Don Larson - Inducted 2023

Don Larson was a championship runner and unmatched track & field coach in the North Central Conference. As an All-American track & field athlete at SDSU, Larson won seven NCC championships. He set three conference records and still holds a share of the retired 600-yard indoor mark. Larson captured his NCAA DII All-American honors in the 400?meter intermediate hurdles twice in national meets. Larson was a standout athlete at Madison High School as he was an all-state linebacker, a basketball captain, and a state place-winner in track & field.

Larson began his coaching career at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. In 1979 he moved to North Dakota State, where he coached men’s indoor and outdoor track & field and cross country programs for 41 years before retiring in March 2020. His teams won 59 conference championships and produced over 200 All-Americans. Six individual competitors captured 14 individual national championships. Several individuals had top-10 finishes at national meets. He helped the Bison transition from DII to DI, with his teams winning 11 Summit League outdoor track & field titles in the 12 seasons he coached the Bison in that DI league.

Larson has earned 60 Coach of the Year awards at various levels, including being an 18-time Summit League Coach of the Year. He was the 1998 recipient of SDSU’s Ralph Ginn Award for coaching excellence. He was inducted into the Howard Wood Dakota Relays Hall of Fame and the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.