I remember how excited I was when I received the call.

It came from the Sports Illustrated assignment desk to let me know that the magazine's lead college football writer—and arguably the most famous sports writer in the country at the time--John Underwood was coming to Laramie to cover the Cowboys' October 16, 1976, game with New Mexico.

I spent three days with Underwood—enjoying every minute—and it was an education of a lifetime for a young Sports Information Director. The Cowboys won that game 24-23, and Underwood's account and perspective on Wyoming was priceless (Seldom is Heard a Discouraging Word, www.si.com/vault/1976/10/25/626667).  So was the exposure.

That '76 season was a magical one for the Cowboys under second-year head coach Fred Akers.  The Pokes finished 8-4, won the Western Athletic Conference and played Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.  Making that season even more special was the fact Wyoming was coming off six consecutive losing seasons.

My point in taking you down memory lane is not about that memorable season, but about the exposure Underwood and Sports Illustrated brought to the program.  At that time there was no publication more widely read than SI.  If there were exposure values calculated back then, that four-page spread would have meant millions of dollars to the university and its athletics department.  A nationally-televised game was the only other medium that could have possibly given Wyoming more exposure than that magazine.

That was then, and now 42 years later Wyoming has received another exposure windfall.  Only this time, that exposure has been measured and is eye-popping.

While the SI piece covered one game, the media exposure Josh Allen and the 2018 Cowboys brought to UW--and the state for that matter--is difficult to comprehend.  If you hadn't seen the story, UW and its athletics department received $159 million worth of national media exposure from August 1, 2017 through May 14, 2018, thanks to its football program.

That's the value placed on the season by a firm—Joyce Julius & Associates--that calculates media exposure for a living. Sports media buys are some of the most expensive and most important to a corporation or product.  We've all heard what a 30-second commercial costs during the Super Bowl for instance.  Corporations crave that exposure and pay handsomely for it. The Joyce numbers would thrill any stock holders meeting.

Let's put the numbers into perspective.  UW's Public Relations and Institutional Marketing budget is approximately $2.35 million a year, less than one percent of the national exposure number.  The school's total overall budget for 2018-19 is $407 million.

What does this exposure really mean to the State of Wyoming, the University of Wyoming and the Intercollegiate Athletics Department?

"I think it provides an opportunity for all of us to grow," says Athletics Director Tom Burman. "The exposure gives the university a chance to grow enrollment.  It helps not only football, but all of our sports to grow their recruiting.  I believe for our state's departments of tourism, and economic development it is a great opportunity," Burman continues.  "It helps all of us do a better job."

Fred Ockers, Executive Director of the Albany County Tourism Board (ACTB), agrees. Ockers says the state and Albany County have already seen positive results thanks to that exposure. "Right now, demand for the state's office of tourism visitor's guide has increased by 75 percent, and demand for our (Albany County) visitor's guide is up 70 percent," Ockers says.  "There's no question it's because of Josh Allen and the football team.  After watching Josh get drafted, people want to know what Wyoming is all about. They want to come and see it.  We have already shipped 45,000 visitor's guides.  What if 10 percent of those people come to the state? That's a heck of a number. Certainly not all of that increase can be attributed to what the football team did, but I believe it's had a great impact."

The Joyce Julius study evaluated media coverage on all levels. . . nationally televised games involving the Cowboys, television news coverage, print media coverage, internet news coverage and social media coverage. It documented over 4.7 billion impressions related to Wyoming football over all media platforms. To me, that is every bit as remarkable as the monetary figures.

Certainly Josh Allen's rise to national prominence during his final year here, and through the draft, was a major contributor to these staggering numbers. But it's a great indication of what a successful program, especially in football, can do for an institution.  In UW's unique case these figures are even more impressive without having to share with a rival institution within the state's borders.

I was proud of the exposure the Pokes received from John Underwood's piece oh so long ago.  It was a unique look at all of the things we take for granted about our great state.

Here's an excerpt of that uniqueness Underwood saw. . ."What that was, was wide-open spaces.  Fewer people per unpolluted square mile than any state in the union except Alaska.  Air so free of debris that everything—the finger ranges of the Rockies on both sides of Laramie, the sandstone university buildings, the deer and the antelope playing—appears in peculiarly sharp focus.  No slums allowed in Wyoming. No snobs, either.  A man exercises his ambition to wear his cowboy hat anywhere, cocked over his forehead.  And his scruffy pointed boots.  And his engraved belt buckle the size of a hubcap. . ."

Google it, I think you'll enjoy it.  But as good as that Sports Illustrated exposure was, it paled in comparison to what Craig Bohl, Josh Allen and the Cowboys did for Wyoming this past season.

For all of us, 2017-18 was a priceless year indeed. The exposure numbers made it even more remarkable.