Grizzlies captured the conference tournament title and advanced to their first-ever NCAA Tournament. Those teams laid the foundation for what has become one of Montana’s most successful programs, both the court and in the classroom.
He additionally served two tenures as head coach of the Grizzly golf program. From 1993 to 1996 he pulled triple-duty, leading both tennis programs and the golf team simultaneously. He took over as golf coach again from 2018 until his retirement in 2024.
A 1976 graduate of Missoula Sentinel High School, Nord won the Class AA state tennis title as a senior and earned all-state honors in both football and basketball. He was recruited to play football for the Grizzlies but instead accepted a tennis scholarship to UNLV.
He later transferred to Boise State, where he was the Big Sky Conference champion at No. 3 singles and was named BSU’s Big Sky Conference Scholar-Athlete in 1981. Nord later earned a degree in health and human performance from the University of Montana in 1986.
Nord’s ties to Grizzly Athletics run deep across generations. His late father Ron served as head basketball coach at Montana from 1962 to 1968 and was an assistant football coach from 1969 to 1974. His brothers Jeff and Mark both played basketball for the Grizzlies.
Kris Nord’s 42-year tenure as a coach, combined with his lifelong connection to the university represents one of the most enduring and wide-ranging relationships between an individual and Grizzly Athletics in the program’s history.
