You often hear pro athletes talk about life after sports. Unfortunately, some of them don’t even think about it until their playing days are either over or – at best – numbered.

But three members of the Dallas Cowboys – including ex-Grizzly Cory Procter – recently signed a contract with Riot Entertainment of Australia. Along with an old high school buddy of tackle and bass guitarist Leonard Davis named Justin Chapman and lead singer and guitarist Marc Colombo, they are heavy metal band Free Reign.

Procter, who wrapped up his Griz career in 2004 before signing with the Cowboys, plays the drums. He and Colombo came up with the idea to form a band, and when they found out Davis played bass and had this pal who could play lead, the ideal foursome came together.

At first it was a release. But once the group started playing gigs in and around Dallas, they got some attention, not in the least because the total weight of the band – minus equipment – is about 1,200 pounds.

Davis is the biggest at 353 and Chapman the “smallest” at 235.

When they throw their weight around on stage, it’s quite a site to behold, especially when Colombo tosses out phrases like a song will “rip your face off.”

But isn’t that what heavy metal music is all about? Ripping off your face? And permanently damaging your ear drums?

So what started out as a release from the pressures and hard work of pro football for three of the band members has become a possible future once their on-the-field days are over.

As long as their bodies and the music genre they’ve embraced hold up, who knows?

Anyway, enjoy this glimpse of Free Reign from YouTube.

Based on an interview I did recently with former Grizzly and Los Angeles Rams player Mickey Sutton (UM, 1980-81), current UM coaches might want to be keeping a recruiting eye out for the children of former Griz athletes.

Seems one might already have slipped through in Sutton’s case. His son, William, is a 6-2, 270-pound defensive tackle headed this fall for Arizona State after being ranked – according to his proud papa bear – as the top high school defensive tackle in California.

But that’s not the end of the Sutton line.

Daughter Michelle, going into her junior year, has already started for two seasons as a guard on Corona Centennial High School’s basketball team and – again according to her dad – has already started receiving information letters from colleges. She’s 5-7, and will be competing in showcase tournaments in Portland, Ore., and Arizona this summer.

And finally there’s daughter April, at age 12 already a nationally-recognized track athlete. Mickey said April has been ranked No. 1 nationally in her age group in the 800-meter run and two years ago, as a 10-year-0ld, finished second in the 400 meters in a national age-group meet.

However, since both girls already have landed work on television shows and commercials, it might be tough to drag them away from the Los Angeles area.

But what the hey – nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

By the way, you can check out the Mickey Sutton written story and listen to the audio of the entire interview by going to the Multi-Media section of Missoulian.com Wednesday morning.

For the written story, click on the black “Where Are They Now?” box under the list of audios. For the audio, look at the top of the “Featured Audio” list.

- Bill Schwanke

Congratulations to Jim O’Day and the athletics directors at Appalachian State and McNeese State for scheduling home-and-home dates amongst each other.

Even though the first season the scheduling will go into effect for Montana is 2012, when the Griz will travel to Appy State, it’s a step in the right direction.

Many have felt that the Grizzlies  – especially in the earlier years of their playoff participation – weren’t really prepared for the level of competition they would face once they got into the semifinals and finals.

While scheduling the likes of Appy and McNeese could result in losses that might damage UM’s playoff seeding, it also provides the possibility of improving their seeding if the Grizzlies can win their share of those games.

And it’s good for those teams to travel to Missoula and enjoy the atmosphere that we so take for granted around here.

If Montana is going to schedule the likes of Western State of Colorado – which I don’t have a problem with as long as it’s not a regular thing – it needs to balance that with games like those recently announced.

- Bill Schwanke

Oregon junior to be Justin Roper is leaving the Ducks football program and looking for a place to land.

Word has it he’s already visited Montana and has plans to visit a couple other schools.

It wouldn’t be a first for Montana if Roper winds up in Missoula. Justin Swogger came to UM from Washington State with just one year of eligibility remaining. Other players playing positions other than quarterback have transferred in and contributed at differing levels to Montana’s success.

The NCAA, in one of its seemingly few wise moves, now doesn’t allow a I-A transfer to move to a lower-division program unless he has at least two years of eligibility remaining.

On the surface, but only if Roper is an exceptional talent, this looks like it could be a good deal for the Grizzlies, because they don’t have a quarterback on the roster with a lot of game experience.

What concerns me is the impact this might have when Griz coaches attempt to recruit high school quarterbacks in the future, especially those from Montana. It seems to me that a prospect might think twice, knowing that – at any time and regardless of how much a player has developed once on the Griz roster – he could be pushed aside.

It’s a tough situation. Coach Bobby Hauck and his staff want to put the best possible product on the field, but loyalty to the players you’ve already recruited with the idea that they can contribute at some point in time is important, too.

A lot of thought needs to go into a situation like this.

- Bill Schwanke

By now you probably already know that Gordie Fix, the owner of the Press Box sports bar in Missoula for some 25 years, has sold out and plans to retire, at least for now.

I went to high school with Gordie and figured he’d make a fortune as a professional bowler. He was pretty darn good, as was his brother, Dan.

But the two decided to buy a share in Five Valleys Bowl about 30 years ago, and Gordie ended up overseeing the bar there. After a few years Gordie was off to the Elbow Room Bar as its owner before he took over the Press Box in 1984-1985ish.

It was then that Gordie really got involved with the true love of his life, the Grizzlies (my apologies to his fiancee). The imprint he has left because of his willingness to round up funds to back playoff bids starting in 1989 and help found the Quarterback Club for UM football and its successors for Griz and Lady Griz basketball probably is immeasurable. Rest assured his efforts have brought significant dollars to the Grizzly athletics and to this community.

Regardless of whether or not a lot of the money behind these projects actually was his isn’t important. What’s important is that he was the driving force, the one who willingly made it his responsibility to see that things got done.

One of the funniest comments I’ve heard involved Gordie and his friend, Brad Shefljo, another booster who leans more heavily towards men’s basketball. It came from the mouth of former UM athletic director Wayne Hogan, who once said, “How many athletic programs do you know of that have signficant boosters named Fix and Shifty,” or words to that effect.

Well, Gordie helped fix a lot of things that ailed Grizzly athletics in general and Grizzly football in particular. To those who might begrudge the fact that he made a penny or two because of his affiliation with UM, shame on you. I suspect he has given a lot more back in terms of money and good old sweat.

Wherever life takes you now, Gordie, make it good!

-Bill Schwanke

Seems like all I’m writing about these days is people who have died.

They say things happen in threes, and noteworthy deaths – at least noteworthy to me – lately have included former Montana football player Montana Bockman, the versatile Frank McElwain, and most recently, former Great Falls High and University of Montana football coach Gene Carlson.

Carlson joined Jack Swarthout’s staff as an assistant before taking over the head job when Jack called it quits after the 1975 season. A recent Missoulian sports story by Fritz Neighbor recounted that – during his four-year tenure – Carlson’s teams won just 16 of 41 games, but had a lot of talented players.

One of Carlson’s assistants, current Big Sky High School coach Gary Ekegren, had some nice and appropriate things to say about Carlson and the way he approached trying to build a program at UM when football had gone into a bit of a slump after Swarthout’s banner years of 1969 and 1970.

I was radio voice of the Grizzlies back then, and recall a rather peculiar incident with Carlson – peculiar because of his usually calm demeanor and approach to all things football.

One of the unfortunate things about Gene’s first year as head coach was a quarterback controversy. Grizzly fans these days know all about quarterback controversies. At some level, they’re almost an annual event.

This one involved Mike Roban, a former Great Falls High player under Carlson who transferred to UM after an unsuccessful attempt to attend, and play football for, a military academy.

Roban was at Montana for two seasons, and he got off to a rocky start in his first one, also Gene’s first as head coach.

Carlson certainly had first-hand knowledge of Roban’s talents. A talented thrower and runner, Roban didn’t fare too badly on the football field at the academy, but apparently couldn’t handle the discipline.

Mike was more than a little cocky. Because of that, many of those whose teams played against him in high school didn’t much care for him, and many of those same folks probably weren’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he wound up at UM.

Montana also had a junior college transfer quarterback named Mike Magner in 1976 and, when he got playing time, he seemed to be outplaying Roban, who was struggling.

Part way through the season my color commentator, Ken Staninger, and I showed up at Carlson’s office to record our weekly pregame show. The quarterback subject came up, not because I wanted it to, but because it had to.

I asked Carlson who would start at quarterback in the upcoming game. The room temperature cooled noticeably as Carlson responded, “Who would you start?” Still relatively new to the profession, I made a mistake.

Rather than turning off the recorder and discussing things with Carlson, I chose to answer, “I guess if it was up to me, based on what I’ve seen so far this season, I’d probably go with Magner.”

I don’t recall much of the rest of the interview, such as it was. But I vividly remember what happened at the end.

Carlson snapped, “Don’t ever ask me a question like that again!” I replied, “That’s the question that every Grizzly fan wants the answer to. I had to ask it.”

At this point Staninger jumped in with a few pointed comments of his own in my support, and then we left.

I don’t even remember who started the next game at quarterback for the Grizzlies. All I remember is that the next time Staninger and I showed up, it was as though the incident had never happened.

Carlson was back to his old self, and things went smoothly from then on out.

I guess it just shows that the pressure of coaching college football can get to anyone. But Carlson proved that the important thing is how you respond to that pressure.

I thought he bounced back in exceptional fashion. And that’s one of the reasons that, when it became apparent he was about to lose his job as UM’s head coach, I went to the UM president’s office to intercede on his behalf.

It didn’t work, but I felt it was something that needed to be done. UM had a lot of issues with its athletic program at the time, most of them tied to inadequate funding. A lot of us felt that it wouldn’t matter who the head coach was if he wasn’t given more tools with which to work.

UM went through another coaching staff before one of the issues was solved with the construction of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The funding issue slowly began to resolve itself as more fans came out to watch Don Read’s wide-open offense.

It’s anybody’s guess how much the offense would have mattered had the Grizzlies kept playing at Dornblaser Stadium.

Anyway, I’ll always have a lot of respect for Gene Carlson. He was a good man and a good football coach who was more the victim of circumstances than of any shortcomings he may have had.

Rest in peace, Gene. And all the best to your family.

- Bill Schwanke

The passing of Missoula education and sports icon Frank McElwain in May had to have conjured up numerous memories for the many, many, many people he touched during his years as a coach, school administrator and advocate for kids.

I knew Frank for roughly 40 years, and had worked with him during a number of sporting events over the years.

I also have had the pleasure of knowing his wife and kids, and the imprint he left on them is obvious, too.

Frank was another one of those people to whom you could attribute the all-too-familiar comment, “They broke the mold,” and know it’s true.

On those occasions when Frank got really serious about something, you knew it was important, because generally speaking he was light hearted and pretty much always smiling.

It was one of those smiles that, coupled with the twinkling eyes, presented that sense that  something devilish was going on.

He was a positive person that created positive results, no matter what he did.

More than one student who fell under his tutelage has been quoted as saying Frank was the best teacher he ever had. It’s been said that, without fail – whenever a student told Frank that – his response would be, “And you were the best student I ever had,” often accompanied by a wink.

Rest in peace, Frank. Your work with high school and college athletics and on behalf of young people will never be forgotten by those who witnessed your tireless efforts. And thanks for being such a good friend to so many.

- Bill Schwanke

So who appointed the NCAA to be this nation’s moral guidepost?

When it isn’t butting in on territory where it doesn’t belong, such as team nicknames, the NCAA is once again throwing its weight around in the realm of sports gambling.

Now it seems that the ability for Montana and Montana State to host NCAA playoff games is in jeopardy because our state allows sports betting on fantasy leagues. Not regular-season or post-season NCAA events, but FANTASY leagues.

Delaware got in trouble first, then deftly pointed out to the NCAA that Montana is “guilty” of the same moral malfeasance as the home state of one of UM and MSU’s Bowl Championship Subdivison (read I-AA) compatriots.

No one is questioning that all of us should be concerned about the negative associations big-time gambling can create with college athletes and coaches. But member schools are not responsible for legislation or policy established at the state government level. And the NCAA doesn’t need to concern itself with state legislation or policy, either.

All the NCAA needs to do is make it clear that any coaches or athletes caught associating with gamblers will be punished – severely. It doesn’t need to prejudge member schools and their athletes based on state law or policy.

Of course, this is the organization that allows member schools to compete in bowl games in Las Vegas, the nation’s gambling mecca. While the bowl games are not NCAA sponsored, they are NCAA sanctioned.

So why doesn’t this mainstay of cultural purity tell its members they can’t participate in bowl games in states that allow sports betting?

Because there is much money to be made from bowl games, no matter where they are played.

Please, NCAA, make your rules and penalties regarding the involvement of coaches and  athletes in gambling abundantly clear, and then enforce those rules with gusto. Let them know that their involvement can have most serious impacts on their futures and the future participation of teams from their schools.

But please, don’t take away the potential of member schools to host NCAA playoff games based simply on the potential that gambling may occur.

If part of your mission is to make sure coaches and athletes don’t gamble, you don’t need to use supposition to fulfill that mission.

- Bill Schwanke