'56 Bobcats Inducted into Hall of Fame by Bill Lamberty The 1956 Montana State football team, already immortalized as one of the top athletic teams in Bobcat history, continues to gain fame nearly a half century later. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will induct the '56 Bobcats, which won conference and national championships, into the league's Hall of Fame on July 10 in Colorado Springs, Colo, The 1956 season was the finest in school history at that time. The team's 9-0-1 record remains the only season of at least five games a Bobcat football team has ever survived without a loss. Montana State dominated its 1956 opponents, scoring at least 30 points in its first four games, and limiting the last six opponents to just 33 points. The Bobcats won their nine regular season games by an average score of 34-9. Montana State's most memorable win of the regular season was the 33-14 thumping of Montana in Missoula. The win snapped an eight-year Grizzly winning streak over the Bobcats, and was Montana State's first in Missoula since 1902, when the famed Flaherty brothers led MSU to a 38-0 whitewashing of the Griz. Montana State students tore down the goal posts, raising quite a controversy, and the College community celebrated by canceling classes the following Monday. The team's reward for its perfect regular season was a trip to Little Rock, Ark., for the Aluminum Bowl. The team traveled in style on a chartered flight, sporting cowboy hats and boots, and walked through War Memorial Stadium the day before the game. But on game day, the team was met with a mud bath and wet, soggy conditions that hampered both the Bobcats and St. Joseph's, a small school from Indiana that finished its regular season 8-1. The 1956 Aluminum Bowl set up the first-ever "N.A.I.A. Classic" to decide a national champion. Each team failed to capitalize on one scoring chance, both involving big Ron Warzeka, MSU's All-America tackle. Warzeka missed a field goal for the 'Cats, but also tracked down Puma fullback Mike Murphy on the Bobcat 16 to thwart a St. Joseph's touchdown. George Marinkovich rushed for 74 yards to lead the Bobcats. For more information, call 719-576-5900.