Jan. 7, 2007
"A Celebration of Dubby's Life" Memorial Service Web Page
Pocatello, ID - Milton "Dubby" Holt, whose achievements in 34 years as an athlete, coach and administrator at Idaho State University made his name synonymous with ISU athletics, passed away on Sunday, January 7 a little after 1:30 pm at age 92 of natural causes.
Holt, who was born February 5, 1914, retired as ISU director of athletics in 1979 but remained an avid ISU booster and supported the University's academic and athletic programs with his time, expertise, and finances. He was a member of the ISU Sports Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor, and was inducted into the State of Idaho Hall of Fame on Sept. 25, 1999. On his 90th birthday, then-Governor of Idaho Dirk Kempthorne issued a state proclamation making it "Dubby Holt Day".
"Dubby Holt has brought national recognition to ISU and its athletic programs for all time," said Idaho State University president Dr. Arthur C. Vailas. "He will always be remembered by all Idahoans. He is truly one of Idaho's great leaders in sports history".
Although he was perhaps the most successful intercollegiate boxing coach ever, he had a remarkable winning record as a track and field coach and was a record-setting football player and track sprinter. Despite that impressive list of credentials, Holt will be remembered first and foremost for his decision in 1967, his first year as athletic director. That decision was to build the first domed football stadium on a college campus. Originally named the ASISU Minidome and built for its budgeted $2.8 million, it opened in September 1970 and was renamed Holt Arena in 1988 to honor the man who conceived of it, and then oversaw its construction.
With domed athletic stadiums proliferating around the country, now with retractable roofs and costing nearly half a billion dollars each, one can forget that in 1967, before Holt Arena, there was exactly one, the Houston Astrodome. Holt Arena is now home to ISU football, men's basketball and men's and women's indoor track and field, but has hosted many ISU volleyball, women's basketball, and softball competitions, as well as two NCAA Division I-AA football national championship games, three NCAA first-round basketball tournaments, one national championship indoor women's track meet, the Dodge Circuit National Finals Rodeo, the Simplot Games, and concerts ranging from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to Garth Brooks.
Paul A. Bubb, Idaho State's current director of athletics, was close to Dubby, as were most current and former athletic department members. "Dubby Holt, in so many ways, is Bengal Athletics," said Bubb. "He was one of those athletic administrators that represented a different era, but also what I believe was a great era in college athletics."
"Dubby was a person, even in his last days, I could go to and ask how he had done something and come away with a better understanding of what I should do. I have nothing but respect for him and his passing is a great loss for all of us," he added.
"I worked with coaches and athletic directors in the Big XII, Pac-10, Southeast, Western Athletic and Big Sky conferences," said Dr. William E. "Bud" Davis, ISU president from 1965 to 1975, at the time of Holt's induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame, "and Dubby Holt was one of the greatest ever. He was such a great coach, a great motivator who got the best out of his performers and made them better than they were. At first Holt Arena seemed impossible but it became a tremendous success. It never would have happened without the vision and creativity of Dubby Holt."
"As we have traveled to visit alumni, Connie and I have encountered more great praise for and fond memories of Dubby Holt than any other member of the university family," said former ISU President Dr. Richard L. Bowen on the occasion of Holt's 90th birthday. "Over the years he has influenced and continues to influence thousands of people who express great appreciation."
An outstanding football player and sprinter, Holt still holds the ISU punt return record with an 88 yard return, set back in 1937, and he shared the school 100-yard dash record for many years with a 9.5-second clocking. That punt return, a mark that has stood for nearly 70 years, is the longest anyone has held a record in Idaho State history.
He was ISU track and boxing coach for 18 years and had one of the nation's best records in both sports. His boxers won NCAA championships in 1953 and 1957, he was the U.S. boxing coach at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and four of his boxers, Ed Sanders, Jerry Armstrong, Roger Rouse and Ellsworth "Spider" Webb, were U.S. Olympians. Sanders won the 1952 heavyweight title by defeating eventual world heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansen.
Holt's track teams were 51-13 in dual meets, won 13 consecutive conference championships in both the Rocky Mountain and Big Sky conferences, and were unbeaten from 1964 to 1967 in dual meets.
Holt's successes coaching track and field followed his own outstanding career in the sport. However, he won national intercollegiate boxing championships although he himself never boxed. And he coached ISU to a conference swimming title despite never having learned to swim. He received the traditional winning coach's dunk in the shallow end of the pool.
Holt also served four years in the U.S. Navy as Chief Specialist during World War II. In 1945, he married the love of his life, the former Jacqueline O'Connor. Dubby and Jackie were married 52 years before her death in 1997.
Details of a memorial service will be announced soon.
