Nobody on the planet has more fun living life than Mark Durham. Nobody is more positive, either.
Durham grew up in Three Forks excelling at sports and idolizing his big brother, Mick. Mark still holds the pole vault record at Three Forks, where he describes his football days as being the “best non-tackling safety in the state.”
While Mick played and coached at Montana State University, Mark played and coached at Montana Western, which was called Western Montana College in his playing days. He took over as the third head coach in the history of the Western men’s basketball program, replacing the legendary Casey Keltz.
After a long, successful run with the Bulldogs, Durham moved to the role as the school’s athletic director. It was a move he made to try to help the Bulldogs compete with Montana Tech and Carroll College. With Joe McClafferty at Tech and Bruce Parker at Carroll, Western was behind the 8-ball trying to keep up with the Joneses. In that role, Durham hired Steve Keller and Lindsay Woolley as basketball coaches and Ryan Nourse as football coach. So, his legacy is a lasting one with the Dawgs.
After moving to Bozeman to work in the insurance industry, Mark learned of his cancer diagnosis on Jan. 1, 2018. Mark, of course, tackled the battle with cancer they way everyone expected he would. And, like we knew he would, Mark beat it.
Today, at 60 but going on 36, Mark is the director of Name, Image and Likeness for the Montana State men’s basketball program. What he does for the Bobcats would have had him portrayed as a villain in a sports movie years ago. He does not always like it, but it is such an instrumental job to help the Bobcats compete.
Mark is also close to his two daughters, and he is now a grandpa. Well, he doesn’t call himself that. Instead, he is the “G-Dawg,” and he is still living life to the fullest every day.
Listen in to this episode as Durham talks about his job as the NIL guy for the Bobcats. Listen as he talks about his playing and coaching days and the relationships he still has with his former teammates and players.
Listen in as he talks about fighting cancer and how he kept that positive attitude through it all.
This is one you do not want to miss, and Mark swears that most of what he said is true.
Today’s episode of the ButteCast is presented by the Jewelry Design Center. Let Brian Toone and Co. be your jewelers for life.
Intro music by Tim Montana. For more from the Elk Park native, go to timmontana.com. For more from Bill Foley, go to ButteCast.com.
