Vern McKee - Inducted 2004

Vern McKee was born on April 28, 1930. He grew up in Huron and was a 1948 Browns Valley (Minn.) High School and a 1956 Huron College graduate. McKee is among the few South Dakotans to sign pro contracts in two sports. McKee played three years as a centerfielder in the St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox organizations, and in 1956, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound McKee played five years of semi-pro baseball in South Dakota's Basin League and was a three-time all-star. He once had three home runs, two doubles, and nine RBIs in a single game. He also managed two years in the league and was league president for two years. McKee was a part-time scout for the White Sox for two years and a full-time scout and minor-league instructor for the Minnesota Twins for four years. At Huron College, McKee was all-conference four years in basketball (1,079 career points) and two years as a running back in football. McKee was a football, basketball, and track & field coach at Ipswich for four years, a football coach at Huron High for three years, and a football and baseball coach at Yankton College for three years. He was a baseball coach and assistant football coach at North Dakota State and South Dakota for two years each and was the football coach and athletic director at Huron College for two years. He was a high school and college basketball referee for 28 years. McKee is a member of the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference and Huron College Halls of Fame, and he was chosen to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader's all-time South Dakota baseball team.