MTHS Hosts Wide-Ranging May Programs

• May 02 2023

The story of the legendary basketball team from Arlee, and tales from the man who ran Koch Industries’ sprawling 240,000-acre Matador Cattle Company ranch, are the featured May programs for the Montana Historical Society.

Abe Streep and Donnie Wetzel Jr. will be at the Myrna Loy in Helena at 6:30 p.m. May 25 to discuss Streep’s book “Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana.” It follows the Arlee Warriors as they brought the high school basketball state championship title home to the Flathead Indian Reservation on March 11, 2017.

That widely acclaimed game made the Warrior boys into revered local heroes. To top it off, in 2018 the Warriors successfully defended their title after creating a viral suicide-prevention video. In his book, Streep followed the Warriors as they balanced the pressures of adolescence, shouldered the dreams of their community, and charted their own individual courses for the future.

Wetzel is the director and co-founder of the Montana Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. Together, he and Streep will discuss sports, power, and change in Montana. From recruitment to officiating to the impact of stories, they will explore the issues that animate “Brothers on Three” and that make basketball in Montana such an expression of strength, conflict, and joy.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring Abe Streep, winner of the 2021 Montana Book Award, to Helena to talk,” said Martha Kohl, MTHS Outreach and Interpretation Program manager. “I’m also excited that he’ll be joined in conversation by Donnie Wetzel Jr., a member of the Blackfeet Nation who’s spent his career working to build opportunities and resilience for Indian youth.”

The Montana Office of Public Instruction Indian Education Unit and the Helena Indian Alliance are co-sponsoring the event. Streep’s book will be available for purchase.

May also brings a visit to Helena by Ray Marxer to discuss his book “Thirty-Seven Years of Riding for the Square & Compass Brand.” Marxer discusses the cowboy romance of the West as well as the gritty realities. Managing an iconic Montana ranch for a distant corporation – Koch Industries – adds a new dimension of reality, which can be even more challenging than unpredictable animals and weather.

“The ranching industry remains a key part of Montana’s economy. I’m looking forward to learning about its recent history from a man who’s lived it,” Kohl said.

Marxer’s talk and book signing is at 6:30 p.m. May 11 at the Lewis and Clark Library, 120 So. Last Chance Gulch in Helena. Copies of the book will be available for sale. The library is co-sponsoring the event, and it will be recorded for viewing on the MTHS YouTube channel.