Ralph Macy - Inducted 2007

The Vermillion High grad was a great booster of amateur athletics in South Dakota, and teams he sponsored, mostly in Rapid City, were among the most successful in the state. The Rapid City Macy's basketball team played in numerous state amateur tourneys, reaching the finals four times and winning titles in 1979 and '81. Twice Macy took all-star teams to Europe, and in the summer of 1976 his team played 30 games in 60 days in the Soviet Union, France, Italy and Sweden. He participated in the South Dakota Amateur Basketball Association as a player, coach, manager, sponsor, regional commissioner and director. He also was involved with the South Dakota college basketball all-star team's trip to Cuba to play the Cuban national team in 1977. He was involved in baseball as a player, manager and sponsor for seven decades. He pitched his first game as a 13-year-old in Vermillion in 1939. He pitched his final game in 1994 at the over-50 national tourney in Arizona. He sponsored baseball teams for almost 35 years. "I moved to Rapid City in 1962 and the teams then were organized and I wanted to play ball," Macy said. "I was already 34 years old, so someone said just sponsor your own team so you can play when you want to." And that's what he did. Besides playing on and managing his own amateur team, Macy coached Little League and Pony League teams for his sons, Gary and Steven. The Rapid City Macy's baseball team won the 1973 state tourney and was runner-up twice. He also sponsored teams that went to Arizona for the national over-30, -40 and -50 World Series. "Ralph has done as much to promote baseball in South Dakota as anybody I know," Canova pitching great Dave Gassman said. Macy also ran the semi-pro Sturgis Titans from 1978 to 1982 (the team mascot was Pepe Le Pew, a descented skunk). Future big-leaguers Lenny Dykstra and Tim Wallach were among those who played on that team. Among the places his baseball teams played were Calgary, Alberta; Clarinda, Iowa; and Alaska. He sponsored softball, hockey and bowling teams as well. He is a member of the S.D. Amateur Baseball, S.D. Amateur Basketball and Rapid City Sports halls of fame.