Who is the greatest athlete from (almost) every Montana town? 406mtsports.com has been researching that question since 2018. Have a question, comment, addition, alteration or information to suggest? Let us know .
Dagmar: Bruce Smith, basketball: A 6-foot-10 center, Smith was a scoring machine for Medicine Lake in the early 1970s, earning all-state honors as a senior in 1973 and a spot on the Class A-B all-star team. After high school, Smith played for Montana State, securing 23 rebounds in a game with the freshman team and eventually starting at center as a junior and senior. He played professionally for a year in France before returning to MSU to earn a master's degree in business administration and become an extension agent in eastern Montana.
Darby: Todd Berry, wrestling: A three-time state champion (1978-80), Berry managed to emerge from his small town in the Bitterroot Valley to earn USA Today All-American honors and qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1980 as a 17-year-old. Upon his graduation from Darby, he'd accumulated more victories than any wrestler in state history. Along the way, he also won the 1980 state Class B-C pole vault championship.
After wrestling in high school at 126 and 138 pounds and finishing with what was then a state-record 117 victories, he went on to compete for North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, before working in the mining industry in Idaho and then as a lineman for Northwestern Energy. Berry died of cancer in 2012 at age 50. An ho.
