The 1956 Montana State Bobcats football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

team that represented

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...

in the

Rocky Mountain Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NC ...

(RMC) during the

1956 NAIA football season The 1956 NAIA football season was the first season of college football sponsored by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The season was played from August to December 1956, culminating in the inaugural NAIA Football National C ...

. In its fourth season under head coach Tony Storti, the team compiled a 9–0–1, won the RMC championship, tied with Saint Joseph's (IN) in the Aluminum Bowl, and was recognized as the national champion in NAIA. The team excelled on both offense and defense. On offense, the 1956 Bobcats averaged 323.1 rushing yards per game, a total that remains a program record. On defense, the team gave up 9.1 points per game, a total that was the lowest in program history until the 1976 team limited opponents to 8.1 points per game. Storti's assistant coaches were Joe Berry (line),

Herb Agocs Herbert Richard Agocs (November 6, 1928 – September 15, 1990) was an American football, wrestling, and track and field coach, and professor of physical education. He served as the head football coach at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mon ...

(ends), and Gene Bourdet (backs). Don Edwards and Jim Posewitz were co-winners of the team's most valuable player award. Tackle

Ron Warzeka Ronald Dwain Warzeka (December 24, 1935 - June 7, 2017) was a former American football player who played one season with the Oakland Raiders. He played college football at Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public ...

was selected as a second-team player on the Little All-America team. He went on to play for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

. Several Bobcats were named to the All-Rocky Mountain Conference football teams selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

(AP) and

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the ...

(UPI). They are: Warzeka (AP-1; UPI-1); R Ed Ritt (AP-1; UPI-1); fullback Don Edwards (AP-1; UPI-1); center

Sonny Holland Allyn A. "Sonny" Holland (March 22, 1938 – December 3, 2022) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at his alma mater, Montana State University in Bozeman, from 1971 to 1977. Holland led the Bobcats to two Big Sky ti ...

(AP-1; UPI-1); quarterback Dave Alt (AP-1; UPI-1); end Jim Posewitz (UPI-2); end Bob Black (UPI-HM); guard Herb Roberts (UPI-HM); guard Charley Jackson (UPI-HM); and halfback

George Marinkovich George T. Marinkovich (December 8, 1928 – December 7, 2022) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Western Montana College—now known as the University of Montana Western—for one season, in 1968, ...

(UPI-HM).

Schedule

References

{{Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football champions

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 field ...

Montana State Bobcats football seasons NAIA Football National Champions Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football champion seasons College football undefeated seasons

Montana State Bobcats football The Montana State Bobcats football program competes in the Big Sky Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision for Montana State University. The program began in 1897 and has won three national championships (1956, 197 ...