But from 1997 to 2000 - thanks to the obvious enthusiasm of a certain Grizzly linebacker - the stadium also had its Boomer Crew.
Adam Boomer came to the University of Montana football program from American Falls, Idaho with an unbridled passion and enthusiasm for his trade that simply added fuel to an already fiery stadium atmosphere.
“They were the only ones offering me a scholarship,” Boomer joked when asked why he chose UM. “That, and I had a coach tell me that Montana was the Harvard of the West.”
More importantly he was drawn by the tradition, the expectations and the excitement that surround Grizzly football, even though his recruiting trip was largely a bust.
“I was sick,” Boomer recalled, “but I knew I wanted to be there, and it just felt right. When I got to Montana it was just home.”
Boomer now lives in New York City where his wife, Arianne, attends medical school.
Right out of college it looked like his football-playing days might go on for awhile. But despite playing very well he lasted just a year and a half in the Canadian Football League before he blew a knee and decided to call it quits.
Even though he was invited back following rehab Boomer decided, “I’d better start using my head instead of my body before my body fell apart.”
He certainly enjoyed his brief pro career.
“I was obviously the slowest linebacker in the league,” Boomer joked, “but I could still play and I understood the game.”
He gave a lot of credit for his success to what he learned at Montana.
“We were so well coached at Montana that the skills … moved up very well to the CFL,” Boomer noted. “The game was faster, and I know that I was able to physically take my body to kind of the next level of skill and fitness.
“And to know that I could compete at that level for me was really huge. That was something I always dreamed of.”
Boomer said even though the knee injury moved the process along more quickly he already had been thinking about moving on. Once the knee went giving up the game became a little easier. He also knew he didn’t want to live in Canada for the rest of his life.
Then he married Arianne, a woman he met while attending UM, and it was off to Philadelphia where he started a career in - you guessed it - sales. He started peddling uniforms for businesses.
When Ari was accepted into medical school the couple moved to New York City where Adam hooked on with a company that sells screws and rods for back surgeries.
“I’m basically Home Depot for spine surgeons,” Boomer laughed.
Adam and Ari, who was an EMT for Missoula Emergency Services - got to know each other at UM, where he took a class she was teaching.
“We just hit it off and knew we liked each other,” Boomer recalled. “We still like each other.”
Boomer called the move to the East Coast “quite frightening,” even though Philadelphia is what he called a smaller big city. The adjustment from small-town America was made somewhat easier by the fact that the couple lived in a suburb.
The transition to New York City had a shock factor to it, Boomer said, but he thinks they’ve adjusted well to the craziness.
“Any time of day everything’s open - day or night,” Boomer said. “At 11 o’clock at night, if you’re bored, you can just walk out the door and all these restaurants are filled … and there’s always something going on.”
Speaking of passion, one of the stronger friendships Boomer has forged in New York City is with former UM pep band boa-wearing tuba player Nate Schweber, who now plays in a rock band. The Boomers have made it to several of the band’s concerts.
Asked if Schweber still dresses funny Boomer said, “Oh, no. He’s a hip New Yorker. Anything goes.”
Boomer said Schweber downplays his tuba-playing, high-stepping pep band days to the members of the group he’s with now.
Boomer majored in sociology and said the things he learned in those classes have translated well for him into the world of sales “in terms of reading and writing and communicating properly.”
One disappointment Boomer has faced is his inability to maintain his earlier fitness level because of long hours on the job and big-city life. But he’s determined to get back at it.
As for the support he enjoyed from Griz fans during his career Boomer described it as “amazing.”
When you’re training and flogging away in the weight room … it’s what you dream about,” Boomer said. “To be able to stand in the middle of a stadium with full of … people and have them cheering your name, that’s pretty cool.”
The biggest rush for Boomer and fellow redshirt freshman Jimmy Farris was playing on the kickoff squad. Boomer thinks it was that experience that initially fired his contagious enthusiasm.
He also admits that the involvement of the fans made it that much easier to play with the passion he displayed.
Boomer played under head coaches Mick Dennehy and Joe Glenn and despite the marked difference in personalities has huge respect for both.
“Mick’s … such a great, hard-nosed Montana football guy,” Boomer said. “Mick’s one of those guys that’ll give you the shirt off his back. I really liked Mick. He always had great coaches around him and recruited really good people.”
Boomer said Glenn had a lot more of “the enthusiasm and the hype. He’d bang on the piano keys and get a lot of people excited but … he was a great coach, too.”
After three years of one game and out in the I-AA playoffs the 2000 Grizzlies made it all the way to the national title game, losing 27-25 to Georgia Southern in Chattanooga.
“It was great but disappointing,” Boomer said, “because you knew that you had what it took. But it was really fun to go out there (in 2000) and shut people down and to intimidate people and have fun.”
Boomer tried to pin part of the blame for that title-game loss on himself because he tackled the quarterback instead of staying with the pitch back on the second play of the game. That play resulted in a long gain that led to a Georgia Southern score at the end of that possession.
Boomer didn’t feel that the expectations associated with Montana football put him and the rest of his teammates under undue pressure. In fact, it might have been the opposite.
“I think it actually boosted you up and built you up,” Boomer said. “Especially when it came to Cat-Griz … you were just expected to win. You didn’t question whether you were going to win or lose. You were gonna win.”
One of Boomer’s fondest memories came during the 1998 game against Montana State played in the mud. He didn’t have a lot of tackles, but there was something else that struck him later.
“It was one of those games where you just - as an individual - I felt like I was able to step and be an actual leader on the team as a sophomore and as a younger player,” he recalled. “That kind of was a transition game.”
As you might expect of someone with Boomer’s infectious personality he made a lot of lifelong friends while playing for the Griz.
“I talk to at least one guy a week,” Boomer said, not wanting to name any for fear of leaving someone out. “There’s … a ton of guys that are very, very close. They’re all my best friends.”
In short, playing football at Montana was one of the best times in Boomer’s young life.
“Now I’m moving on to the other best times of my life, ”he said.“
One thing he hopes to change is getting back to Missoula more often than he’s been able to recently.
“I haven’t been back as much as I’d like to … with different things going on, with my wife in medical school and with my career,” Boomer acknowledged.
Adam and Ari also plan to have children when the time is right.
“I’m just trying to raise myself,” Boomer laughed. “I’ve gotta grow up a little more.”
To listen to the complete interview with Adam Boomer, click here.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)