CHINOOK — Ten years later, the memory hasn’t faded. In February of 2016, Chinook senior Jesse Dannels — a state-caliber wrestler and football champion — died in a car crash just one day after qualifying for the state wrestling tournament.
Days later, his teammates walked into the MetraPark in Billings carrying grief few high school athletes could imagine. By Saturday night, they walked out as Class C state champions.
For those who lived it, the championship still stands apart.
WATCH - teammates reflect on emotional wrestling title:
“I kind of look at life in two different aspects — before the phone call and after the phone call,” said Jake Norby, now the athletic director at Malta High School. "I feel like there are two almost separate lives."
Dannels was more than a standout athlete. Teammates and family said what set him apart was how he treated people.
“If I could summarize Jesse in one word, I think it’s kind,” Norby said. “He was just a genuine human being that looked out for anybody.”
His mother, Ruth Dannels, remembers the same quality.
“He had the ability to make you feel like you were his best friend,” she said. “He just loved you for who you were.”
On February 7, 2016 — Super Bowl Sunday — Dannels was killed in a car crash along Highway 2. His funeral was held the following Wednesday. The state tournament began Thursday.
The team gathered with its coaches to decide whether to compete.
“None of them wanted to go to Billings,” Ruth Dannels said. “It was like, what the heck are we doing? I don’t want to do this.”
But they went.
Kenneth Pruttis, now an assistant coach for the Chinook wrestling program, was one of five wrestlers who competed that weekend.
“Monday leading up to the funeral was tough,” Pruttis said. “Normally we would have hard intense practices before state, (but it) was more us just talking. And I think that helped us get our mindset back.”
What followed became one of the most emotional state tournaments in Montana history.
All five Chinook wrestlers placed. Two, Pruttis and Tate Niederegger, won individual state titles. The Beeters captured the Class C state championship.
“Every match, it just felt so tense because we wanted to do so good for him and for our community,” Norby said. “We knew that we had a mission that still needed to be accomplished. It was unbelievably emotional."
For many, one moment after the tournament still stands out.
After the team championship was secured, the wrestlers gathered at a Billings restaurant. When change was brought to their table, Norby said it included a $10 bill with a handwritten message: “Don’t forget about me, JD.”
“Five days after he died,” Norby said. “There’s no way to explain it.”
Whether coincidence or something more, the moment became part of the story as another reminder of the bond that carried them through that week.
In the decade since, the lives of Dannels’ teammates have moved forward — weddings, careers, children. But big milestones often bring reflection.
“When you lose a friend like that, especially at 18, you don’t take things for granted anymore,” Norby said. “The big life moments feel heavier.”
The Dannels family established a scholarship in Jesse’s name, awarding nearly $19,000 over the past decade to students who embody what they call his “legacy of love.”
“We don’t ask for GPAs,” Ruth Dannels said. “We ask what the legacy of love means to you and how you’ll move it forward.”
For Pruttis, who now helps coach the next generation of Chinook wrestlers, this time of year always brings reflection.
“Every time around this part of the year, I do think about him,” he said. “He lit up the room.”
Ten years later, the state championship trophy still sits in Chinook’s history. But for those who were there, the title has never simply been about wrestling.
“His legacy is love,” Ruth Dannels said. “Love deeper. Love kinder.”
And in Chinook, that legacy still lives on.
