Brian Toone

12/10/20 • 52 min

Griz Greats: The Silver Anniversary of the 1995 National Champions

Brian Toone was a junior on the 1995 National Championship team. He graduated from Butte High where the Bulldogs made a state championship run in his senior season. From there he became a standout on the Grizzly defense, perhaps most memorably combining with fellow Butte alum Randy Riley on a sack-safety of Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington in the National Championship. That play proved to be the final margin of victory in Montana's 22-20 defeat of the Thundering Herd. Most recently, Toone has now taken over the family business - making jewelry - he owns Jewelry Design Center in Spokane Washington.

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Hall of Fame wide receiver Joe Douglass

Joe Douglass came to the University of Montana as a transfer after starting his career at Oregon State. In his two seasons with the Griz, he was prolific enough to earn All-American honors both years and earned a spot in the UM Athletics Hall of Fame. Douglass hauled in 145 catches for more than 2,300 yards and 25 touchdowns. As a senior, he set a single-season record with 82 receptions and his 18 touchdowns in 1996 is still the most ever by a Griz. Joe Douglass joins Griz Greats: the Silver Anniversary of the 1995 national champions proudly presented by First Security Bank of Missoula and Blackfoot Communications.

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Jim O'Day, former administrator and UM AD

Before Jim O'Day started working for the Grizzly Scholarship Association or as an athletic administrator at the University of Montana and before he became UM's athletic director (2005-2012), the native of Cut Bank was a newspaper man who helped spread the good word for Grizzly athletics on Montana's Hi-Line. O'Day was integral in setting up a charter flight from Great Falls to Huntington, West Virginia so hundreds of small-town Montanans could cheer on the Grizzlies in the 1995 Division I-AA national title game.