All Whitefish High School volleyball players from 1979 to 2026 are encouraged to mark their calendars for a special reunion as the legacy of the trailblazing program will be celebrated on Thursday, Sept. 17 when Whitefish hosts Ronan.  

One of the first few teams to play the Bulldogs in the program’s formative years, the Iron Maidens are also invited to partake in the recognition.  

“We would like to reach back and tell the story of Whitefish volleyball,” former coach Colleen Sullivan said. “And there’s no time like the present.”  

Bulldog volleyball earned state titles in 1986, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. 

2026 marks the 40th, 25th and 20th anniversaries of those titles.  

Before 1979, the only high school sports for Whitefish girls were basketball in the fall and track in the spring. Girls track was started around 1970 and basketball in 1973. 

Gymnastics, table tennis and volleyball were all considered by the community for the new third sport to be played in the winter. The students voted for volleyball.   

“Nearly all other Montana schools have the same competitive sports situation as Whitefish – that is, more boys sports than girls,” a Pilot article stated on Feb. 1, 1979. “But Whitefish is forced to do something about it because of a Title IX complaint and subsequent investigation last year.” 

In 1979 after Whitefish established the volleyball team, the high school athletic director went to Helena to pitch it as an official Montana High School Association sport.  

“Everybody laughed at us in Helena,” Athletic Director Bob McLeod said in 1979. He said the association felt they could get by another couple of years without adopting another girls sport.  

Volleyball would go on to play at the club level until it was finally adopted by MHSA in 1984, 12 years after Title IX passed. Just two years later, the Bulldogs would earn their first state title. 

After the 2001 season, an equity settlement moved basketball to the winter and volleyball to the fall.  

“One of the equity issues was that Montana was unique in playing basketball in the fall, and colleges weren’t paying attention,” Sullivan said.  

Volleyball leveled up again when all four classes played at the state championships for the first time in 2004.  

“I remember a player coming up and saying, ‘I feel like I’m at the Olympics,’” Sullivan said.      On the right, Janet Kuchenbrod plays for the Bulldogs in Whitefish's first volleyball season in 1979.