(Editor's note: MTN Sports is featuring a Midland Roundtable Athlete of the Year finalist nightly leading into this year's awards banquet Monday, May 12 at 7 p.m. at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Ten graduating seniors — five boys, five girls — in the Billings area are nominated annually by coaches and activities directors. Roundtable members, a group of longtime sports enthusiasts in Billings, have then voted on one male and one female winner since 1989. In rare instances, the award has been shared.)
BILLINGS — Jack DeBourg may have been the last Midland Rountable Athlete of the Year nominee to learn he was a finalist.
"Well, yeah, I work late so Sundays I’ll be (awake) super late. And I know they (release the finalists) around noon to the news and everything, and I woke up at 1 p.m.," said DeBourg, a standout football player from Billings Central.
So, the Billings Central football standout learned from his mom that he was a finalist for this award. What kind of job has him working so late into the night/early morning?
“I’m a bouncer at Hooligans,” he said, noting it’s not the job he originally applied for.
“I put in an application to be a food runner, or whatever. I walked in to turn it in and they just told me about it … said they needed people (to bounce), and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,’” DeBourg recalled.
So, he’s bouncing at Hooligan’s — Fridays and Saturdays only due to school — after bouncing off tackles in a decorated football career for the Rams. DeBourg earned about every team MVP award on the table at Central, culminating in a state title win over Laurel to punctuate an undefeated season in November.
“Yeah, (I was) nervous just like any other game. When I think we’re going to win by 60, (I'm) nervous. But we knew we were the best team and it had nothing to do with Laurel or whoever else we would’ve played. I just felt like we were going to get it done and we did,” DeBourg said.
He said the favorite play of his senior year was against Laurel, a mid-season interception he returned for a touchdown after sniffing out a screen.
Now, as he heads to Montana Tech, he won't even have to change school colors shifting from one green to another. And he's pumped about a competitive parallel to his own drive for winning.
“In high school, of course, there’s a smaller percentage of people who really take it seriously and want to get there. But I’m excited to be surrounded by a bunch of people that are going to push me, and I want to push them, too,” DeBourg said.
DeBourg is interested in pursuing a degree in civil or environmental engineering. Of course, if he needs to fall back on something, folks in Butte are proud to tell you they can always use another bouncer.
Midland Roundtable Athlete of the Year
2025 Female finalists: Grace Curnow (West), Dani Jordan (Lockwood), Leela Ormsby (Senior), Rae Smart (Skyview), Becca Washington (Senior).
2025 Male finalists: Malachi Claunch (West), Jack DeBourg (Cenetral), Ryan Dierenfield (Skyview), Zach Morse (West), Ryder Murdock (Senior).
For banquet information, contact Kory Loberg at KoryL@universalawards.net. Tickets are $40 for individual and $300 for a table of eight.
