Mornhinweg, two teams new Hall members
6/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Former quarterback Marty Mornhinweg and the 1969 and 1970 University of Montana football teams at have been selected to the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame UM Director of Athletics Jim O???Day announced Friday.
The banquet for the induction of the 1969 and ???70 teams is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at a site to be announced. Mornhinweg will be inducted sometime next year.
The day after the banquet players and coaches from the two teams who are in attendance will be introduced at the Montana-Eastern Washington football game. All members of the Grizzly Sports Hall of Fame (which includes the 1995 football team) who are present will also be recognized.
MARTY MORNHINWEG
Marty Mornhinweg, from San Jose, Calif., was a 5-10, 190-pound four-year starter and letterman at quarterback for the Grizzlies. He established 15 individual and team passing records while at Montana from 1980-85.
Mornhinweg received the Steve Carlson Award as team MVP in 1982 and ???84. He was also named an Associated Press All-American those two seasons.
In 1981 he guided the Grizzlies to a 7-3 record, which was just their sixth winning season in the last 32 years and their most wins since the 1970 team went 10-0. At the time the seven wins were the third-most in a season for Montana.
Mornhinweg led the Grizzlies to the 1982 Big Sky Conference championship, the team???s first league title since 1970. It also marked the first time Montana participated in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Mornhinweg is currently ranked seventh in school history with 6,081 passing yards. When his career ended, Mornhinweg???s career passing yards ranked second in Big Sky history.
Mornhinweg was named the Offensive Player of the Game in the Mirage Bowl when Montana played Army in 1984. He could bench press 335 pounds and was named an All-American weightlifter as a senior.
Mornhinweg, 47, is now in his 15th season as a coach in the National Football League. He is currently the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, and has been with the Eagles since 2003. He played professionally for the Denver Dynamite of the AFL in 1987.
Before joining the Eagles he was the head coach for the Detroit Lions in 2001 and ???02. He also served as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers (1997-2000) and Green Bay Packers (1995-96).
Prior to his stint in the NFL, he was in the college ranks for 10 seasons: Missouri (1991-93), Southeast Missouri State (1989-90), Northern Arizona (1988, 1994) and Texas-El Paso (1986-87). His first coaching job was at Montana in 1985, working with the receivers.
Mornhinweg earned a degree in health and physical education from Montana in 1985 and a master???s degree in health and physical education/sports administration from Texas-El Paso in 1988.
Marty and his wife, Lindsay, have four children: two daughters, Madison and Molly, and two sons, Skyler and Bobby Cade.
1969, 1970 FOOTBALL TEAMS
The 1969 and 1970 Montana football squads were the first in school history to go undefeated during the regular season, registering back-to-back 10-0 records. The 1969 team???s league title was the first ever by a Grizzly team. The two conference crowns were the only titles by a Grizzly team in 19 seasons from 1963 to 1981 until Mornhinweg and the 1982 Montana team garnered a championship.
The Grizzlies were coached those seasons by the late Jack Swarthout, who left UM with a nine-year record (1967-75) of 51-41-1. Swarthout left Montana with the most wins in school history until Don Read won 85 games from 1986-95.
Both of these teams posted the most victories and had the best regular-season records to date in school history. The 10 victories by the teams were the most in school history until the1989 squad went 11-3.
The 1969 and 1970 teams played in two straight Camellia Bowls, the NCAA Division II national championship game. The teams??? chances for a national title were all but eliminated when they lost several key players before the bowl games due to the NCAA???s rules on junior college transfers.
Some of the players on those teams included several All-Americans like Arnie Blancas, Les Kent, Tuufuli Uperesa, Karl Stein, Larry Miller, Ray Brum and Steve Okoniewski.
The 1969 and ???70 teams continue to hold numerous Big Sky Conference and school single-season rushing records, as well as defensive records.
The 1969 football squad had a school-record 11 first team All-Big Sky selections: Blancas, Tim Gallagher, Bill Gutman, Kent, Miller, Jim Nordstrom, Roy Robinson, John Stedham, Stein, Larry Stranahan and Uperesa.
