MSU Bobcats’ Tommy Mellott: A Story Of Triumph And Determination

This Saturday, Butte's "Touchdown" Tommy Mellott will lead the MSU Bobcats into Bobcat Stadium for the final time and, as expected, it is deep in the FCS Playoffs.  Very deep. If the Bobcats beat South Dakota. Montana State will return to the National Championship game, a place they have been to before.  In fact, had it not been for an injury to Mellott early in their last championship appearance many (including myself) believe the Bobcats would have won the game.  But that is not the point.  The point is that Mellott has brought the Bobcats back.  He took the hit, shook himself off and got back on his feet.  Okay, it's not exactly that simple, but there is no mistake that Mellott will go down as one of Montana State's greats.  Not just because of his play but because of his character.  His resilience.  His refusal to let the odds get the best of him.  But then again, he's been laughing at the odds and doubters all throughout his brief, yet colorful career.  Just not out loud.

In the fall of 2019 as you remember, Mellott led the Butte High Bulldogs into the state championship game at Naranche Stadium where they lost a heartbreaker to the relentless running attack of the Bozeman Hawks.  Add to the agony of defeat, the insanity of the Covid pandemic that would follow a few months later and bring the world to a screeching halt.  One of the events that was cancelled during that dreadful year, Mellott's senior year, was the annual East/West Shrine Game that was also to be held at Naranche Stadium.  Rather than feeling sorry for himself and his teammates who would be robbed of a final night of football, Mellott looked at the less-fortunate kids in the Spokane Shriner's Hospital and thought of the thousands of dollars in much-needed funding that their hospital would be losing.  He and fellow players organized a huge cornhole tournament whose thousands of dollars raised certainly eased the Shriner's Hospital's financial burden during that crazy year.

A few years back after the Bobcats' huge rivalry win over the Montana Grizzlies in Bozeman, Mellott, on live statewide television in the heat of emotion, did not brag or boast about the huge win.  Instead, he empathized with the defeated Grizzlies employing Bobcat fans not to jeer them.  "Don't dehumanize them," were his words.  He is as classy in victory as he is in defeat.

As Tommy Mellott wraps up his final season as a Bobcat in what could be spectacular fashion, debate will begin on many Mellott-related topics, especially if the top-ranked Bocats win it all.  Is he the best quarterback to ever come out of Butte?  The best Bulldog or even Bobcat in history?  One thing is not debatable.  Through his words and actions, Tommy Mellott simply one of the best people to come out of the Mining City.