117th Brawl of the Wild: New Washington-Grizzly Champions Center has strong Havre ties

If you're a fan of the Montana Grizzlies, there's a lot to love about Washington-Grizzly Stadium. It's the premier stadium in all of FCS football, and for three decades now, fans have been flocking to the mecca of Grizzly football.

And even though the 2017 Brawl of the Wild won't be played inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium this Saturday, as the annual Cat-Griz showdown shifts to Bozeman, it has been an exciting year for the stadium none the less.

But the excitement around the newest addition to the stadium isn't so much for the fans, it's for the players and student-athletes at the University of Montana - and it's been a long time coming.

Last month, UM unveiled the shiny new Washington-Grizzly Champions Center, a fully privately funded $14.7 million facility that houses a state-of-the-art training complex that is for all UM student athletes, a 7,100 square foot state-of-the-art Grizzly football locker room, a 2,100 square foot Griz football team meeting room, as well as much more team meeting space for all UM athletics, not just the football program.

The last gift was a $7 million dollar made by Kevin and Kyle Washington, the sons of Dennis Washington, whose name Washington-Grizzly Stadium bears.

The facility was a long time in the making and was absolutely necessary for the health of the UM football program. While the stadium has been a source of pride for generations now, the football team's infrastructure was anything but.

Just in Green, the Grizzlies' running back's coach and recruiting coordinator said that when he came to UM in 2002, building a new locker room was something that was talked about. It wasn't until 15 years later that it finally happened.

"That was part of the recruiting trip, that there was going to be a new locker room and weight room," said Green, who, 15 years later, is now the running backs coach at his Alma mater. "It's definitely been a long time coming."

A long time indeed. There was a running joke at UM for many years that, coaches would never show potential recruits the football locker rooms. They were that bad. The weight room for the football team was just as bad, as it was actually three spare rooms inside the bowels of Dahlberg Arena, so the entire football team could not even work out together.

Those days are now long gone. The facility is open, and according to many who have visited, including NFL Hall of Fame running back Herschel Walker who was there to celebrate the grand opening last month, it's on par with large college football facilities all across the country, though smaller in size.

And here's something cool about the facility for those Griz fans in Havre and on the Hi-Line. In a round-about-way, you all are well-represented.

There are three strong ties to the Champions Center, including the gracious generosity of Mike and Gloria Tilleman. Mike is a member of the Montana Grizzly Hall of Fame and has been a strong supporter of Grizzly football over the years. Now, and forever, Tilleman has not one, but two places in his honor inside the shiny new Champions Center. One of the five large meetings rooms inside the facility is named the Mike and Gloria Tilleman Meeting Room.

And then there's a special room inside the building that was intended to honor any former Grizzly football player or coach who has played professional football. Each one of those men has his own locker inside what's tabbed the Markovich Family Professional Athlete and Coaches Lockeroom.

Inside that room, former Havre Blue Pony great Marc Mariani is honored for his playing days while at UM, and then going on to play seven years in the NFL.

And lastly, there's a connection to Havre on the Grizzlies' roster, and that young man is part of the first Griz football team to inhabit the brand new 7,100 square foot Grizzly football locker room. Reggie Tilleman, a junior defensive tackle for the Grizzlies, is the son of former Blue Pony standout Lee Tilleman, who now resides in Gennesee, Idaho.

So, while the Champions Center may be 275 miles away from Havre, it has very strong ties to the local community, and that's something Griz fans in our area can always be proud of.

And it's certainly something Mariani is proud of and something he's extremely happy for his alma mater to have now.

"It's unbelievably exciting," Mariani said. "It's something that has been talked about for years and years. It's something that was really needed, and to see it now, see the finished product, it's really cool.

"I'm just honored that I was even a small part of that," he continued. "To think back when I was a walk-on in 2005, to even have my name on anything in a facility like that would have seemed way out of reach for me. I will always feel so blessed and grateful for the opportunity UM gave me, and I'm humbled and honored that my name is even on the walls in that facility. It's just awesome."