Over the years NMC/MSUN has been blessed with outstanding athletic talent from across the state, but I can't help but notice that the two most prolific running backs Northern has ever had came from the southwestern part of the state. What’s with that? Do they run those mountains in 40 feet of snow uphill all the way, or through the mines in the dark, or are they chased by bear frequently? What gives them that special combination of strength and fleetness of foot? I suspect they just have had really big linebackers chasing them.

In our last issue of the Aurora, we carried an article written by the Havre Daily News Sports Editor, George Ferguson, who has followed MSU-Northern football since its return. He had written an excellent article on Justin Moe’s record setting career in his four years here at Northern and we printed it. As good journalism does, though, it provoked more thought and responses.

George is far too young to remember the 1968 football team coached by Tom Reynolds. He can’t be expected to know that Frontier Conference MVP, Justin Moe is not the first Northern Light to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season. Otherwise, he would have stated that he was the first to run over 1,000 yards in a single season since the program was reinstated.

Justin Moe had an outstanding senior season, running for 1,082 yards and 11 touchdowns, but he wasn’t the first Light to do this. If you still have a few of your teeth and some of your hair, you might remember that, Bob Hodge, Butte native, current Helena resident, loyal alum, and classmate of mine set several records during his time at Northern and that was one of them. In fact, he ran for 1,108 yards in the 1968 season and this has been the record ever since. He was the first Light to receive national recognition (football) and was ranked sixth nationally in the final 1968 NAIA figures in individual rushing. His per game average was 138.5 and per carry average was 7.4 yards. That per carry average ranked him fourth in the NAIA. He paced the Lights in scoring with 72 points on 12 touchdowns. Bob participated on a talent laden Lights team that held the record for most wins for 40 years.

There is a need for some of these old records to be found and posted so that our program, our media, and editors (myself included) can properly acknowledge the new football records. Until they are located, do we need to state them as “new program” records until we can find the old records?

The current Lights Football program is awesome and the athletes are superb. I am told that some of them abide by an 8:30 pm bedtime…no kidding! They have to get up at 5:30 am to lift weights and they tell me that they can’t stay up late and do that. This year, five Lights were named to the Victory Sports Network NAIA All-American Team with senior defensive back, Kahlin Anderson, leading the way with second team defensive honors; senior running back ,Justin Moe, the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Year earning honorable mention along with junior linebacker, Stetson Koffman, the NAIA second-leading tackler; senior offensive lineman, Russ Hilton; and sophomore defensive end, Jared Weigel, who lead the team in quarterback sacks last year. To top that off, Frontier Conference Academic All-Conference honors went to 12 (that’s right, 12! Academic!!) Lights football players; Russ Hilton, Ty Cochrell, Owen Devlin, Tom Kain, Marc McBryan, Justin Moe, Zeb Olson, Russ Penner, Ty Thomas, Steven Toone, Casey Varner and Ted Wells. With this kind of dedication, we will have individuals and teams challenging all of the “old school” records. It would be great to know which ones still stand. They sure would make good goals for the outstanding talent on our team of today.