Got a phone call last week from Gary Peck, subject of a recent Where Are They Now? story and audio on Missoulian.com.

Seems Gary remembered some other things we could have talked about when we rehashed his basketball-baseball-golf career at the University of Montana in the mid 60s.

One thing Gary forgot to mention was that his senior season, 1965-66, was the year Texas Western shocked the college basketball world by beating Kentucky and winning the NCAA championship with an all-black starting lineup.

Earlier that season the Grizzlies, who set a per-game scoring mark that still stands in the UM record book, had one common opponent with the national champs. And while Gary had his dates a little out of order, it made for interesting stuff.

Pan American University played Texas Western twice that season, losing 67-47 in December and nearly knocking off the 28-1 Miners in a 65-61 loss in February, 1966.

In between Pan American took a road trip to Montana, losing to Eastern Montana College 60-46 and then getting walloped 93-63 by the Grizzlies.

Oddly enough the Eastern Montana loss showed up in the 1965-66 season results for Pan American, but not the hammering at Montana.

Peck, tongue in cheek, said that by using comparative scores, the Grizzlies could have been national champs!

Sure, it’s a big stretch, but comparing scores always is a lot more fun than dealing with reality.

UM was 14-10 that year, and scored 100 or more points three times on the way to a season scoring average of nearly 84 points per game, WITHOUT THE 3-POINT SHOT.

All of that notwithstanding, it was fun talking with Gary. I was a junior at UM when he was a senior and remember the Grizzlies scoring 111 against Idaho State in Missoula, a single-game scoring mark that also still stands in Griz annals.

They also beat Idaho, 100-91, and ISU, 101-86, the latter in Pocatello.

You can read the story, see some cute photos of Gary, and listen to the interview by going to www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/05/06/sports/watn/wat27.txt.

And if you know the whereabouts (with contact information) of any other former Griz players or coaches you’d like me to write about in Where Are They Now?, please let me know and I’ll do my best to accommodate you.

They’ve all been fun.

- Bill Schwanke