Tony Welzenbach (2018) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Tony Welzenbach

Induction:
2018

   The stars from Montana State’s Big Sky football dynasty of the mid-1960s are well-known. Stars such as Don Hass, Dennis Erickson and Paul Schafer ring through the years for individual heroics, for leading the team to success, for achievements that remain revered a half-century later.
   But when you drill down to details, when you ask for specifics, when you listen to the people that were part of those great teams, the names of unsung heroes start to emerge. And one of those names is Tony Welzenbach.
   “Of all the offensive linemen I’ve been around,” says Erickson, who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year for his legendary coaching career, “Tony was probably the best. Without question.”
   Welzenbach started on three straight Big Sky Championship teams, joining the starting lineup in the first game of his sophomore year and never departing. He helped protect Erickson, a two-time All-Big Sky quarterback, while paving the way for a pair of All-America running backs, Don Hass and Paul Schafer. “He dominated people as a run blocker,” Erickson said. “In those days we called it a pancake. He was a guard and he was such a great athlete he pulled a lot, and he put guys on their backs.”
   Toiling in near anonymity – “In those days they didn’t get much publicity,” Erickson said – Welzenbach still drew praise from his teammates. Hass, an All-America and record-setting tailback, identified the Wolf Point product that “stands out as being productive” in a Great Falls Tribune article in recent years.
   Erickson said Welzenbach’s athleticism stood out, even for a man of considerable size. “He was 280 lbs but he was as athletic as anyone I knew. He could do it all- played both sides of the football in high school (when he also) played basketball, played baseball. He was a special player and a great athlete,” and his prep accomplishments included the Montana state shot put record which stood for two decades. After his Bobcat career he enjoyed a brief career in the Canadian Football League before returning to his native Montana.
   Welzenbach put his intellect – “He was a brilliant guy, graduated with two degrees, got his master’s degree, was a reader and a thinker,” Erickson said – to good use throughout his later years traveling the world. He passed away in February of 2018, but he remains warmly remembered by former teammates. “He was really a special guy,” Erickson said.