Born, Bred, and Wed Griz

Griz-Cat Saturdays are memory makers for thousands of UM fans and families.

The Bob Butler family of Missoula is no exception.

A member of the cheer squad in the early 1980's, Bob Butler worked as a house boy at the Delta Gamma house, right next door to his Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Lynda Tipp, a member of DG, remembers seeing Bob around the sorority house and campus. They had mutual friends, but never dated, and went their separate ways after graduation in 1985. Lynda taught school for several years then moved to Seattle. She attended law school there and then went into practice. Bob moved to Everett and worked for Boeing. Neither knew the other was in the city, even though they had lived just four blocks apart in Bellingham at one point.

This was all before Griz/Cat Saturday, November 2, 1991. Lynda had planned to fly to home to Missoula, but a switched trial date kept her in the city. Shelly Pincenot, a DG sister also living in Seattle, invited Lynda to go watch the game at FX McRory's. Among the hundreds of fans packing the Pioneer Square bar was Bob Butler, who was also celebrating his twenty-ninth birthday. He slipped into a nearby empty chair. "As soon as I saw him I told myself, 'take it slow,'" Lynda laughs. Bob called her the next day, and they had their first date the following evening.

Three months later - Griz/Cat basketball Saturday, February 22, 1992. The couple headed to a Seattle sports bar to catch the game on TV. Following a Griz win, UM alum Tyler Delaney '83, took to the stage with his band. In the middle of "When a Man Loves a Woman," Tyler stopped the music, took the mic, and asked if a Bob Butler was in the crowd. In front of hundreds of Griz fans, Bob proposed to Lynda. (A fraternity brother of Tyler's, Bob had also arranged for a video of the proposal.) Lynda accepted. That September Lynda and Bob were married, hosting a wedding and reception in Missoula that was a college reunion in itself. 

Fast forward six years to Griz-Cat Saturday, November 21, 1998. The Butlers now live in Missoula with their daughters, Elle and Madalyn. Great Griz fans, they'd never missed a game. Until 1998, when exactly at kickoff, 1:30 p.m., Lynda gave birth to their son, Wade.  

This year Wade turns eleven. No question as to his birthday theme. Total Griz. His birthday, November 21, 2009, is again a Griz/Cat Saturday – a day all the Butlers will celebrate for all the right reasons.