Waded Cruzado 'honored and humbled' to be inducted into Montana State Athletics Hall of Fame

Waded Cruzado has 15 years of memories from her time as President of Montana State University. Among them is the time an 8-year-old boy told her about his new puppy and how much he loved him.

“I asked him, ‘So what’s the name of your puppy?’” Cruzado remembered. “And he said, ‘Oh, I named him Cody Kirk.’”

A child naming his new puppy after a Montana State football player remains one of Cruzado’s most salient examples of how meaningful the school’s athletic programs can be.

“What that illustrates is these student-athletes became legendary. They became role models,” Cruzado said. “They were the type of athletes that many of our boys and girls look up to.

“In addition to all their accomplishments on the field and the court, I am profoundly grateful because they inspired new generations to be Bobcats, but also to be good people, to be responsible citizens.”

As President from 2010-25, Cruzado did her fair share of inspiring as well, especially in the realm of athletics. In addition to being a fervent supporter, she was a driving force behind the addition of the south grandstands, lights and a larger video board at Bobcat Stadium; the construction of the Bobcat Athletic Complex; renovated locker rooms and a larger scoreboard in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse; updates to the weight room, training room and academic center; and the construction of the Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center.

Cruzado was inducted into the Bobcat Athletics Hall of Fame on Jan. 16, a way to forever recognize her efforts to support MSU’s teams. She was inducted alongside Kirk (2010-13), Elvis Akpla (football, 2009-11), Jasmine Hommes Moeakiola (women’s basketball, 2012-16), Dan Johnson (track and field, 2004-08) and Cristian Soratos (cross country/track and field, 2012-15).

“I am profoundly honored and humbled by this recognition,” Cruzado said in the week before the ceremony. “When I think about the names that have been inducted in the Hall of Fame, quite honestly, I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

While standout athletes and coaches must wait at least 10 years after they leave MSU to reach the Hall of Fame, Director of Athletics Leon Costello said the waiting period for Cruzado was unanimously waived by the voting committee in acknowledgement of — despite her humility — how deserving she was of going in immediately.

“The first thing you look at when you come onto campus is the facilities, but I think it’s more about the mindset of what we can accomplish,” Costello said. “And she was the pioneer of putting people together to be able to accomplish great things, and she never shied away from telling people how important athletics is.”

Cruzado backed up that talk as well, Costello said.

“She made it known that we’re going to be good in everything, and that includes athletics,” he said, “and we’re going to support it in a way for athletics to be successful.”

Cruzado’s induction came less than two weeks after the MSU football team won its first national championship in 41 years by beating Illinois State in overtime on Jan. 5 in Nashville, Tennessee. She called it an “incredible accomplishment” and believed it would only advance Montana State’s national standing — in athletics and academics.

“I hope that we have the discipline to manage this victory so that it doesn’t go to our heads,” she said, “but it’s another chapter in the very proud book of accomplishments of Montana State University.”

One of the things Cruzado always appreciated about Montana State and the Big Sky Conference is that “this is truly still collegiate athletics as we have known it,” an environment where athletes can compete and learn at a high level simultaneously.

“I know that under Leon’s leadership, those values will continue to hold true,” Cruzado added, “and we will all be there to make sure that we use this victory in order for us to better ourselves, to continue to grow the program and to continue to benefit our students and the communities we serve.”

Brock Tessman, Cruzado’s successor, echoed Costello’s feelings about Cruzado being inducted right away. Her support of the football program alone, he said, was vital to finally winning the national championship.

“I think about Coach (Jeff) Choate, I think about Tommy Mellott, I think about all of the guys who helped pave the way for this championship team,” Tessman said, “but you don’t get there without the whole path being cleared by transformational individuals. And Waded Cruzado is one of those, no doubt.”

Since leaving Montana State, Cruzado has become President of the Association for Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), based in Washington, D.C.

Her job, she said, is “to support and to advocate for public higher education in America,” particularly at land-grant schools like MSU. She works closely with university presidents from across the country to address their shared challenges, which she finds “very fulfilling.”

She misses, however, the everyday student interaction from her time at MSU.

“I still have access to faculty and have access to staff,” she said, “but the heart and soul of the university continues to be that new student, that student that comes to our colleges and universities hoping for a better future for themselves and for their families and their communities.”

Now that Cruzado has what she calls a “national perspective” of land-grant universities, she has even more appreciation for all that Montana State can offer.

“My vision is absolutely even more cemented about the potential of this beautiful and wonderful university and the community that surrounds it,” she said. “I love the fact that at Montana State University, we take special pride in doing things right, everything — teaching, research, service and extension, and, of course, athletics. It requires a lot of effort, but it also requires a sense of community, and I think that that’s where Montana State University excels.”