HELENA — Four officials will be inducted into the Montana Officials Association Hall of Fame, Montana High School Association executive director Brian Michelotti announced Wednesday.
Mike Anderson of Butte, Frank Costello of Billings and Daniel Boucher and Cal Wirtzberger of Havre are the 2024 MOA Hall of Fame inductees.
Below are capsules on each inductee provided by the MHSA.
Mike Anderson graduated from Butte High School in 1972 and matriculated from the University of Montana in 1976, graduating with a bachelor’s in education and soon after also receiving master’s in education. Mike began his 44-year high school basketball officiating career in 1977 as a member of the Montana Officials Association. During that time, he worked 21 state tournaments and 16 district and divisional tournaments.
Mike also officiated 38 years with the NAIA's Frontier Conference, working five NAIA national tournaments, and 15 years with the NCAA's Big Sky Conference.
As a football coach, Mike was the defensive coordinator/secondary coach for coach Jon McElroy at Butte High, winning a state football championship in 1981. Mike later served in the same capacity for head coaches Rick Carriger and Greg Salo, also at Butte High.
Mike coached youth baseball for many years, finishing with a nine-year stint as head coach for the Butte Miners American Legion baseball team, where his legion teams qualified for the State AA tournament three times.
Mike and his wife, Michele, are the proud parents of Beau, Luke, Colt (Keelie) and Brianna (Cole Dallaserra) and have seven grandchildren.
Daniel Boucher began his officiating career shortly after graduating from Missoula Hellgate High School in 1975. He attended the University of Montana and was active in their wrestling program for a short while. After attaining a law degree, he would quickly be swept into the employ of a legal firm in Havre where Dan would go on to serve four decades in the MOA. Dan's career included over 50 postseason wrestling events and 26 state tournaments, during which he was voted by his colleagues to serve as head official for many years.
Dan also served as MSU-Northern’s lone official for over 25 years and was selected multiple times for the NAIA and NJCAA regional and national tournaments.
Equal to his time spent as an official, Dan was also an important mentor to young and experienced officials alike across the state and country. His encyclopedic knowledge of the rules made him a valuable member of the MOA, and his eagerness to engage in conversation with other officials allowed Dan to make a huge impact on furthering the quality of officiating in Montana. Dan was always at the forefront of rules clarifications and was instrumental in helping guide officials in Montana to a more consistent application of the rules.
As the 12th District Court Judge of Hill, Chouteau and Liberty counties, Dan was known to many as a man of very high character. Often referred to as “Judge”, Dan earned the respect and admiration of the wrestling community through his endless patience, calm demeanor and wise decision-making skills. Above all, participants and coaches alike felt Dan always showed integrity and placed the highest value on getting the call right.
Dan was a dedicated family man. He read nightly to his children at bedtime, was the main homework helper, coached youth soccer teams, volunteered time to read to children at local elementary schools and was always available to help with youth wrestling in many different capacities. Dan enjoyed golfing, going to Griz football games, scuba-diving with his wife and entertaining family and close friends.
Frank Costello graduated from Billings Central High School in 1975 and went into the insurance business, working with Farmers Insurance Agency in Billings as an agent/owner since 1980. During his career he was a member of the Farmers Insurance Presidents Council and won the Toppers Club multiple times for his hard work and dedication as a top agent.
Frank started officiating basketball with the Montana Officials Association 27 years ago. He worked in numerous district, divisional and state basketball tournaments. Frank also officiated football contests during his MOA career.
Frank served the Billings Officials Association as an assignor and secretary/treasurer for many years. He also served on the Billings Officials Association Executive Committee for several years while officiating.
Frank and his wife have been married for 46 years and have two wonderful daughters, Kierra and Kristin, who have blessed them with five grandchildren.
Cal Wirtzberger officiated for 35 years, all of which were spent officiating football with six years officiating volleyball. He was selected to officiate over 30 postseason football games and five state championship football games. In 2005 Cal was selected to officiate the Montana East-West Shrine Game. In 2015, Cal received the North Central Montana Activities Directors Special Service Award for his dedicated service to student-athletes. Cal also worked as the Havre football pool assignor and organizer for 13 years and served two terms as Region 4 MOA Regional Director for the Montana High School Association.
In his years as an MOA official, he always demonstrated honesty, integrity, responsibility and superior knowledge of the rules and the game. Athletic directors, coaches and players all have described Cal as fair, knowledgeable and professional. If you were in an official crew that included Cal, you knew you were going to be held to a very high standard, but also have a leader that could help the game flow smoothly no matter the situation.
As a mentor Cal has helped all the top current football officials on the Hi-line, including his sons Danny and Patch who are current MOA football and basketball officials, as well as coaches in multiple sports. Cal certainly left a positive footprint on officiating in Montana.
Currently, Cal still lives in Havre and is enjoying retirement from a 40-year career with the BNSF. You can find him cheering on any of the local sports teams or chasing one of his seven grandkids around the state.
