As I sit here less than four hours from the kickoff of Montana’s latest national football championship game, I can’t help but think back to my good fortune following the Grizzlies’ first national championship win at Marshall in 1995.

At the time I was an assistant athletics director at UM, and as I watched the jubilant players, coaches, parents and support folks begin to grow more quiet on the plane flight back to Missoula following the game, I began to contemplate the role I would be playing when the plane touched down at the airport, a role I still think of as one of the greatest honors of my life.

That was, or course, well before 9-11 and the burdensome but necessary airport security we have dealt with ever since. So fans were invited to come to the airport to welcome the team home. A special area for the ceremony was roped off on the tarmac, pretty close to where the latest addition at the west end of the terminal is located.

I recall my reaction, and that of everyone else on the plane, when we saw how many people were waiting for the Grizzlies to arrive. It was the middle of the night! It was even more amazing than the send-off the team got up and down Broadway on the way to the airport to leave for Huntington, W. Va., just days before.

Athletics director Bill Moos did not accompany the team home, and had asked me to be in charge of emceeing the welcome-home event at the airport. Needless to say, I was feeling some pressure.

But the adrenaline rush I got from seeing the number of people waiting for their heroes energized me rather than intimidating me.

I remember running down the stairs and over to the stage where the team would gather in front of the crowd and being greeted by a huge roar.

As the players, coaches and others began filing off of the plane and heading toward their fans, I remember shouting into the microphone something like, “And here they are. The 1995 Division I-AA national champions – your Montana Grizzlies!!”

Then the cheering and applause were really deafening. As I introduced head coach Don Read and a few of the players, it was simply a magical moment.

I’ll never forget it, and I could never thank Bill Moos enough for allowing me the honor.

And then there was the ride through town on the way back to campus. Wow!

- Bill Schwanke