MISSOULA -- Right on Broadway, across the Clark Fork River from Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Ryan Bagley has been at work.
For seven weeks, the former Griz wide receiver has been crafting a mural on the walls of the Missoula staple Press Box Sports Bar. It's nearing completion, with mere details left to apply, and it is a sight to behold for any Grizzly sports fan.
Featuring Grizzlies of the past, like Dave Dickenson, and present, like Eli Gillman, the walls capture iconic moments from Montana sports history.
The mural, Bagley said, is his legacy.
"This is an artist's dream, to have a canvas as big as two billboards across from this university," Bagley told 406 MT Sports and the Missoulian. "What else can you ask for?"
"Everyone keeps asking me, 'How much is he paying you, how much is he paying you?' I'm like, 'How much am I paying him?'"
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The mural, done with a combination of spray cans and acrylic paint, was first thought of after the recent Tyler Childers concert at Wa-Griz. Bagley discussed the idea with management at the Press Box, starting first with former Lady Griz Mady Morales before getting the 'OK' to keep going.
"I've never done a mural before," Bagley said. "(Press Box management) said, 'If we don't like it, worst-case scenario we can just paint it gray again.'"
The mural bloomed from there, stretching around both sides of the Press Box's parking lot. Next to Dickenson stands Monte, sporting the number three in honor of Bagley's college number.
While playing for the Griz from 2004-07, Bagley accumulated over 1,900 receiving yards, hauling in 12 touchdowns while averaging 12.6 yards per reception.
He grew up on a farm in Dutton, where he would stay at home with his mother, a watercolor painter, while his father worked on the farm. He would draw as she painted, the origins of his art journey.
"She (my mother) would paint, and I would draw Chicago Bulls logos, Ninja Turtles, Michael Jordan cards," Bagley said.
He attended C.M. Russell High in Great Falls, coincidentally named after one of America's most renown artists. He didn't take art seriously in high school or even in Missoula, though, taking just one art class in his time at UM.
It wasn't until he attended the Art Institute of Portland, where he went to study designing and creating shoe designs, that he began to see art as a career path. He didn't finish his degree, but his passion for art had been reinvigorated.
His first painting series, coming when he lived in Seattle, was of faces from the city's sports teams; Ken Griffey Jr., Russell Wilson, legends of the Emerald City.
The experience was a lesson, though, in broadening the appeal of his work if he wanted to make a profit. Painting athletes, he learned, wasn't broad enough.
"People have to like football, then they have to like one of 32 teams," Bagley found. "Now Russell Wilson gets traded, and you couldn't pay someone to hang his picture in Seattle."
His alternative was Western and Native American art, following in the footsteps of his high school's namesake.
"He's the Godfather," Bagley said of Russell. "It's obviously been huge in my development and inspiration."
Now nearing the mural's completion, Bagley is in a race against time to finish before it gets too cold to paint. He said it went from too hot to paint to too cold "real quick."
One such detail to finish is the Main Hall's clocktower on the second story of the Press Box, featuring a King-Kong-esque grizzly bear hanging off the side. The upper deck, as well as painting on ladders needed for the higher-to-reach areas, is the hardest part of the job, Bagley said.
The mural doesn't have an official name yet, though "Griz Greats" and "Griz legends: future, past, present," have been tossed around.
"It's been a spiritual experience," Bagley said of the mural. "All the Griz people and my friends that are coming by and giving me juice to keep it going, giving me ideas. It's been a team effort."
Carson Cashion is a sports writer for 406 MT Sports, primarily covering the Bitterroot Valley. Follow him on X @CarsonCashion or contact him at [email protected].
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