Indian Hall calls for Columbia Falls’ Knutson

To reach the Montana Indian Athletic Hall of Fame you need the obvious: A nomination; Native American ancestry; and accomplishments afield.

Columbia Falls’ Wes Knutson counts himself one-eighth Salish and eight-eighths honored after his selection to the Hall. He’ll be inducted along with 12 other individuals and two teams on April 16, at the University of Montana’s UC Ballroom.

The first person Knutson mentioned Tuesday was John Neiss, a three-time state wrestling champion out of Ronan who was inducted last year.

“He was like, ‘Hey, you should be in there,’” Knutson said. “So he nominated me.”

Why wouldn’t he? Knutson was the first wrestler from Polson to win an individual title, doing so at 112 pounds as a sophomore in 1976. He twice won titles at the Tri-State meet, one of the more prestigious high school events, in Couer D’Alene.

Coached by Bob Owen in Polson, he ended up wrestling at North Idaho College – then at Boise State and, when that didn’t go well, two years at the University of Montana (one as a redshirt). That means Knutson and I roamed UM’s oval at the same time; Montana coach Scott Bliss was building a conference champion, though just in time for the sport to fall victim to budget cuts.

“Got all my school paid for,” Knutson said, and it was rare then and probably rarer now.

What he did with that education is Hall-worthy. He taught and coached three sports in Valier for four years, then moved to Columbia Falls, where he stayed another 26.

“I thought I was only going to last 15 or 20,” Knutson said. “I thought I’d do it that long because I loved kids. I don’t know, I just ended up loving what I was doing.”

By his retirement in 2013 the bantamweight had already had a heavyweight career: Columbia Falls’ wrestling program won the State A title in 1990, was second in 1994 and ’97 and was third in 1991, 2000 and ’03.

In 2005 he retired from the wrestling job, explaining to one writer at the time: “I’m just tired.”

“That’s sort off how it went,” he says now. “I was getting so darned tired by the end of the season, especially in wrestling, that was I was getting sick. Every season it look a month to recover.”

Then he adds: “All self-induced.”

The Hall honors these sacrifices of athletes and coaches.

“The whole idea was to recognize tribal member athletes because a lot of times they don’t get recognized,” Knutson said. “And a lot of times they’re pretty humble, too. They don’t talk a lot about themselves.

“I think it’s to encourage tribal members to get involved in activities – not just sports but all activities – and hopefully these young kids will see some of these accolades and set goals for themselves.”

State champion. Thirty-year teaching career. Scholarship athlete. Knutson remembers wrestling Dan Cuestas, a two-time Division II champion out of Cal State-Bakersfield. The idea was to get into the third period and wear down Cuestas.

The third went really well for Cuestas.

He just lit me up,” Knutson said, laughing. “I was a little above average college wrestler. I got out there a lot. You learn what your limitations are.”

He has fond memories of being a fifth-year senior when Polson product Vince Hughes came to UM’s wrestling program, of being a 140-pound strong safety at Polson High, of his eight-man football teams in Valier.

Now 60, he’s happily retired, happily married and busily chasing around 10 grandkids.

He’s certainly not alone there – among the inductees are the 1977 State B champion St. Labre Indians hoops team. This gives new meaning to being “grandfathered in,” and one wonders if any of the inductees have grandfathered more than Wes Knutson.