Jan. 11, 2007

written by Jon Kasper/Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner and reprinted with permission of him and the Big Sky Conference

"Well, I'm a little modest about that,'' Holt said.

Milton "Dubby" Holt, the Idaho State University icon who passed away on Sunday, Jan. 7, less than a month shy of his 93rd birthday, was about to tell the story of how the Big Sky Conference's name came to be.

Holt's Idaho State cross country team was headed to Missoula, Mont., for a meet. Several on the bus were discussing possible names for the new conference. As the bus chugged over Monida Pass at the Montana-Idaho border, a sign caught Holt's eye.

"We came to the Montana border, and there was a sign that said, `Montana: Home of the Big Sky,''' Holt recalled. "I said, `I think that would be a great name.' All of the kids were talking about that. So at the next meeting, they adopted the Big Sky.''

The presidents of Idaho State, Idaho, Montana, Montana State, Gonzaga and Weber State met on Feb. 25, 1963 and adopted the name Big Sky. Just days earlier, Harry Missildine, a reporter from the Spokane-Review in Spokane called for the league to be named the Big Sky Conference.

"We had about a dozen names,'' Holt recalled. "Some of them had Mountains, and Regional, and things like that. Harry Missildine jumped on that because he was covering the Big Sky meetings. He took it from there.''

Hundreds will gather in Pocatello on Thursday within eyesight of an historic building that bears his name to celebrate the life of one of the truly great men in the history of the Big Sky Conference. Few, however, will probably realize he was instrumental in selecting the moniker for the league that Idaho State University has called home since 1963.

Holt's career at Idaho State began long before the formation of the Big Sky Conference, and never really ended after his retirement as Athletics Director in 1979.

Dubby Holt (left) with Babe Caccia at the ISU Boxing Reunion last summer.

It was through a bit of luck that Holt arrived in Pocatello in the first place. The Glendale, Calif., made several stops prior to arriving in Pocatello, including one at Temple in Philadelphia.

"We didn't visit in those days,'' Holt said. "But they did give you $100 to get there. It was during the Depression, 1933. I stayed until spring ball.''

After deciding Philadelphia wasn't for him, he another Southern Californian athlete embarked on a 10-day trip back home, hitchhiking across the United States. Holt ended up at Fresno State, but things didn't work.

"A guy named Bill Reynolds, who played high school football with me, had come up (to Pocatello) to live with his aunt and go to school,'' Holt said. "He'd come home, and I'd say, `what's the name of that town where you're going to school, Poka-what?''

Holt received an invitation to attend Reynold's wedding. So, naturally, Holt hitchhiked to Pocatello. After the wedding, at the urging of Reynold's, he spoke to the Idaho State track coach.

"He lined us up with a room, got me a job, and the rest is history,'' Holt said.

That history includes four Big Sky Conference outdoor track and field championships, and three cross country championships.

In 1937, he returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown, record which stood for 80 years.

Despite never boxing himself, Holt became of the nation's top coaches. He guided Idaho State to NCAA Championships in 1953 and 1957, and served as the Olympic boxing coach in 1956.

Arguably Holt's crowning achievement still serves Idaho State University, and the entire Northwest. It's the arena that bears his name. The ASISU Mini-dome, as it was called then, was the brainchild of Holt, who served as Idaho State's Athletics Director from 1967-79. The structure opened in 1970 as the first on-campus dome stadium. It was remained Holt Arena in 1988. The arena has hosted numerous Big Sky Conference indoor track and field championships, NCAA basketball tournament games, the Division I-AA national championship, as well as countless rodeos, concerts, high school events, track meets, and monster truck rallies.

On Thursday night, just hours after Holt's life is celebrated, Idaho State's men's basketball team will take on Eastern Washington. It will be a Big Sky Conference game played in Holt Arena. Nothing could me more fitting.

Note: Jon Kasper, the Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations, traveled to Pocatello, Idaho, on Nov. 3, 2006, to interview Milton "Dubby" Holt with the intent to gain historical information about the founding of the Big Sky Conference. Also present were former Idaho State coach and Athletics Director Babe Caccia, and former Idaho State Sports Information Director Glenn Alford. The interview with Holt is one of the last formal interviews he conducted prior to his death at the age of 92 on Sunday, January 7, 2006.