Consultant inducted into Rocky Mountain Hall of Fame!

By of Signa Engineering Corp.

July 2004

HOUSTON – For many, getting recognition comes after a long wait, and in the world of sports, garnering acknowledgement can take even longer. In the case of the Montana State College Bobcats football team, one wait spanned almost a half-century.

Nolan Eugene “Gene” Cannon, a contract consultant for Signa Engineering, was recently inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Hall of Fame alongside the rest of the 1956 MSC Bobcats football team for an undefeated season the players enjoyed almost 50 years ago. The Bobcats were ranked Number One in Small Colleges that year, and captured the RMAC’s first-ever national championship in the historic Aluminum Bowl Championship Game.

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[Signa Engineering Corp.]
Nolan Eugene "Gene" Cannon, left, a contract consultant for Signa Engineering, says Coach Tony Storti, right, was the "Key to the winning season" back in 1956.
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Gene played middle linebacker for MSC at Boseman, Montana, but in those days football players were often conditioned to play offense as well as defense – a strategy almost extinct in today’s specialized NFL player positions and team strategies.

Under the instruction of Head Coach Tony Storti, the 1956 Bobcats were taught no-holds-barred football, and players were primed for several months of action that would be the fodder for hundreds of glory-day stories. Storti used at least 11 returned military men to make up his tough-as-nails regiment that would wreak havoc in the NCAA in the mid-1950s. Many starters were 23-year-old freshmen that literally stampeded their foes into submission, on both sides of the playing field.

“Coach Storti was the key to our winning season,” Gene said after the Hall of Fame induction in Colorado Springs. “He had it all planned out and he executed it well. He and his three assistant coaches had carefully recruited lots of good football players that year, like Rocco Persavelli, out of Pennsylvania, and Ace Catchatori, who now lives in New York, and Phil Witner and Clyde Cleveland. They were all great players…but Coach Storti was the guy that made it all happen.”

The Bobcats had many stars that magical season, including freshman quarterback Dave Alt, freshman center Sonny Holland, junior running back and punter George Marinkovich, senior fullback Don Edwards and senior right tackle Ron Warzeka. Alt led the team in passing with 215 yards and three touchdowns on 9-of-18 attempts, and rushed for another 215 yards and 5 touchdowns.

During the Bobcats’ rise to stardom in the mid-1950s, they met (and defeated) formidable teams like the Cal Poly Ponies, a team that boasted legendary tackle John Madden, whose name would go on to be synonymous with the game of football and Monday nights. That skill and determination paid off in 1956, as the Bobcats gained momentum and victories, all the while securing a slot in football history.

The Bobcats surrendered only a meager 74 points during the entire 1956 campaign, holding their opponents to an average of 7.4 points per game en route to four shutouts that season. On the offensive side of the ball, MSC averaged 31.2 points per contest and 323.1 yards rushing, good for an average of 5.2 yards per carry.

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[Signa Engineering Corp.]
The 1956 MSC Bobcats football team was recently inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Hall of Fame for an undefeated season the players enjoyed almost 50 years ago. The Bobcats were ranked Number One in Small Colleges that year, and captured the RMAC's first-ever national championship in the historic Aluminum Bowl Championship Game.
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Montana State’s successful athletic programs of the 1950s were also supplemented and strengthened by new facilities, among them "Rollie's Folly," or "Rollie's Roundhouse," the remarkable domed sports arena on the south side of campus – now familiarly known as the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Renne's Fieldhouse, designed by Bozeman's Oswald E. Berg, Jr., and Fred J. Willson, was one of the architectural wonders of the world – the largest wooden arched roof structures in existence – and the second-largest building of its type in America.

The Bobcats’ perfect season came to an anti-climatic close, however, with a muddy draw in the Aluminum Bowl championship game in Little Rock, Ark. The contest, held on Dec. 19, 1956, pitted the Bobcats against St. Joseph’s of Indiana, and was played at War Memorial Stadium and broadcast nationally on CBS TV and radio. Most of the players have memories that are…less than fond.

“It should have been called the ‘Mud Bowl,’” Gene said last week as he remembered the dreary game, which ended with a score of 0-0. “Awful, it was just awful.”

At the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame induction in Colorado Springs, the few bad memories of the 1956 season weren’t a topic of discussion, Gene said. Coach Storti was in attendance when the team gathered to celebrate their acceptance into the Hall of Fame and reminisce on an adventure that was about as close to perfect as it gets, at least in the sports world. The team also received a commemoration plaque for their success. Both players and coaches shared stories of that amazing season when they went “all the way.”

“Coach Storti got up and gave an inspirational pep talk, as was his tendency to do at halftime in the past,” Gene said. “We had a good time, reliving those days. Everybody got up and talked about their background, their children, their jobs. It really was a great experience.”

There are 33 living members of the 1956 Bobcats, and 28 of them were in attendance at the induction. The team had previously been inducted into the Montana State University Hall of Fame in 1995. According to Gene Cannon, approximately two-thirds of the 1956 team went on to be coaches themselves, no doubt inspired by their charismatic leader, Tony Storti.

Montana State - Bobcat Traditions

The MSC Bobcats’ schedule for 1956 was as follows:

For more information about this article, contact Patrick Reynolds at 281-774-3110 or send .

Related Links:

'56 Bobcats Inducted into Hall of Fame  Montana State University Collegian