Interviewer
Jody Pavilack, Wade Davies
Files
Description
Norris Vinton Barnhill, a lifelong Missoulian, recalls growing up in his family’s North Higgins clothing store, Barney’s, founded by his grandfather around 1912. He shares childhood memories of playing baseball from elementary school on. In early adulthood, he worked in Missoula’s mills and served in the Army Reserves in the 1950s. He studied History and Classics at the University of Montana (then Montana State University) and played shortstop and second base for the Grizzly baseball team. A devoted Griz fan, Barnhill recounts stories from baseball, football, basketball, and track. He describes watching sports scores come in on the old tickertape machine at the Oxford Saloon, and tells the story of being at a 1958 football game when a fight between Missoula and Bozeman fans prompted a local journalist to coin the term “Brawl of the Wild,” launching the now-famous rivalry tradition. Barnhill later earned a law degree from Gonzaga, worked as a prosecutor in Spokane until 1992, then retired back to Missoula, where he and his wife held season tickets for the Griz football team’s 1995 and 2001 national championship seasons. His daughter Frankie Barnhill contributes briefly throughout. Interview by UM History professors Jody Pavilack and Wade Davies.
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Document Type
Oral History
Subjects
Deer Lodge, downtown Missoula, Barney’s Clothing Store, lumber mill work, US Army Reserves, University of Montana History Department and Classics Department, Griz baseball, football, basketball, track
Original Date
6-19-2025
Publisher
University of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library
Time Period
Twentieth century; Twenty-first century
Geographic Coverage
Missoula, Montana
Language
eng
Original Collection
University of Montana Griz Nation Oral History Collection
Digital Publisher
University of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library
Rights
Copyright to this collection is held by the interview participants and by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula. Permission may be required for use. For further information please contact Archives and Special Collections: (406) 243-2053 / library.archives@umontana.edu
Oral History Number
OH 492-001
Media Type
Sound; Text
Original Format
audio/mp3; application/pdf
Digital Format
audio/mp3; application/pdf
Run Time
01:50:42 minutes
Local Filename
OH_492-001_audio_use.mp3; OH_492-001_transcript.pdf; OH_492-001_photo.jpg
Citation
Barnhill, Norris V. and Barnhill, Frankie, "Norris V. Barnhill Interview, June 19, 2025" (2025). University of Montana Griz Nation Oral History Collection. 1.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/griznation/1