WORLAND –Worland High School guidance counselor and history teacher Randy Durr was honored by Rocky Mountain College for his service contributions to athletics.

Durr received the William 'Bill' Woolston Distinguished Service Award from his alma mater Rocky Mountain College on Sept. 9. The award is given to a person who has significantly contributed to RMC through service to the college's athletics program.

Woolston was a major contributor to the athletics program and gave back to the college for over 70 years, Durr said. Durr and Woolston even hail from the same town of Forsyth, Mont.

Durr graduated from RMC in 1981 and played football for the Battlin' Bears for four years. He was an All-American football player wide receiver and inducted into the Rocky Mountain College Clara Klindt Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

While he doesn't know who nominated him, he started to think something was up when his granddaughter Lila and son Carson showed up.

"It was a surprise. We had our Hall of Fame banquet and I'm on the Hall of Fame committee that picks the people that get put in. The (Woolston) award is given at the banquet, but it's picked by RMC administration," Durr said.

"It's a very big honor. They pick one person a year, so I was quite taken back by it," Durr said.

Durr said he owes a lot to RMC because "They were very kind to me. They gave me an opportunity I may not have had otherwise and there will never be a day that comes and I can say I did enough for Rocky Mountain College.

"I could never repay the debt I owe that college. I met my wife there and I wouldn't have two kids and two great daughters-in-law and two granddaughters if I didn't go to Rocky (Mountain College)."

Though Durr and his family now live in Wyoming, he said it's worth the commitment to continue to contribute to RMC because he wouldn't be "a 35-year veteran in education without the college."