BUTTE — As a kid, Tommy Mellott was a frequent visitor at Butte's Knights of Columbus building, participating in the little kids basketball camp that has been a Saturday morning mainstay in the Mining City for over three decades.
A lot has happened since Mellott was dribbling up and down that tiled floor, and the KC immortalized those accomplishments on Tuesday evening, unveiling a large 8-foot by 4-foot banner with a collage of images that captures everything from his youth football days, to his storied career at Montana State that culminated in him winning the Walter Payton Award, to his selection by the Las Vegas Raiders in the sixth round of the NFL Draft.
Watch the video here:
His parents, Shane and Dina, were in attendance for the unveiling ceremony, and Mellott attended virtually, offering some words of advice to the Shrine Game West team, which is practicing in Butte this week.
Mellott had plenty of Butte sports role models to look up to when he was younger, and now — as he sets his sights on making the Raiders' 53-man roster — he too is now one of those heroes that Butte's kids will be looking up to and learning about when they step into the KC's gym.
"Tommy spent a lot of hours down in this gym," said Dina. "For this poster to be down here means a lot. For these kids that are gonna want to be that kid someday, be Tommy, I just hope they look at that and know that anything is possible for any of those kids."
