Tickets on sale for SD Sports Hall of Fame banquet
The South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame will be inducting 23 sports legends on Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.
The 2025 class includes perhaps the greatest kicker in NFL history, world record holders, champion coaches, women athlete pioneers, a pro cowboy and South Dakota’s most well-known sled dog racer.
The new inductees are: Jo (Haase) Auch, Tom Casey, Jessi Combs (deceased), Cathy Coyle, Donovan Gibbs (deceased), Vern Halter, Ryan Jansa, brothers Edgar and Hobart Lone Hill (both deceased), Guy Mackner, Bill Marquardt, Kim Nelson, Candi Nielsen, Tom Reeves, John Sanders, John Stiegelmeier, Jim Tays, Mark Tetzlaff, Dennis Tiefenthaler, Buck Timmins (deceased), Lemoine Trout (deceased), Jim Uttecht and Adam Vinatieri.
Tickets are now available at zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/sdshof-induction-banquet--2025. The link is also on the Hall of Fame website at www.sdshof.com; click on the ‘purchase tickets’ tab. The cost is $60 for adults, and $35 for kids 12 and under.
Tickey buyers may designate an inductee to sit near when ordering online. All major credit cards are accepted. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
Social hour and media availability of inductees begins at 4:30 p.m. Dinner is at 6 p.m., and the program begins at 7 p.m.
Adam Vinatieri was a Rapid City/South Dakota State/NFL legend. Jim Uttecht coached West Central to numerous state football titles. Lemoine Trout helped Rapid City Stevens build a track dynasty. Countless referees credit Buck Timmins of Mitchell for teaching them his talents.
Dennis Tiefenthaler was one of the state’s greatest high school athletes at Armour. After Hamlin High School, Mark Tetzlaff was an almost unstoppable force for SDSU on the basketball court. When Jim Tays, a former Hot Springs coach, left Gettysburg High School and the University of South Dakota, he held the high jump record at 14 track meets across the region — the record that Tays set in 1949 is still the Gettysburg High School record in 2025.
John Stiegelmeier won a national football title at SDSU and his impact was felt throughout the nation. A Sunshine Bible Academy legend and later an NFL standout, John Sanders was one USD’s greatest players. Cheyenne-Eagle Butte graduate Tom Reeves was a world champion saddle bronc rider. The multi-talented Candi Nielsen was one of the best players ever at Armour, Augustana and in the North Central Conference.
Dakota State graduate Kim Nelson, who like Stiegelmeier coached Vinatieri, is the winningest high school coach in SD history. Salem native Bill Marquardt is one of four prep coaches in SD history to have teams win state football and basketball titles. NBA draft pick Guy Mackner made Sisseton and SDSU basketball powerhouses in the 1960s.
Born in Pine Ridge, the Lone Hill brothers (Edgar and Hobart) were two of the best earliest boxers in the Upper Midwest.
Sioux Falls native and senior PGA golfer Ryan Jansa is the most decorated golfer in state history with a record 33 SD Golf Association titles. Flandreau and USD graduate Vern Halter is the state’s and one of the nation’s most accomplished sled dog musher. 1940s multi-sport athlete Donovan Gibbs, who spent time in the NY Yankees farm system, led Claremont High School to three straight unbeaten seasons to begin their national-record 61-game win streak for six-man football.
Belle Fourche High School and Northern State athletics rose to new heights with the multi-talented Cathi Coyle in various lineups. Jessi Combs grew up in the Black Hills and later would set land-speed world records of more than 500 mph in jet-powered vehicles. State radio legend Tom Casey’s voice is known and trusted throughout the vast Pine Ridge Reservation. Jo Auch, one of the first women scholarship athletes at USD, expanded opportunities for high school athletes, especially girls, for decades.
With the 23 new inductees, the hall will have enshrined 395 women and men from every part of the state representing more than 30 sports. The South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1968 by the South Dakota Sportswriters Association. A group of unpaid volunteers from across the state now manages it.
Inductees are voted into the hall in four categories: as athletes, coaches, contributors (such as media, administrators and/or officials) and/or legends (deceased).
To help preserve the hall and continue its mission, tax-free donations of any amount are always welcomed and appreciated. To donate, contact Scott Fiedler at (605) 940-5564, or send to: South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, PO Box 2077, Sioux Falls, SD 57105.
