BOZEMAN — Eight athletes and a national champion head coach will enter Montana State's athletic hall of fame in February, Bobcats athletic director Leon Costello announced Friday.
Four All-America football players are among the group: Caleb Schreibeis, the 2012 Buck Buchanan Award winner as the top defensive player in the FCS, joins 2012 Big Sky defensive MVP Jody Owens and 2009 All-American Jeff Hansen as football inductees. Two-sport standout Lonnie Burt is also a 2022-23 inductee as an All-America defensive lineman on the school’s 1984 National Championship squad and a Big Sky wrestling champion.
In addition to Burt, Jim Lockwood represents the MSU wrestling program with his induction. Part of the Bobcats' 1960s wrestling dynasty, Lockwood won individual conference championships three times and helped lead the Cats to Big Sky titles from 1964-66.
A pair of MSU track and field standouts also join the 2022-23 induction class. Javelin thrower Emily Tyrrell earned All-America honors in 2012, winning the league championship that season, while pole vaulter John Wurtz won indoor Big Sky championships in 1995 and 1998, and outdoor crowns in 1994 and 1995.
Women’s basketball star Katie Bussey, an honorable mention All-American as a senior and currently an MSU assistant coach, scored 1,710 career points, second-most in program history. She remains MSU’s career 3-point field goals record-holder (254) and stands 10th in Bobcat history in assists and fifth in games played.
Legendary rodeo coach John Larick led the Bobcats to five national championships (four by the men’s team and one in women’s competition) during his time at Montana State (1981-2000). Outstanding individual performances drove MSU’s team success during Larick’s time, with seven Bobcats winning individual event national titles (six men and one woman) and four men gathering all-around championships.
The 2022-23 Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are Feb. 17, and begin with a no-host social at 5 p.m. Dinner begins at 6 and the program at 7, with the event held in the Strand Union Building’s Joseph May Ballrooms.
