Collin (Cornie), Conrad

The Huron High and 1934 Creighton University grad captained both the basketball and football teams at Creighton (the only CU athlete to captain two sports at the same time). In 1933, he was an All-America selection in basketball after leading the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring (he averaged 9.5 points a game for all games […]

Auch, Jo (Haase)

1978 Scotland/1982 USD graduate. JoAnn (Haase) Auch was one of the first women scholarship athletes at USD (basketball and softball) and in South Dakota. Olivet native who was the state’s first Class B three-time, first-team, all-state high school girls’ basketball player. At Scotland, she was a four-year starter who had a career 1,145 points and […]

Birrenkott, Janel

Janel Birrenkott graduated from Lemmon High School in 1982 and Northern State University in 1987. Despite a 100 percent hearing loss obstacle, she was a two-time All-State basketball player in high school. She left NSU as one of its all-time leading scorers and went on to play professionally, nationally, and internationally. In 1986 she earned […]

Burnett, Amy

The 1991 Huron High and 1996 University of Wyoming grad was the women’s basketball Player of the Year in the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference in 1994 and ’95. At Wyoming, the 5-foot-11 forward was honorable mention all-conference as a freshman and first-team all-WAC the next three years. As a junior she led the […]

Callahan, Dick

A 1960 Sioux Falls Washington High grad, Callahan was a starter on the 1963 Nebraska football team that was ranked sixth in the nation, went 10-1 and was the Big Eight and Orange Bowl champion. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Callahan had eight receptions for a team-high 157 yards during the regular season as the Cornhuskers won […]

Charles, Wilson

Born in Green Bay, Wis. Flandreau High School. Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kan. University of New Mexico. An Oneida Indian, Charles won the AAU national decathlon title in 1930. In the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, Charles led in the decathlon after the first day only to finish fourth. His Olympic efforts: 100 (11.2), long […]

Collins, Dave

Rapid City (RC Stevens High School, ‘71). Had the longest big-league career of any South Dakotan. Perhaps the fastest player in all of baseball during his big-league career, the outfielder played for eight teams over 16 years (1975-90): California, Seattle, Cincinnati (twice), the New York Yankees, Toronto, Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis. It was in […]

Adkins, Steve

The 1928 Parkston High and 1934 University of South Dakota grad was one of the state’s greatest all-around athletes of the 1930s. He was one of the first players in North Central Conference history to be three-time all-NCC in basketball (1930-32) – freshmen weren’t eligible then. The sturdy 6-foot-2 forward led the NCC in scoring […]