BILL KOLLAR
Montana State University
Defensive Tackle, 1971-73
 
Bill Kollar had never been on a plane until Joe Tiller convinced him to visit his future school. Kollar, then a standout player at Warren Harding High, knew that it probably would be best to get out of his native Ohio and attend college elsewhere. His father was a steel mill worker had wanted more opportunities for his son. Tiller, a Montana State grad-turned-MSU defensive line coach — and an eventual Big Ten coach of the year at Purdue — had made headway with a number of Ohio guys who would go on to call Big Sky Country home.
 
"My mother and I flew out together and checked it out; I thought, 'Well, this might be the place for me,'" Kollar said. "The Warren area back then was all steel mills, so it was pretty hard living, tough times and stuff there. My dad felt this would be a good chance to sort of get away from the area and go out there. It really turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made."
 
A half-century later, after a decorated career as a player and coach at multiple levels, Kollar can call himself the first Montana State player to ever make the College Football Hall of Fame as a player. (Alum Dennis Erickson made the Hall as a coach in 2019.)
 
Kollar dominated in Bozeman, twice earning All-America honors as a defensive lineman. He was named the UPI Big Sky defensive MVP in 1972.
A three-time all-conference honoree, Kollar's No. 77 jersey is retired by his alma mater.
 
"Really getting in a new area of the country, making new friends; we won the Big Sky championship in 1972," Kollar said of some of his best college memories. "And then I was lucky enough to get into some of those bowl games — the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl and won the (Senior Bowl) MVP which at that time was first defensive player to ever win the MVP. That turned out to be a heck of a deal.
 
"Anything that I have ever been able to do falls back on Montana State. I know everyone says things like that, but especially coming from a smaller school, people obviously are proud of the university. And when somebody can end up doing well like that, they appreciate the joy it brings. Just like with Jan Stenurud, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was at Montana State, went out there as a ski jumper and ended up kicking."
 
The Bobcats didn't begin recording defensive statistics until 1973, Kollar's final season with the program, but the 6-foot-3.5 inch linemen filled up the box scores during that campaign, tallying 107 tackles, three pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and one sack.
 
The Bengals drafted him 24th overall the following spring, making Kollar the highest pick in school history, a distinction he still holds today. Kollar had a nine-year career with Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, before he went into coaching — something he did not initially have a desire to do.
 
"I had always paid really good attention and answered questions that were posed in the defensive line meeting room," Kollar said. "I had a great coach in Abe Gibron in Tampa for six years. I'd answer questions and he'd get ticked off and say, 'Let someone else answer!' When I was done playing, I flunked my physical, I tore my ACL. I'm thinking, what else am I going to end up doing?
 
"I said I'd love to get into coaching, and luckily that's what I did. I helped Montana State that year, the Bucs called me back and asked if I'd like to come back for Coach John McKay (CHOF Class of '88) in 1984 and I went back and that really sort of spring-boarded my career."
 
That it did. Kollar coached for nearly 40 years at the college and pro level, before retiring from a full-time on-field role with the Broncos after the 2022 season. In Denver, he was part of the staff that won Super Bowl 50 in 2016. And now, he will forever be recognized for his time as a player.
 
"I say I'm getting elected into the Hall, but this is really for everybody that I've known and played with the whole time," Kollar said of whom he attributes the Hall honor to. "I want them to be a part of it. I obviously couldn't have done it any way in the world without everybody who backed me over the years."
 
UP CLOSE:

• Named a First Team All-American in 1973, Second Team All-American in 1972 and a three-time First Team All-Big Sky performer.
• Registered 107 tackles, one sack, three pass break ups and three fumble recoveries in 1973.
• Led the Bobcats to the 1972 Big Sky Championship and an 8-3 record as the 1972 Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year.
• Played for head coach Sonny Holland.
• Becomes the first Montana State player to ever enter the College Football Hall of Fame.