Wayne Purdom (2019) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Wayne Purdom

Induction:
2019
Class:
1967

Talk to anyone who competed with or against Wayne Purdom during his time at Montana State and you’ll hear two things.
He wasn’t very big. But he was really, really tough.

“When you first saw Wayne and met him you would think, how could somebody this short and squatty be tough enough to play college football?” said Purdom’s former teammate Jerry Jimison. “But we soon learned that as short as he was he had strength, he had quickness, but most of all he had a nose for the ball.”

Purdom played linebacker for the Bobcats in 1965 and ’66, earning All-Big Sky honors as a senior. He was a team captain that season, earning the team’s Defensive MVP award. Dennis Erickson started at quarterback for the Bobcats as a sophomore that season, and said there was no doubt who led the defensive unit. “He was the guy who ran the show for our defense in ’66,” Erickson said of Purdom. “He was a big-time player, but he wasn’t very big, five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine, 190, 195 pounds, something like that. But you talk about a guy who was a tough son of a gun, he never missed a play."

After playing both offensive and defensive guard for a time in 1965 he settled in on defense midway through that campaign, then grabbed the role of starting middle linebacker as a senior in 1966. He intercepted three passes in 1966, and against Missouri Valley champion Tulsa had six tackles, two for a loss, with one sack. He earned First Team All-Big Sky honors that season. “He was a ferocious football player, and a great leader, and a great person,” said former teammate Dennis Erickson.

Purdom had no off-season. As soon as the shoulder pads were checked in, he was pulling on a wrestling singlet. He contributed to a Bobcat dynasty, capturing the 1966 Big Sky Championship at 177 lbs to help MSU to its third straight league title. He won a Big Sky title in 1967, as well. Sportswriter Norm Clarke, who covered the Cats for the Helena Independent-Record in the mid-1960s, saw the link between Purdom’s dominance on the mat and his success on the gridiron. “Wayne was a once-in-a-generation force. He was relentless. I really believe his athleticism as a championship wrestler took him to another level on the football field.”

After his Bobcat career, Purdom returned to Yakima Valley College – where he had won championships as a wrestler and football player – to begin a successful three-and-a-half decades long coaching career. Purdom passed away in 2009, and was inducted into the Northwest Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Yakima Valley College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.