It was announced on Wednesday afternoon that Havre High School Class of 2005’s Marc Mariani had been inducted into the Montana High School Association’s Athletics’ Hall of Fame.
Mariani achieved record-breaking statistics during his time with the Blue Ponies. From 2002-2005, Mariani played three sports; tennis, football, and basketball as well as earning 10 combined letters. In football, he was a 3-year letterman at wide receiver and defensive back and was a catalyst in capturing the 2004 Class ‘A’ state championship in an undefeated season, Havre’s first title since 1970.
A lot of his success in football was due to having a good quarterback, Gary Wagner, who was also his doubles’ partner in tennis. Together, the two dominated the spring circuit, finishing second at State in their sophomore seasons and then never losing in their high school careers again, winning the Class ‘A’ boys’ doubles championships twice.
In between, Mariani excelled in basketball, starting for three seasons at the Blue Pony Corral. His accolades included team MVP, All-Conference, and All-State honors during his basketball career.
Mariani chose to play football collegiately, walking on at the University of Montana and ending up becoming the school’s all-time leader in catches, yards, TD’s, and all-purpose yards. He was inducted into the UM Hall of Fame last fall.
The Tennessee Titans picked Mariani in the 7th round of the 2010 NFL draft and he played three seasons with them before moving to the Chicago Bears for two seasons.
Congratulations to Havre’s own Marc Mariani on his latest distinction of being a Montana High School Association Athletics’ Hall of Famer.
From the MHSA: “To allow for more friends and family to attend a function to honor the inductees, the Annual Meeting banquet was discontinued. Now, friends and family can organize a recognition function in the inductee’s local community at a time and place more convenient for this function to maximize attendance and support for each new inductee. Also, there is a page on the MHSA website (mhsa.org) dedicated to all of the inductees.”
