MSUB SPORTS – Tickets to attend the Montana State University Billings Athletics Hall of Fame and Distinction on February 14, 2020 at the Hilton Garden Inn are now available for purchase. This year's inductees include Bruce Parker, Kelly Parsons, and Bobbi Knudsen.
 
The event is scheduled to open at 5:30pm with a cocktail social in the hotel lobby followed by a full dinner and the ceremony beginning at 6:30pm. Tickets are $30 each and includes appetizers, dinner buffet, and 2 drink tickets. To purchase tickets ahead of time, please contact MSUB Operations Coordinator Andrew Bonner at 406-657-2360.
 
Rocky Erickson will be the emcee for the night. Known in the industry as the Montana sports authority, Erickson is a local graduate from high school in Wolf Point and then moved on to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he received his degree in Telecommunications in 1982 before moving back to Montana to become a sportscaster. There, he met and married his wife Kristi and settled down in Billings, MT, where Rocky gained a reputation as a walking encyclopedia of sports records.
 
During his 25-year years working with Northern Broadcasting, Rocky was awarded the Montana Sportscaster of the Year Award seven times by the National Sportscaster and Writers Association, in addition to running a popular daily radio show, Montana Sports. In 2018, he founded Rocky Erickson Sports and began producing Montana Sports along with his new show, Rocky Erickson Sports Stories, independently. Rocky also speaks at events across the country, telling all kinds of stories for people from all walks of life.
 
Parker will be introduced by former Yellowjacket and 1996 Hall of Fame inductee Kas Ioane, Parsons by former teammate Bobbi Lee and Knudsen by head coach Kevin Woodin.
 
After 40 years in collegiate athletics, Bruce Parker will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Parker served as Director of Athletics at Carroll College for 11 years and was inducted to the Carroll College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2014, he moved home to Billings and began his stint as Athletic Director at Rocky Mountain College.
 
Parker was the associate athletic director and sports information director at Montana State University in Bozeman over a 23-year tenure. He is a member of the MSU Hall of Fame with the 1984 football team. Parker graduated from Eastern Montana College (Montana State University Billings) in 1979 with degrees in Business Management and Marketing.
 
At MSUB, Parker was a four-year letter winner and three year captain on the Yellowjacket tennis team under head coach Bob Lee. Active on campus during his tenure as a student senator, Parker was a representative on the athletic commission, the voice of Yellowjacket athletics on KOOK Radio (now KCTR), and was one of six outstanding graduating seniors among the class of 1979.
 
From 2008 to 2011, Kelly Parsons was a force behind the plate in the MSUB softball lineup with 190 total games played. She holds the MSUB record for most runners caught stealing with 44.
 
A four time all-conference player, Parsons ranked second on the team with a .396 batting average including 44 hits and 21 runs scored her senior year.  She also registered five doubles, one triple, and 12 home runs and slugged .784. Behind the plate, she threw out 14 runners to tie her 2010 mark and recorded the second highest slugging and on base percentage in a single-season, earning first team for the NFCA All-West Region team.
 
A unanimous first team all-conference pick, she earned academic all-GNAC honors for the third time, GNAC player of the week once, and finished her career as the leader for most games played (190), home runs (35), runs batted in (130), walks (76), runners picked off (10), chances (1043), putouts (915), and tied for most games started (181).
 
Bobbi Knudsen played basketball for the Yellowjackets from 2010 to 2014. She finished her career ranking No. 2 in both all-time scoring (1,831) and assists (532). Her 193 assists in the 2013-14 season rank her No. 1 all-time in single season assists in the MSUB record books.
 
As a senior, Knudsen started all 33 games and led the team with 1,165 total minutes. She also scored a team leading 569 points (17.2/game), 207 made field goals, 170 rebounds (5.2/game), 90 free throws, and 193 assists (5.8/game). Her 5.8 assists per game led the GNAC and ranked No. 2 nationally. She was also the second leading scorer in the conference. For 2013-14, Knudsen won first team all-GNAC and CoSIDA academic all-district honors as well as second team all-district, Division II all-American and academic all-GNAC. Knudsen rounded out her senior season with picks as both GNAC Player of the Year and GNAC Female Athlete of the Year.
 
Parker, Parsons, and Knudsen bring the total number of inductees into MSUB's Hall of Fame and Distinction to 166. The ceremony began in 1990 and since then, members of 21 different categories have been inducted.