Jim Kortan Into Hall of Fame

A few year ago, the BHS athletic department started a Hall of Fame for athletes, coaches, and others who made a significant contribution to the athletic programs at BHS.  A number of categories for the athletes was established, including pioneers, veterans, male, female, coaches, and contributors.  The inductees for this year included a member of our own class, Jim Kortan.  He joins Lee Colburn, who was one of the early selections to this notable group. (http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=18759&page=7; http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=77&story_id=18818)  Jim is surely very deserving of this accolade.

Even though Jim and I attended Central Elementary, we never were in the same class, so I never really got to know him very well in grade school.  We did however, play on the same midget league baseball team (11-12 year olds).  When we were 12, we were on a very good team, the Dodgers.  At that time, teams were sponsored by various civic organizations and churches.  I believe Mt. Calvary Lutheran was our sponsor.  Some of the other players, if memory serves right, were RickWahlstrom, Brian Johnson, Lonnie Herron, and Jim Egeberg.  Another good team was the Pirates, featuring Tom Roe and Jerry Tordoff.  We played them in the first game of the play-offs.  Jerry Tordoff was pitching, but was struggling, and we were defeating them very handily.  We were ahead by a comfortable margin, the bases were loaded, and Jim (probably our best player), was coming up to bat.  It seemed as if we were about to win and advance.  But then the rains came, and we had to replay the game the next afternoon.  Tom Roe was the starting pitched in that game, and he was sharp.  We were unable to score any runs in those three innings he pitched (pitchers were limited to three innings a game).  Jerry Tordoff continued in the same fashion.  Our pitchers were not doing too badly, either, allowing them only one run.  That one run, however, made the Pirates victorious.  I believe the Pirates went on to win the championship.

In 7th grade, the only sport that had competition against other schools was track and field.  Jim was fast, so I'm sure was was in some relays or sprints.  I believe he also threw the discus.  I think his father had  thrown it when he was younger.  He often worked that event when we had our home meet at SDSU.  I'm certain he (Mr. Kortan) even was hit in the shoulder by a flying discus when he was working one meet.  He didn't even flinch. When we started tackle football in 8th grade, it became obvious that Jim would be a quarterback.  He began to show his football skills very early.  When basketball began later in the school year, Jim was on the Jr. Hi "B" team.  After the first game against Elkton, however, it was obvious that Jim should be promoted, so he was now on the "A" team.  We never had the luxury of having Jim on our team again until we were juniors and in the new school.  We were always successful in basketball without him, but when we were all together, a state championship was in the works.  That first game was nail-biter.  We were in a very close game with Lead, who was one of the favorites.  Lead had just taken a one-point lead with very little time remaining.  With five seconds left to play, Jim was fouled.  He calmly sank both free throws, and we held on for a one point victory.  Amazingly, while we went on to win the title, Lead finished in 8th place, failing to win one game.   What a difference attitude can make.

In the spring of our senior year, when some of us were searching for summer employment, Jim mentioned to me in homeroom that his mother worked at the Bug Lab north of town, and that they need some young workers out there.  He gave me some information, and I had to go up to the college to fill out the paperwork.  The man I had to see was Charles Kirchmeier.  Coincidentally, his son Tony is also being inducted into this year's hall of fame.  Tony was obviously another talented athlete.  Like Jim, he was the quarterback on the football team, and helped the Bobcats to their first-ever state football title in the fall of 1983.  Their basketball team could not quite duplicate that feat, as they finished third in the state tournament the following March.

Jim was perhaps the best all-around athlete in our class.  He was a three-year starter in basketball, the starting quarterback on the football team for two years, and qualified for the state track meet at least twice (I believe).  He is truly deserving of this fine honor. Brad Rufer sent me this email (Brad was a running back in the same backfield with Jim):

 I saw this in the Brookings Register. I tried to put it on the home site for the class of '69 but had issue. Just wanted to congratulate Jim on such a well deserved honor. I have many good memories of playing on teams that Jim was such a big part of.  I wish I could be in Brookings when Jim is honored to celebrate and reminisce with him. I hope to see lots of  Bobcats in 2014.

 Brad

The inductee in the pioneers category is Donnie Dorn.  He was a long-time coach for the Braves midget league baseball team.  They always seemed to be competitive, and were sponsored by the Catholic Church, of which he was a faithful member.   He attended BHS in the early 40's, and some people say he was an earlier version of  Tom Osterberg: quick, fast, and explosive.

The coach selected for induction is Bill Scholten.   He had a sister that was a year or two older than we were.  His father was a long-time member of the faculty at SDSU in the education department.  He was also on the school board for a number of years.  It may have been  in 1967 that all of the school board members had a son or daughter that was graduating that year.  At graduation, each board member was able to give his child his/her diploma.  That must be a rare occurrence.  Bill was couple of years behind us, but was good friends with Les Odegaard, Steve's younger brother.  Bill was fine golfer, and was the golf coach at BHS while teaching social studies in the school system.  He retired from teaching a few years ago, but is still coaching.  He had some fantastic girls' teams.  They were state champs a number of times, and won an incredible number of consecutive conference titles.  I believe he was even  named national coach of the year once. 

The female athlete is Brienne Berseth.  She, too, was a talented all around performer in basketball, volleyball, and track and field.   Her parents are about our age, and attended NDSU.  They remember Lee playing basketball for SDSU.  Her parents were both teachers in the school system.  Her father Steve started in 1972, replacing Franny Dolan as elementary PE teacher.  That was my senior year at SDSU, and we refereed the sophomore basketball games together.  Her mother Benda  was a PE teacher at the Middle School for many years.  In 1992, Steve was hired as athletic director at BHS, only the second one since "Nig" Johnson retired in 1973.  He is somewhat of a history buff, and is responsible for originating the Hall of Fame.  He has done a tremendous amount of research to gather information on some of the candidates and inductees for this prestigious honor. 

Congratulations to all of the inductees for the BHS Hall of Fame Class of 2013.