In Play with Craig Mattick

He grew up in Mobridge, played college football at USD, and then went on to be a tremendous high school coach in South Dakota. Harvey Naasz led Winner's football team to three state championships and was runner-up once during his time as the head coach of the Warriors.

Throughout her high school career, Brittany Garner of Rapid City Stevens won seven gold medal awards In both 2004 and 2006, she won three. Garner's relay team set the state meet record in the 4X400 in 2006 as well, which still stands to this day. She went on to run track at SDSU after high school.

From being a stand out runner for Huron high school, to being a decorated runner at SDSU, Rob DeHaven is one of the most well known running athletes in state history. And this doesn't include his olympic appearance in Sydney, Australia, or his sixth place finish in the 2001 Boston Marathon. He's now coaching cross country at SDSU, a place he's called home for the past 17-years.

Dean Mann, who just recently celebrated his 90th birthday, has worked the Howard Wood Relays for 64-straight years. He was a student, coach, and administrator at Sioux Falls Washington, and even played for legendary high school football coach Howard Wood back in the day. In 2007, Mann was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

For nearly 50 years, Gene Brownell was a teacher, coach, and educator in South Dakota. Most recently, he was the long-time athletic director at Aberdeen Central. Brownell is also one of the key people who has helped organize the 'B' boys basketball tournament over the years.

From West Central to the University of South Dakota, to the Skyforce and playing professionally, Josh Mueller was one of the most prolific high school basketball players in South Dakota history.

She was one of the top girls' hoops players of her generation. Steph Schueler of Sioux Falls Lincoln is a former Gatorade Player of the Year and a three-time first-team all-state team honoree in girls basketball. She's also the first four-year letter winner in Sioux Falls history for girls or boys hoops.

For nearly five decades, Jim Kocer has been involved in South Dakota high school wrestling. He's been to every state wrestling tournament since 1975 and is a member of the South Dakota high school wrestling coaches hall of fame. He spent 22-years coaching wrestling at Scotland and is now an assistant with the Scotland-Bon Homme wrestling co-op.

For 34-years, Ruth Rehn was on the executive board for the South Dakota High School Activities Association. She played a pivotal role in getting girls sports like basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and track sanctioned at the high school level in South Dakota.

He was South Dakota's first six-time state wrestling champion in high school with one of the most dominant resumes of any high school athlete in the state. Kirk Wallman had an overall record of 201-0 on the mat. Between himself, his dad, and two brothers, the Wallman family has 18 combined state wrestling championships.

Nate Tibbetts, son of legendary girls basketball coach Fred Tibbetts, has surrounded himself with basketball his entire life. He played high school hoops at Jefferson and Sioux Falls Roosevelt, and college basketball at USD, where he's currently in the school's hall of fame, before getting into coaching. He's currently an assistant coach with the Orlando Magic, but he's got quite the resume that led him to where he is today.

Northwestern Red Raiders head girls basketball coach Kristin Rotert joins the program to talk about growing up in Salem, SD, and playing basketball for McCook Central on varsity as an 8th grader. She would go on to play college ball at SDSU, and was on the first Jackrabbits women's team to win the Summit League tournament in the 2008-09 season.

Bob Winter has one of the best overall win percentages of any South Dakota high school coach in history, winning 86 percent of his games. He coached the Yankton boys basketball team in the '60s and '70s and led the Bucks to a state championship in 1974. Winter then transitioned to being the Yankton girls coach, where he won over 300 games and led the Gazelles to eight state titles in the '70s and '80s.

Kathy Graves is one of the more well-known coaches in South Dakota when it comes to high school volleyball. She started the Northwestern volleyball program and helped lay the foundation for the powerhouse that they became. She also led the Wildcats to 338 career wins, won three state championships, and was runner-up four times.

It's been 40 years since the high school state football championships have existed in South Dakota. SDPB's Craig Mattick talks to four of the five Joe Robbie MVP award recipients from that inaugural year; Jay Schroeder of Bridgewater, Steve Korn of Freeman, Dan Olson of De Smet, and Jack Sharkey of Winner.

Chris (Sandvig) Dummermuth was a female pioneer for tennis in South Dakota, having success as both a collegiate athlete, when there was no women's team, and as a high school coach.

Lolly Forseth was the first female activities director in South Dakota. She was also the first female to be inducted into the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989.

Dave Dolan coached high school track and field for nearly four decades at Rapid City Central. During his 18-years as the head coach, he led the Cobblers girls track team to two state championships and four runner-up finishes.

He was a part of five teams over the span of seven years in the National Football League. Neil Graff, a graduate of Sioux Falls Lincoln and the University of Wisconsin, is one of just two quarterbacks born in South Dakota to ever play in a regular-season NFL game.

Rapid City native Kelvin Torve has surrounded himself with baseball for most of his life. He grew up and played American Legion baseball at Rapid City Post 22 for legendary South Dakota coach Dave Ploof. Professionally, Torve played for both the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets, before playing a couple seasons in Japan for the Orix BlueWave. Currently, Torve has returned to his roots and is the head coach of the Post-22 Hardhats team in Rapid City.

She's one of the greatest golfers in South Dakota history. Kris Tschetter, a graduate of Sioux Falls Washington, went on to have a two-and-a-half decade career on the LPGA Tour. In 1992, Tschetter won the Northgate Computer Classic, her lone win on the LPGA Tour. She also won the Walgreen's Charity Classic in 2015 on the LPGA Champions Tour.

In 2003, Justin Horn of Tripp-Delmont won the 'B' boys state track and field team championship by himself. He was the lone qualifier for his school that year at the state meet, and Horn scored a total of 38 individual points to win the team title.

He is South Dakota's high school record holder in the discus throw, was a college football All-American for Iowa State, and is a former first round pick in the National Football League. George Amundson, who grew up in Aberdeen, has had quite a life in sports. To this day, his discus throw of 211 ft 4 in. in 1969 is the longest held record in South Dakota high school track and field.

Seventy-two games, six tournaments, and two weekends - the South Dakota high school basketball championships invaded five different communities over the last couple of weeks. All six state championship coaches (Jared Bouman - White River, Derek Larson - Aberdeen Roncalli, Jamie Parish - Sioux Falls Washington, Jeff Gruenhagen - De Smet, Mike Schouten - Sioux Falls Christian, and Mitch Begeman - Sioux Falls Roosevelt) joined Craig Mattick to recap their teams success during this year's event.

Armour's girls basketball program is one of just three in state history to win five straight state titles. From 1983 to 1987, the Packers were the top dog in 'B' girls hoops. It was one of the original true dynasties in South Dakota sports history. Former players Dana (Nielsen) Honner, Theresa (Wetham) Skinner, Candi (Nielsen) Musiel, Jodi (Pipes) Altenburg, and Wanda (Hornstra) Dally joined 'In Play with Craig Mattick,' along with former coach Ron Webber.

The Sioux Falls Roosevelt girls basketball program went on a record breaking run of 111 consecutive wins from 1997-2001. During this span, Fred Tibbetts' Rough Riders also won five-straight state championships. Assistant Coaches Larry Toft, Denise Klein, and Nate Malchow, and former player Courtney Farrell all joined ‘In Play with Craig Mattick' to talk about this historical run.

He's one of the most physically gifted wrestlers in South Dakota history. Randy Lewis, a native of Rapid City, was a three-time state champion at Stevens high school, a two-time NCAA champion at the University of Iowa, and an Olympic gold medalist at the 1984 Olympic Games for Team USA. He truly is 'the toughest kid on the block.'

Since 1976, the Lakota Nation Invitational has been the top high school basketball invitational in South Dakota. What started as purely a basketball event, the LNI now consists of everything from cultural and academic events to a multiple arts and crafts competitions as well. The action on the court, though, still drives fans, players, and schools to Rapid City each December for this annual event.

Northwestern, Sioux Falls Christian, and O'Gorman all won state volleyball championships in 2020. Between the three of them, they combined for only two losses on the year. Both Northwestern and Sioux Falls Christian only saw one defeat, and it was against the Lady Knights.

Lions and Tigers, and Bears – oh my. Mascots have been part of school pride for a very long time, and in South Dakota – it's no different. Jerry Miller, who wrote the book ‘South Dakota High School Mascots, Nicknames & Logos Past and Present' joined the program to discuss some of the trends he's seen with mascots in the Mt. Rushmore State over the years.

Jill Christensen is the all-time winningest high school coach in South Dakota history with 837 career wins. Throughout her 36-year career with Volleyball in Parker, she led the Pheasants to 14 state volleyball tournament appearances, which included a state championship in 1990.

The Claremont Honkers to this day hold the longest football win streak in South Dakota history. Over a span of six seasons, this 6-man football team won a remarkable 61 straight games.

From 1993 through 2007, the West Central Trojans won 11 state football championships. Jim Uttecht, Kent Mueller and Chad Morrison join Craig Mattick to discuss that unprecedented title run.

When you think of basketball and Murdo, South Dakota , Harold Thune has to be one of the first things that comes to mind. Growing up, he was one, if not the best basketball player in the state. Harold Thune recently passed away at the age of 100, but his legacy as a player, a Navy Fighter Pilot, and then later a basketball coach, will live on in history forever.

In The Moment … September 17, 2020 Show 904 Hour 2

It was unknown if South Dakota was going to have high school sports and activities this fall. While the landscape of the current format was set up through the South Dakota High School Activities Association, it's up to the individual schools to create their own protocols. Also, football amongst the native schools has been moved to the spring.