Joel Swisher, son of legendary NSU coach Clark Swisher, guided Dakota State to its first ever South Dakota Intercollegiate football title in 1973 with a 5-0 record. In 1976, his Trojans finished ninth in the nation.
DSU was 24-12-1 overall and 16-4 in the conference in four seasons under Swisher.
That 1973 football team also will be inducted - one of its stars was former Redfield great Darwin Robinson - along with 1950s football player Larry Dirks and 1970-80s football player Brian Leighton.
For details or tickets for the June 8 event at the Dakota Prairie Playhouse in Madison, call 605-256-5229 or email jeff.dittman@dsu.edu.
Sad day
Former Rapid City Journal sports editor Don Lindner died Tuesday at age 82.
He retired in 1996 after 37 years as sports editor and was part of the 30-year plus Rapid City sports team of fellow writers Ron Wood and Roger Toland and photographer Don Polovich.
Those four were the Mount Rushmore of South Dakota sports journalism.
Together for decades, they chronicled the history of Black Hills sports one story at a time in words, statistics, historic significance and pictures.
Don had just written me a letter last month. He always has been an encouraging mentor, supporter and friend to me in my 30-plus years in this business.
I loved him, just as I did his fellow dream team members. Both Wood and Toland preceded Lindner in death.
Lindner was a journalism genius and a kind soul. I miss him already.
Details: osheimschmidt.com.
The end
Saturday's Greater Dakota Conference track meet marked the final athletic event of the 16-year-old conference that is disbanding.
Sioux Falls will enter the five-team Metro Conference with Brandon Valley starting this fall. Brandon Valley will continue its membership in the Eastern South Dakota Conference as well. For most of its 16-year stint starting in 1998, the GDC was an eight-team conference that consisted of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington, O'Gorman, Rapid City Central, Rapid City Stevens, Sturgis and Spearfish.
Sauers
George Sauer, a wide receiver on the New York Jets' 1969 Super Bowl championship team, died this week at age 69. A few years ago when the Aberdeen Wings were forming under the guidance of then head coach Pete Sauer (now the Wings director of business operations), my first question to Pete was: Are you related to George?
He laughed and said that question dated us both.
Changing of guard
Long-time Dakota State coach and former Ipswich standout Buzz Stevenson has retired his cross country duties at Dakota State in Madison.
He will remain as the university's head track coach. He has been coaching for almost 50 years, nearly the last 30 at DSU. Two-year DSU assistant and former DSU All-American Anthony Drealan has been promoted to cross country head coach.
Changing teams
Sioux Falls Roosevelt and University of South Dakota graduate Nate Tibbetts changed NBA teams this week. He went from an assistant coach with Cleveland to Portland. He currently is a candidate for the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Changing times
A new sport is on the rise in the form of the Black Hills Lacrosse Association with more than 50 players in three divisions.
My Aberdeen friend, Penny De Hueck, has a granddaugher who is a high school lacrosse star in the Chicago area. Karina De Hueck, whose dad Ian played football at Aberdeen Roncalli and Notre Dame, is a junior for Loyola Academy, the four-time defending Illinois state lacrosse champion.
Fast times
Late model driver Jeff Wildung of Nassau, Minn., won a big race in the early dirt-track season.
He earned $4,000 by winning the 40-lap Blaine Brothers WISSOTA Challenge Series feature race at Dakota State Fair Speedway Saturday in Huron. The race, which went yellow-flag free, was led for the first 35 laps by Chad Becker of Aberdeen before Wildung passed him. Becker finished second.
The series will return to the Huron speedway on June 1 for a 63-lap Late Model feature with the winner earning $6,300.
Meanwhile, Mike Stearns of Hecla won the Saturday's Modified feature. Results can be found in Scoreboard.
Storm brewing
The Sioux Falls Storm are preparing for two important games at the Sioux Falls Arena.
The Storm, battling for a playoff spot with a 6-4 record, will host the Chicago Slaughter (7-4) Saturday and the Cedar Rapids Titans (6-4) May 25. All three teams are battling for the two spots available in the United Conference of the Indoor Football League.
Both games are at 7:05 p.m. The Storm have not lost a game at home since 2009, winning 29 in a row at the arena. Since their inception in 2001, the Storm are 97-13 at home.
Area players on the roster are Blake Wilson of Doland and the Aberdeen duo of Dan O'Keefe and Cory Johnsen.
Tickets can be purchased on ticketmaster.com or by calling 605-274-6686.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick