Former NSU men's basketball coach Don Meyer and current NSU women's basketball coach Curt Fredrickson will be inducted in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame at a banquet April 13 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Ticket information will be released at a later date.
Other inductees include: golfing great Kris Tschetter, Olympian Rod DeHaven, basketball coaches Gary Munsen, Lyle "Dusty" LeBeaux, football-basketball-track coach Bob Schroeder, basketball player Harold Thune, softball pitcher LeRoy Carlson, referee Pal Christensen and football player/baseball coach James A. "Pev" Evans.
With this class of inductees, the hall will boast a membership of 236.
Meyer coached at Northern State for 11 seasons, retiring in 2010. At that time, he was the winningest men's basketball coach in NCAA history, breaking a record set by Bobby Knight. In a 38-year career, the Wayne, Neb., native and Northern Colorado grad won 923 games and lost 324. At Northern State, his Wolves were 221-104 with two conference titles and five postseason berths. He also coached three years at Hamline (Minn.) University and 24 years at Lipscomb (Tenn.) University, winning an NAIA title in 1986.
Meyer had cancer discovered in his liver and intestines during emergency surgery after a car crash on Sept. 5, 2008, in which he lost one of his legs. At the 2009 ESPY Awards, Meyer was awarded the Jimmy V Award For Perseverance. Meyer was the 2010 recipient of the John Bunn Award, given by the Basketball Hall of Fame for significant contributions to the sport. Tennessee's Pat Summitt, the winningest women's NCAA coach, cited Meyer as a major influence on her development as a coach.
Fredrickson, an Aberdeen Central and Northern State grad, is the second-winningest active NCAA Division II women's basketball coach with 711 wins in 33 seasons entering the 2012-13 season. He led Northern State to NAIA Division II titles in 1992 and 1994 and a runner-up finish in 1993. He has led NSU to six Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles and six runner-up finishes. He led NSU to 45 consecutive wins from 1993-95.
Fredrickson will be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in March. Also a longtime outstanding pitcher/hitter in amateur baseball, he is the only player in state amateur baseball history with more than 250 home runs and more than 250 pitching victories. He is second on the all-time home run list and third on the list for pitching wins. He was MVP of the 1977 state tourney, winning four games to help Aberdeen C&R to the state title.
- Tschetter, a Sioux Falls Washington High grad, played more than 20 years on the LPGA Tour, starting in 1988. The former Texas Christian University standout won almost $3 million on Tour. Her only Tour victory came in the 1992 Northgate Computer Classic, though she and Billy Andrade teamed to win the 1991 JC Penney Classic, an unofficial mixed team event. Tschetter has finished second in two majors, the 1997 Nabisco Dinah Shore and the 1996 U.S. Open. In all, she had 10 runner-up finishes and 50 top-10 finishes.
- DeHaven, a Huron High and South Dakota State grad, was the entire U.S. marathon team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He also was the top American finisher at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. He also qualified for the 2004 Olympic trials, but an injury kept him from competing. He also competed in the 1,500 at the 1988 Olympic trials and the 10,000 at the 1996 trials. At SDSU, he won the NCAA Division II indoor title in the 1,500 in 1985 and finished in the top 5 in the 1,500 outdoors three times. He set seven school track records. In cross country, he won the North Central Conference title all four years and led the Jackrabbits to the 1985 NCAA Division II title. In all, DeHaven earned 16 All-America certificates and won 20 individual NCC championships.
- Munsen, a White Lake High and Dakota State grad, is one of the state's most prolific basketball coaches in terms of both wins and state titles. He coached boys basketball at Mitchell for 39 years, retiring after the 2011-12 season. His Kernels won nine state titles, including three in a row (1984-86), and were runners-up five times. His career record (including three years at Marion) was 672-254. The team won 40 straight games from 1984-86. No South Dakota basketball coach has won more state titles than Munsen.
- LeBeaux, a 1971 Oglala Community School grad, has been one of the state's most successful girls and boys basketball coaches for the past 25 years. He began as a varsity coach in 1987 at Red Cloud, where he guided the girls team to its first state tourney appearance. Over the years, he has coached the boys and girls teams at Red Cloud and Pine Ridge and the boys team at Little Wound. Entering the 2012-13 season, his teams have an overall record of 529-164 (289-91 boys and 239-74 girls). He has taken 18 teams to the state tourney.
- Carlson, of Sioux Falls, was perhaps the state's greatest fastpitch pitcher. His legendary pitching duels with Paul Ferrie attracted the largest crowds ever for fastpitch in South Dakota. His organized softball career began with Sioux Falls Sunshine in 1941. After four years in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Sioux Falls, pitching for five years and helping his team to state VFW titles in 1948-50 and a state ASA title in 1951. From 1952-79, he pitched in Iowa, first in Sheldon and then in Sioux City. He led his teams to five Iowa state titles and was named most valuable pitcher of the state tourney three times. He holds nearly every major pitching record in the Iowa ASA tourney book. He retired from active pitching in 1979 at age 54.
- Christensen, a Yankton High and Yankton College grad, refereed more than 6,000 high school and college events in a career that spanned more than 50 years. He reffed high school boys and girls basketball for 35 years and prep football for 50 years, starting in 1947. He refereed in the North Central Conference - 27 years in basketball and 35 in football. He reffed in the SDIC even longer: 39 years. He reffed at the first state girls basketball tourney as well as the first state football championships.
- Evans, a 1951 Rapid City High grad, was selected as a tackle on the state's all-time high school football team selected in 1969. Rapid City High lost only once in Evans' three years. At Nebraska, he played for four years (offensive and defensive tackle) and was a starting tackle for 1955 Orange Bowl team (there were only four bowl games in those years). He also kicked for the Huskers, and he was offered pro tryouts as a kicker. He also was an assistant football coach one year at Nebraska, three years at South Dakota Mines and two years at Black Hills State.
- Thune led Murdo to the 1937 state "B" finals, where he was the top scorer in the tourney with 35 points). After one year at Hibbing (Minn.) Junior College, he went to Minnesota, where he was the team MVP as a junior (1940-41 season). He was a key reserve and part-time starter as a sophomore and a starting guard as a junior and senior. He averaged 4.5 points a game as a junior and 5.8 as a senior. The Gophers were 2-8, 11-9 and 15-6 in his three seasons. In 1963, he began a 20-year career in teaching and coaching at Murdo HS.
- Schroeder, a 1941 Miller High grad, was an extremely successful high school football and basketball coach at Miller for 30 years. In football, his teams were 151-80-11 with eight undefeated seasons and 13 conference titles in 30 seasons. His teams had unbeaten streaks of 29, 19 and 18 games. His 1946 team was one of the highest scoring teams in the nation, scoring 371 points in eight games. That team did not allow a point in any game and in fact did not allow opposing teams closer than the 30-yard line. The team did not punt during the entire season.