Dean Erhard (2023) - Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame - University of Montana Athletics

Dean Erhard

Induction:
2023
Class:
1997

Erhard, who was born in Havre and partially grew up in Helena and Billings before eventually moving to Illinois for high school, was one of the most successful distance runners in Montana history, both at the conference and national level.

He was a three-time All-American for the Grizzlies in the mid-70s, twice in steeplechase and once in cross country, and competed in six NCAA meets, three times in each discipline.

As a senior in 1976-77, he won his third consecutive Big Sky Conference steeplechase title as well as the three-mile and was named the Big Sky championship meet's most outstanding athlete.

That year he also set a UM school steeplechase record of 8:40.4, a mark that still stood as of 2023 and a mark that was the seventh-best in the nation in 1977. That year he finished fifth in the steeplechase at the NCAA championships, earning All-America honors. He also had an impressive third-place showing at the U.S. Track and Field Federation National Outdoor Championships in Wichita, Kansas, where he ran an 8.41.6 in the steeplechase.

In his senior year in cross country, he was the 16th American to cross the finish line at the NCAA championship to earn All-America honors once again.

He won Big Sky individual titles in cross country as a junior and senior, helping the Grizzlies win back-to-back team conference titles in 1974 and 75.

In 1978 he was awarded the Grizzly Cup, presented to the best overall student-athlete in Grizzly Athletics. The Dean Erhard Athletic Award in Cross Country and Track is a University of Montana scholarship set up in memory of his father.

He retired from the U.S. Forrest Service in 2011 after a 30-year career as an ecologist, 20 of which were spent in Colorado's Rio Grande National Forest.