Libby man posthumously inducted into Helena Sports Hall of Fame

Ben White of Libby on July 13 was posthumously inducted into the Helena Sports Hall of Fame for his role in the 1966 and 1968 O-Mok-See team championships in Helena.

White, who died Sept. 10, 2016, was one of 115 nominees. He joins 109 individuals and 45 teams honored over the years.

White’s wife, Sherrill, of Libby, said she did not hear he had been honored until it was too late to go to the presentation.

“They called my stepson and he went,” she said. “I wish I had known, I would have gone. I even had some girlfriends who were being honored for softball on the same night.”

Although Sherrill did not meet Ben until 1983, when she was the payroll clerk at the Stimson Mill where he also worked, she said Ben had talked about his years on horseback.

“O-Mok-See is a Native American phrase which means ‘games on horseback,’” White said.

Sherril and Ben were married in 1994, and moved around Libby, Troy and the Yaak to where logging jobs took them.