BY JAMES D. CIMBUREKThe Press & Dakotan

As much as Yankton has been a com-munity of pioneers, it has also been acommunity of great accomplishments.That spirit is no more evidentthan in the sports history ofthe community.

Yankton High School,Yankton College and MountMarty College have all lefttheir mark on the athleticscene of the state and region,hanging countless champi-onship banners betweenthem. The individuals whoanchored those teams cre-ated their own legacies, fromthe basketball success of RayHamann at YHS to YC andNFL great Lyle Alzado toMMC legendary baseballcoach Bob Tereshinski, justto name a few.

YANKTON HIGH SCHOOLWhen it comes to winning state

championships, very few schoolsaround have had the success of YHS.

Not counting combined team titles intrack and cross country, Yankton hashung 62 championship banners from therafters of the Yankton High School/Sum-mit Activities Center, the home of YHScompetitions for basketball, volleyball,wrestling and gymnastics.

The first of those came in 1922, whenClem Letich led Yankton — newly desig-nated as the “Bucks” — to the first offour boys’ basketball championships.After a respite in 1926, the Bucks startedback up again under W.W. Stephenson,put together three more championshipsand two runners-up in the next fiveyears, a run of seven titles in 10 years.

Stephenson also took the 1928 Bucksto the last of the national prep tourneyshosted by the legendary Alonzo Stagg inChicago. His basketball teams posted acombined 149-52 mark. He was also 57-25-4 as a football coach, including a 1931season in which the Bucks outscoredopponents 184-2. Stephenson’s leader-ship was key in forming the EasternSouth Dakota Conference, which re-mains the premier big-school conferencein the state to this day.

Those great teams of the late 1920sand early ‘30s featured Hamann, the firstindividual to be inducted into the YHSAthletic Hall of Fame when it wasformed in 1987. Hamann, who led Wis-consin to the Big 10 title in 1935, was thefirst South Dakotan to play professionalbasketball on an organized level, spend-ing seven seasons with the Oshkosh All-Stars, earning all-league honors andtaking them to the league title in 1940.

It would be 43 years before Yankton’snext boys’ basketball title. Since winningtitles in 1974 and 1978, the Bucks havebeen shut out of the championshipchase.

Yankton earned its first state boys’golf title in 1966, a team that included twogolfers that went on to stellar careersafter college, Jim Binder and Jim Ahern.In the 1980s, Yankton put together a runof five titles and a runner-up finish in sixyears. Another two titles and three run-ners-up came from 2004-2009.

The Bucks, though, have been knownfor football, thanks to the 30 EasternSouth Dakota Conference titles hung byYHS since 1927. YHS won five state titlesfrom 1970-1980, just prior to the imple-mentation of the SDHSAA football playoff

system. Six more titles and fiverunners-up have been added inthe playoff era, giving Yanktonmore titles than every schoolexcept Sioux Falls O’Gorman.

Among those greats wasBill Whisler, who graduatedfrom Iowa in 1962 and played10 years in the Canadian Foot-ball League.

Another great during thatera was Bob Stransky, whowas second in the nation inrushing in 1957 for Colorado,accumulating 1,097 yards and1,387 yards total offense. Astandout in basketball, track,baseball and football in Yank-

ton, Stransky recently went into the CUHall of Fame.

When girls’ sports came into theSDHSAA scene in the early 1970s, Yank-ton was at the forefront. Yankton playedhost to the first-ever state girls’ trackmeet in 1969, then became the first dy-nasty in S.D. girls’ basketball, winningeight titles from 1975-1988.

The names of those girls’ athletic pio-neers already dot the YHS Hall of Famelandscape. Diane Hiemstra and Lisa VanGoor (Class of 1980) were on those firstgreat teams, with Beth McLeod (Class of1981) not far behind. Sarah (Robinson)Nichols, Dawn (Christensen) Pesicka,Sarah Mannes, Jenny Pokorney, ErinCihak and Steph Law have followed.

Van Goor is also in the Colorado Uni-versity Athletic Hall of Fame, the first fe-male to be so honored.

In the 1990s, Yankton’s successesturned to running, with the Bucks’ firststate cross country and track titles com-ing in the 1991-92 school year. TheBucks would win three more track titlesin the next nine years, then would be-come the dominant force in distancerunning from 2005-09, winning fivestraight titles.

The Yankton girls had similar suc-cess, adding a 1995 track title to theirthree titles in the early 1980s, then run-ning off six championships in sevenyears in cross country (2003-09).

Yankton has also been a front-runnerin the newly-sanctioned sport of com-petitive dance, winning the sport’s firststate title in 2007 and finishing secondevery year since.

One of the things the Yankton SchoolDistrict has done to keep the school’shigh standards for competition has beenits strong middle school athletics pro-grams.

A highlight of the middle school ath-letics schedule has been the Junior HighRelays track and field meet, which beganin 1950. The brainchild of coach LarsOverskei and Press & Dakotan sports edi-tor Don Bierle, the event was designed tobuild interest in track and field foryounger Yankton students. The first meetwas held with the prelims at West SidePark, and the finals under the lights thatnight at Crane (now Crane-Youngworth)Field.

YSD added end-of-season home tour-

naments in basketball, volleyball andwrestling.

All middle school programs are cur-rently in jeopardy, though, as they werepart of the budget cuts YSD made after afailed opt-out attempt. Efforts are beingmade to restore the programs with pri-vate funds.

While baseball is not affiliated withthe school, Yankton High School hasproduced some greats.

A YHS and YC grad, Romaine “Red”Loecker, left his mark on amateur base-ball in the state, earning three statetournament batting titles and leadingthe Yankton Lakers to state champi-onships in 1969 and 1975. He was the1969 state tournament MVP. Also astandout basketball player and statehurdles champ, Loecker went into theYHS Hall of Fame in 1994.

YANKTON COLLEGEYC produced a number of great ath-

letes in several sports before its closurein 1984, the most famous of which mightbe 13-year NFL great Lyle Alzado.

Alzado made a name for himself as atough defender, playing for the DenverBroncos, Cleveland Browns and OaklandRaiders during his career. After his ca-reer, though, his name became synony-mous with something else: steroid use.As the substances that once helped himbuild up his body tore it apart, he be-came an outspoken advocate for drugtesting, showing himself as an exampleof what not to do.

YC also had the distinction of playingthe first night football game in SouthDakota, hosting Western Union Collegeof LeMars, Iowa. (Which later becameWestmar before closing in the 1990s.)

That game was played Oct. 10, 1930,with YC winning 52-6, thanks to theheroics of Toy Southmayd, who had fourtouchdowns, and “Smokey” Joe Mendel.

Mendel was best known for his ex-ploits on the track, beginning with sin-gle-handedly winning the state trackmeet for Onida in 1926. He scored all 20of Onida’s points, beating out Sioux FallsWashington for the title. His mark of 22-71/2 in the long jump that day stood asthe state record for 50 years.

At YC his legend grew. In 1929, helong jump 24-1, a state collegiate markthat stood for 45 years. Two years later,he matched the world record in the 100-yard dash, running the event in 9.5 sec-onds.

Another former world record holderfrom YC was Tommie Lee White, who setthe 60-meter hurdles record (7.4 sec-onds) and shared the American 50-meterhurdle mark (6.4 seconds). In 1968 hewas a member of the world-record 480-yard shuttle hurdle relay team.

Though White just missed Olympicberths in 1968 and 1972, he was rankedamong the top 10 in the 110-meter hur-dles for five years, peaking at third in1971, and was ranked among the top 10hurdlers in the U.S. for nine years, peak-ing at second.

On the basketball court, YC also hada number greats and another famousgame, a seven-overtime affair with BlackHills State in the early 1950s, which BHwon 80-79. Four of the Yankton Collegeplayers who played in that long gamelater coached South Dakota high schoolbasketball champions — Bob Brooks,Mitchell High School (1964); Ken Liveris,Parkston High (1965); Jim Flevares(Tripp High) 1967; and Ken Thury,Brookings High (1968).

Kay Besanson, a Delmont native whoalso played in the seven-overtime game,was recruited by YC for basketball but,after beating a member of the trackteam in a race, was invited by Young-worth to join the track team. He broke

PAGE 10C: YANKTON 150 PRESS & DAKOTAN ■ SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2011

Yankton: A History Of Athletic Greatness

P&D ARCHIVE PHOTOYankton High School football players celebrate on the sidelines during a game. Whether it is YHS, Yankton College or MountMarty College, Yankton has had a history of success in athletics. Yankton also has a history of hosting major statewide, nationaland international sporting events over the years.

James D.

CIMBUREK

SPORTS | PAGE 11C

At All Levels And In All Sports, Yankton HasA Championship-Caliber Athletic Tradition

P&D ARCHIVE PHOTO“Smokey Joe” Mendel, second from left, was one of the best athletes ever to gracethe athletic battlefields in Yankton, not to mention South Dakota. The Yankton Col-lege legend once tied the world record in the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.5 sec-onds. Also pictured are fellow Greyhounds Frank Lyman, Tom Ptak and Ben Valder.(From the book “Yankton: The Way It Was!” by Bob Karolevitz)

109 Years Ago James Cash Penney Opened His First Store in Kemmerer, Wyoming

The jcpenney store moved to their present location at the Yankton Mall in 1978.

YANKTON MALL 665-2714 The original Golden Rule store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, 1902.

Modern jcpenney stores are a far cry from the small dry-goods store that James Cash Penney opened in Kemmerer, Wyoming in 1902. In those, days, frontier

miners and farmers and their families turned to jcpenney for blue jeans and other work clothes, shoes, fabrics and sewing needs. Today, busy working families turn to jcpenney in cities, towns and suburbs and to jcp.com for affordable fashions and home accessories.

jcpenney’s commitment to serving its customers with style, quality and smart prices has led the Company through many transformations over the years as society and shopping habits change. Furthermore, through more than 100 years of history, the Company has stayed true to its Golden Rule beginnings, with a continued commitment to care for the communities where it does business in and operate in an ethical and responsible manner. Today these commitments live on in the Company’s dedication to make “Every Day Matters” for all its stakeholders.

Painting of Mr. Penney against backdrop of Kemmerer, Wyoming

2 0 1 1 We Celebrate 8 8 Years in Yankton! jcpenney came to Yankton August 30, 1923.

Located here at 3rd & Cedar, Downtown Yankton.

Congratulations to the City of Yankton and the Press & Dakotan

on your 150th Anniversary Representative Nick & Ginny Moser

SD District 18