KALISPELL — Most Kalispell residents would consider Brock Osweiler the most famous name to come out of Flathead High School, so how perfectly fitting that his name is now forever embedded into its walls.
The high school has renamed its weight room to the Brock Osweiler Weight Room, which was made possible by the generosity of the former NFL quarterback.
"I got a phone call a couple summers ago from Charlie Dotson, who runs the strength and conditioning program at the high school, and he just said, 'Brock, you know the the weight room is falling apart,'" Osweiler told MTN Sports. “We need some help."
Osweiler, who spent time with the Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins over seven seasons, said it felt like it was the right time to step up and do that thing that he and his wife had been searching for.
Because of a generous donation by the former NFL quarterback, Flathead High School now has a new weight room.
"It was a game-changer for our weight room," Flathead athletic director Bryce Wilson said. "Our weight room was something that was pieced together over 40 years and he was able to update it and bring it into this century.”
"It’s a small town and I want to give them the same opportunities and same platforms that maybe other kids around the country get by just living in bigger markets.” Osweiler added. "There's more camps, there's more trainers readily available, things like that, where in Kalispell those things don't really exist.”
For the the past six years there have been been two Brock Osweiler Scholarships each year for students with a 3.4 grade-point average and who are also involved in activities.
"He wanted to reach out to all kids and all activities," Wilson said. "We have had kids from debate, we have had football players, girls basketball and volleyball players. It's really run the gamut."
As so many people get older, they look forward instead of looking back. When did Osweiler learn the importance of how his high school shaped him?
"I think growing up in a town like Kalispell and going into a high school like Flathead and being surrounded with the people around Great Valley, I think you gain some traits that other people don't necessarily get," Osweiler said. "I might be a little bit biased, but I think I think people from Kalispell and Montana know how to work hard and they're tough people. I think that was something that I was able to really take away from my time in Montana and my time in Kalispell and that was something that I always took a lot of pride in.”
Osweiler, who won a Super Bowl with Denver in 2016, didn't hesitate to answer when he was asked what he wants kids going to Flathead High School in 50 years to hear when they ask, “Who is Brock Osweiler?"
"I hope people from Kallispell are just sitting around a table, or sitting at Mooses having a pizza and my name comes up, and I just hope they say he was a good guy,” Osweiler said. "He took care of people, he helped out where he could, and if that's the case, then it's a win for me."
