Legends Stadium adds four to Wall of Fame
When the Flathead High School Trustees voted to change the name of Rawson Field to Legends Stadium in 2004 a vision was born — recognizie accomplished students, athletes, teachers, coaches and administrators who have made significant contributions to the community.
For their contributions, Gary Moen, Dick Wilson, Cheri Bratt-Roberts and Jim Sweeney have been inducted onto the Legends Stadium Wall of Fame.
The 2014-15 Wall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at halftime of the crosstown girl’s basketball game on Thursday at Flathead High School. The game starts at 6 p.m.
To date twenty-six people, including this year’s inductees, have been inducted into the Legends Wall of Fame.
Moen graduated from Flathead in 1964 and began his career as a teacher and coach in Kalispell in 1969. He continues to serve as an assistant coach today.
Moen was twice named as the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Region 7 assistant coach of the year in girls track and field.
In 2002, he was named the Montana Assistant Coach of the year by the Montana High School Association and one of the Top 500 assistant coaches in the nation by AFLAC.
He served as an assistant coach on the 1982 and 1989 FHS boy’s basketball state championship teams and coached the 1990 JV girl’s basketball team to an undefeated 20-0 season. Moen also served as an assistant coach on the 2000 and 2001 FHS girl’s basketball state championships teams.
Moen was an assistant coach on 14 Flathead girls track state championships teams and has coached10 girls who have won individual state track championships.
Wilson is a 1952 graduate of Flathead High School. He won state championships for football and basketball in 1950 and 1951, being named to the all-state team in both sports in each respective year.
Wilson was a recipient of the Kofford Award at Flathead in 1952 and was a member of the FHS National Honor Society.
He attended Oregon State University on a Naval ROTC scholarship and was a member of the OSU varsity basketball and baseball teams during his sophomore, junior and senior years of college.
Bratt-Roberts is a 1980 graduate of Flathead High School. In four trips to the Class AA State basketball tournament, Bratt-Roberts was named to the AA All-Tournament team each year. She was a three-time all-state selection and is the all-time Bravette career leader in assists, rebounds and steals.
Bratt-Roberts was also a three-time all-state selection in track.
At the University of Montana Bratt-Roberts was a four-year starter for the Lady Griz basketball team, playing a pivotal role on the 1984 Lady Griz team that reached the NCAA Sweet 16. She was team MVP as a junior and senior and holds the career steals record. In 1995, she was inducted into the Montana Grizzly sports Hall of Fame.
Sweeney served as a teacher and coach in Kalispell from 1956 to 1959. Sweeney coached two state championship football teams at Flathead in the 1958 and 1959.
In the college ranks, he coached three Big Sky championship football teams at Montana State University in the 1960s. He went on to serve as the head football coach at Washington State University from 1968 to1975.
Sweeney had a brief stint in the NFL, working as an assistant coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1978 and for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979.
He would return to college coaching for his longest tenure, as the head football coach at Fresno State University for 19 years, compiling a record of 144-74-3 while winning eight conference championships.
Sweeney was inducted into the Fresno State Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Montana State Hall of Fame in 2002.