Looking back on Coach Flatt

Coach Glenn Flatt lived, taught and coached in Malta for seven decades. What follows are some of the highlights of Coach Flatt's life and times from the pages of the Phillips County News.

August 18, 1956

Shower for August Bride is given by schoolmates

Miss Judy Nordlund, who will be an August bride, was the honored guest at a pre-nuptial shower held in the Community Church parlors in Dodson Saturday afternoon.

A pleasant social hour was enjoyed by the guests who were entertained with vocal numbers by "The Four As."

Miss Nordlund received a great variety of beautiful and useful gifts.

August 25, 1956

Judy Nordlund Weds Fort Benton Man

Judy Nordlund, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Nordlund, Sr., of Dodson, and Glenn F. Flatt of Fort Benton, were married Saturday evening at the Dodson Community Church with Rev. Norman Wick, pastor of the Malta Lutheran Church, officiating.

The bride, given in marriage by her father, wore a floor-length wedding gown of white nylon net over taffeta, trimmed with bands of lace. Her veil was elbow-length and her flowers were a colonial bouquet of red rosebuds.

The bride, a graduate of Dodson High School, attended Montana State College as a freshman last year. Flatt, a graduate of Fort Benton High School, will be a junior at MSC this year. After a short wedding trip, the newlyweds will be at home in Bozeman. For her wedding trip, the bride wore a white lace over a pink and white French gingham suit with white accessories.

1958

Flatt Starts as substitute teacher at MHS

Editor's Note: Though Coach Flatt won't be hired as a full-time teacher until the 1959 school year, the 1958-59 school yearbook lists him as a substitute teacher and wrestling coach.

August 24, 1959

Opening of school for new term set for August 31

The Malta Elementary and High School will open for the 1959-60 term on August 31, Superintendent Homer V. Loucks announced this week. Supt. Loucks asks freshmen who live in town to register Aug. 26., sophomores on the 27th and juniors and seniors on the 28th.

There will be four new teachers in the Malta School system this year. Dale D. Dean and George L. Frazier, both graduates of Western Montana College of Education at Dillon, will be new teachers in the grades. In the high school, Earl L. Wadley, graduate of Western College of Education at Gunnison, Colo., and Glenn Flatt (science and social studies) of Montana State at Bozeman, are new.

September 15, 1960

Mustangs Open '60 gridiron season with 33-12 win over Strong Class A Laurel squad

Malta High School's 1960 Mustang gridders, 20 strong, accompanied by coaches, (head) Jim Nordlund, (assistant) Glenn Flatt and manager Mike Morrow, and further encouraged by the presence of a fair-sized contingent of local fans, went to Laurel last Saturday night and defeated an aggressive Class A team by a one-sided score of 33-12.

August 17, 1961

Malta Mustangs open Football Practice August 24

(First-year head) Coach Glenn Flatt has issued a call for the Malta Mustang's first football practice of the season as the Mustangs will open the season on September 8 against Chester.

Experienced men returning and around whom the team will be built will be Bob LaRoche, Carrol Ereaux, Ross Wiederrick, Ron Nessland, Dan Molloy, Gary Schlieve, John Grabofksy, Bill McEwen, Connie Adam, Bill Schuler, Ron Nordlund, Kim Kaufman, Bill Shiroishi, Lyle Slaght and Bruce Harding.

August 24, 1961

Swimming Pool to close August 26

Swimming instructor Glenn Flatt announces that the Malta Municipal Swimming Pool will close for the season on August 26.

During the past season, Coach Flatt says that 147 people registered for swimming lessons, of which 69 took four or more lessons while 78 took less than four lessons.

January 3, 1961

Wrestling Card in Malta Friday

Coach Glenn Flatt's Malta High School wrestling squad will tangle with a squad from Havre Public Schools Friday afternoon.

In use for the first time will be a new 24-foot by 24-foot regulation wrestling mat, purchased by the Malta Athletic Club. Up to now, the wrestling team has been performing on a makeshift mat made up from tumbling mats.

Editor's Note: Coach Flatt helped start the wrestling program at MHS and took over as head coach for the 1960-61 season. The Mustangs would go on to win nine divisional titles under Coach Flatt during his 15 years as head coach and secure four state championships.

September 3, 1976

Mustangs lose opener

The Glasgow Scotties turned back a fired up Malta Mustangs team Friday night in Glasgow in the season opener, 27-8.

Editor's note: The 1976 season would mark the first time in school history the Mustangs would advance to the Class A State Championship. In 1963, Coach Flatt guided the Mustangs to a co-champion divisional title with Choteau. No playoff was held nor did any team advance to determine a state championship.

November 11, 1976

State Class A Title Saturday

Mustangs quarterback Gary Nordland recovered a fumble on the Malta one-foot line with less than 10-seconds to go and assured the Mustangs victory. The win gave the Mustangs the chance to host their Hi-Line rival, Glasgow, in the State A football championship this Saturday.

The hair-raising semi-final playoff game in Dillon last Saturday was in doubt to the final seconds but the Mustangs were able to hold their two-point lead and stay on top 22-20.

Editor's Note: Coach Flatt would tell the PCN in 1989 that this game was one of the most miraculous wins he was ever a part of as a coach. "We were so low right at the end and then all of a sudden we were up and they were down."

November 18, 1976

Malta wins statistics and Glasgow wins game

The Malta Mustangs grabbed 11 first downs, ran 136 yards on the ground and 278 total yards with six turnovers while the Glasgow Scotties were held to three first downs, 36 yards rushing and 123 yards and six turnovers, however statistics didn't count in the match and Glasgow edged by Malta 22-20 for the State Class A Championship. It was the Scotties second victory over Malta this season, the first in the season opener, 27-8.

According to Coach Flatt, the players did a super job on the game, "we're proud of our kids."

A record crowd of 2,500 people watched the thriller and Malta Mustangs dominated three of the four quarters but still fell short of winning the state championship.

1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q F

Glasgow 0 0 22 0 22

Malta 2 6 0 12 20

November 11, 1977

Mustangs win conference

The Malta Mustangs roared back on the Choteau Bulldogs Friday night in the final four minutes of the game to the score at 20 all and then shut the door on the Bulldogs in overtime to win the Northern A football crown 27-20.

Terry Idler intercepted a Jack Stott pass in the end zone on the fourth down to cut short a Choteau touchdown attempt.

According to Coach Glenn Flatt, "Our forward wall played a super game on both sides of the ball, defense and offense." The blocking of Laurin Salsbery, Layton Salsbery, Pat Hould, Calvin Kolczak, Tom Flatt, Karl Mavencamp, Mark Haugen, Mike Green and Brian Ophis was outstanding, said Flatt.

Editor's Note: Coach Flatt told the PCN in 1989 "there was a tremendous euphoria to win in overtime. We had lost our quarterback on the starting play of the game. He played, but we couldn't operate well."

April 4, 1987

Flatt named Region 7 'coach of year'

The National High School Athletic Coaches Association Executive Director Carey E. McDonald has announced Glenn Flatt of Malta High School has been selected as 1987 Football Coach of the Year for NHSACA Region 7. Flatt was nominated by coaches and in the state for National High School Coach of the Year.

April 29, 1987

Coach Flatt headed for Hall

Coach Glenn Flatt is one of four coaches who will be inducted into the Montana Coaches Hall of Fame on August 7.

In 26 years his teams have compiled only six losing season marks (128-82-5 overall) and during a seven-year span from 1973 until 1980 when Malta was a Class A school, the Mustangs claimed two second place finishes in the state.

Wednesday, March 29, 1989

Coach Flatt steps back from sideline

Old generals may just fade away, but old coaches just step back from the sidelines. Not to say that veteran head coach Glenn Flatt is old, by any means, but he has decided to step back from the sidelines after 30 seasons.

Flatt recently told the Malta Board of Trustees he plans to resign as head football coach. He'll continue to teach biology (he would retire from teaching in 1995) and is still an assistant track coach (a position he would "retire" from in 2013, though he continued to volunteer as a coach through the 2017 season.) He is also athletic director (a position Coach Flatt held from 1987-to-2005.)

He leaves the field with a lifetime win-loss record of 136-90-5, but like all good coaches, he hopes his accomplishments aren't measured by win-loss records alone but by the relationship he had with hundreds, maybe thousands, of young men over the years.

Flatt likes to think that football and wrestling that he also coached for several successful seasons helped keep many a youngster on the fringe from leaving school.

I think the number is way up there," he contends. "You go back in my coaching career in high school and it's more than one per year that you kept interested in high school because of sports."

Not surprisingly, it was a coach who got Flatt interested in coaching as a high school youth growing up in Fort Benton. "Back in my high school days ... we had a coach by the name of White. He was a tough old bugger and thought that possibly I would make a coach."

Flatt, who gained all-conference honors twice in high school, actually enrolled in Montana State University to study agriculture but soon switched his major to biology and physical education.

In college, Flatt played on a MSU National Championship team as linebacker and center in 1956. "We played both ways in those days," he quipped.

He started his high school coaching career in 1956 assisting his brother in law Jim Nordland at Malta and two years later was named head coach.

One thing Flatt takes pride in is that over the years, he has established himself as an outstanding teacher as well as a coach.

"I don't think you can really be a good coach without being a good teacher," he explained. "If you can't teach your subject academically...you're not going to succeed out there either."

December 30, 2015

Spotlight: Coach Glenn Flatt

New Years Resolution?

I don't really do that!

Favorite pet?

A dog.

Goal for 2016?

To enjoy life as much as possible and be involved in my grand kids' lives.

What was your favorite thing about being a science teacher?

The kids.

Favorite Hobby?

Elk Hunting.