As an eighth grader, he was shy and quiet outside his circle of friends, that is, until he heard himself on the radio.

Since then senior Taylor “Tato” Featherman hasn’t stopped preaching his enthusiasm for sports, particularly the New York Mets and his beloved Chicago Bulls.  In fact, today, once he gets on a roll about this pro basketball team or that college football team you practically need to blow a whistle and call a time out.

And that’s a good thing.

For his efforts, interest, initiative and all around excellence in high school journalism, Taylor was recently named the Montana High School Journalist of the Year by the Montana Journalism Education Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the University of Montana School of Journalism. This award includes a one thousand dollar scholarship.

His portfolio of newspaper articles, podcasts, radio shows on KGVO and KGBA, live streaming of boys and girls basketball games, and most recently, live broadcasts on KGVO of Missoula teams at the state AA basketball tourney, is now at the national level competition.

His success began when Tato’s older brother Jordan and his buddy Brendan Juden started a sports talk radio show in Dillon, Mont. while they attended the University of Montana Western.   Jordan and Brendan, both Big Sky graduates and Sun Journal alum, passed the torch and their love for sports radio when they let 13-year-old Taylor call in each Friday for “Tato’s Fav Five.”  From there the ball got rolling, so to speak.

Fast forward to freshman year. Taylor joins journalism.  He’s like the rocket scientist of sports reporting.  He studies everything, knows everything.  Who is hurt, who hit and who didn’t, what time they went to bed and what they ate for breakfast.  Heck, he probably knows their daily horoscopes, how they like their lattes and how the humidity will affect the arc of the “downtown” three pointer.  I think ESPN should thank him, no, shower him with confetti, post his face on the sign above Time Square, polish his toe nails, and raise a statue on Mount Sentinel in his honor for their over-the-top ratings.  After all, his TV is never tuned to another channel except for maybe small timeouts for XBOX challenges.

Since then, Taylor has morphed from reporter to editor-in-chief of the Sun Journal and he has taken Big Sky journalism to different arenas, including radio and Internet streaming of audio and video.

Although Taylor is not an athlete in school (though I can validate his sweet fade-away, 12 foot jump shot, that I’ve witnessed during games in our driveway), his love of anything sports is still one thing which has forged long and strong friendships.

One of his best friends, senior Luke Lingscheit, said, “I’ve never seen someone look so deep into a game. Most people just watch what happens, but Tato watches and researches why these things are happening. He will check if Derrick Rose got enough sleep the night before the game, or what music he is listening to before tip-off. The kid loves sports.”

Longtime friend and senior Kolton Sandau agreed.

“He’s one of the most knowledgeable individuals I have met when it comes to sports. He and I love to get in little arguments over what’s going on in the sports world and I better be sure I know what I’m talking about because I guarantee he does,” Sandau said.

Jake Tabish, senior, believes sports are internal for Featherman.  Sports are not just something to pass the time, instead he believes Tato is passionate about his teams and sports in general.

“It shows his true love for sports that his mood genuinely changes depending on the outcome of games as well as just player and team status,” Tabish said.

So, who knows?  Maybe, someday, you, on a long road trip, down a dark highway will flip on the radio.  You will troll along the radio dial until it stops on ESPN and suddenly a familiar voice will strike you.

You can smile and say, “Hey, I know that guy. He was a bit odd, after all, Montana winters, 20 below, never wore pants, just shorts. Cool.  He did it.”