HE: I think part of that is how we experienced it. But that's up to her and we'd support her in whatever she decides. I think Heather and I would selfishly like to see her do that. TE: I think that's largely, in part, up to her. KH: Do you think your daughter will continue to play in college? TE: He'll go to West (High) next year, he'll be a freshman. Tate plays for the 14-year-old Regulator baseball team. And then my daughter and I will go to Seattle for the remainder of that week. We'll go to Portland, and then from Portland they'll fly to Denver for Tate's baseball team. She'll be a senior in basketball and she's on an AAU traveling team this summer which in July we head out for nine days. I would say that one of our biggest blessings is my job here and the people that I work for have always financially supported us and supported us in our extracurriculars and understand what we need to make our lives work. Those are ups that also create challenges for us. Now we both do CrossFit and compete in CrossFit. That was Thursday, Friday, Saturday type travel that we were trying to work into our professional and personal worlds. When we first got done playing basketball, we both refereed division one basketball and that had us traveling to everywhere the Big Sky Conference is. TE: The challenges of us both being super competitive and we both kind of always need to have competition in our lives. With our kids being in sports right now, the traveling is a challenge and time management. I can take a day off here or there and also have a day and a half off a week. I would say the challenges would be the scheduling. HE: The ups would be the flexibility of being part time to raise kids and we both refereed basketball. KH: What have been the biggest ups and downs in your professional careers after MSUB? So he always talks about that, that I was the only male basketball player he ever recruited. So Coach McCarthy was the one who called me because he knew they'd recruited me out of high school. I was at MSU playing basketball and decided I wanted to leave and they did not have a coach at MSUB at the time because they had let go of the previous coach. TE: I was actually recruited to MSUB by Coach McCarthy too. I didn't have to go create something that wasn't me I was able to be me. Going to MSUB kind of gave me an environment that felt a lot like where I came from. When I got to MSU, I had a hard time figuring out how to fit in to something that big and how to have my own identity. At least in my case, coming from Red Lodge where I had an identity and I was able to be myself. I ended up at MSUB and she ended up at MSUB and kind of interesting how we both took kind of the same path to get there. TE: What's interesting for both me and Heather is that neither of us started our college athletic careers at MSUB. It was Eastern Montana College at the time and I called Coach McCarthy and said, "I want to transfer." That's literally what I said and then he's like, "Ok!" and then I was able to transfer over and I was glad I did. I wanted to stay in Billings when I was out at Rocky. I didn't want to get a job so I decided to play basketball. I loved playing basketball and obviously a scholarship helps pay for your school. KH: What made you both want to pursue athletics in college? Relationships that got me into my job here. Outside of meeting Heather, I'd say the highlights for me were the relationships that I started there because those were relationships were the same ones that I have now. I enjoyed playing for him and it makes a big difference when you enjoy who you are playing for. Some of the gals that I played with are still my good friends. KH: What were some of your highlights from your collegiate career at MSUB? Academic or Athletic? I've been with these guys pretty much my entire working career. I worked for two years out of college at a company called Business Properties and then started at Yellowstone Bank. I'm the president of our bank here, and I've been with these guys since 1998. HE: I'm a health enhancement teacher here in Billings. KH: Where are both of you now in your professional careers? The following interview was conducted by Kyle Hansen, who recently caught up with the Elkins in Billings. Heather was inducted into MSUB's Hall of Fame and Distinction in 2003. Ty graduated in 1995 and Heather graduated in 1997. Heather played basketball at Rocky Mountain College in Billings while Ty played at Montana State University in Bozeman. Neither Heather nor Ty began their collegiate careers at MSUB but they did finish them there. Heather is originally from Gillette, Wyo., while Ty hails from Red Lodge, Mont. MSUB SPORTS - Husband and wife Ty and Heather (Reiter) Elkin both played basketball at Montana State University Billings in the 1990s.
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