Perhaps 20 or more years ago, Brookings High School started an athletics "Hall of Fame." The purpose was to recognize outstanding athletes, teams, coaches, and contributors who have played a huge roles in the success of the athletic teams at BHS. The athletic director at that time, Steve Berseth, researched to the best of his ability the records of coaches and athletes from the early 1900's to the present. Virtually all of the stellar athletes that have appeared in a Bobcat uniform and the coaches that have guided them have received this prestigious honor. Our own class of 1969 has contributed Lee Colburn, Jim Kortan, and Tom Osterberg, Four other notable athletes that are familiar to us are Bob Adams, Jan Sanderson, Jackie Ramey, and Marty Johnson. A partial listing can be found at https://www.brookings.k12.sd.us/o/brookings/page/bhs-athletic-hall-of-fame. The inductees for the last few years do not appear. However, an internet search can find most of them. For example, this year's inductees can be found at https://brookingsregister.com/stories/five-to-be-inducted-to-bobcat-sports-hall-of-fame,151648.
Three of those honored inductees have connections to our class of 1969. Tim Ramey's brother Bill was in our class in the 9th grade. Tim graduated in 1978, and was a student of mine during my first year (1973-4) in the system. He had a great deal of energy in the classroom, and channeled that vigor into his extra-curricular activities of football, wrestling, and track and field. Tim was fearless as an athlete. He was a tough-nosed football player, a tenacious wrestler, and a competitive weight man in track and field, even though he was not as large as most of the other throwers. He has become quite the realtor in his older years, and seems to have lost some weight since high school, as this picture indicates https://www.facebook.com/1288039572/posts/10231522305142588/?rdid=DxX6kPEGPWToxvbe#
Laura Hietbrink was in 7th grade in 1973-4. Her older sister Deanne graduated with us in 1969, and sat to my right in Mr. Karnes's physics class our senior year. A few other classmates of ours also had siblings in Laura's class. Perhaps these names may ring a bell: Jon Colburn, Joey Odegaard, Teresa Redmond, Paula Sloat, and Jeanne Ulmer.
Deanne's father was a professor in the pharmacy department at SDSU. Deanne took after her father and earned her pharmacy degree after high school. She worked as registered pharmacist in Oklahoma. Laura indicated that Deanne still works part-time as a substitute pharmacist there.
Laura was in 8th grade when we started girls athletics in the school system. She was notably a fine high jumper that year, and continued to have success in that event in high school. As her biography indicates, she also became a key runner on some of the high school relay teams. Those BHS girls track and field teams of that era were powerhouses. Additionally, she helped propel the Bobcats volleyball and basketball teams to much success during those early years when girls were finally getting the chance to compete athletically.
Phil Workman has won more letters than any other male athlete in Brookings High School. Lettering as an 8th grader is practically unheard of. It has happened before. In the latter 1950's, one Duane Thompson lettered in track at that young age. Phil not only lettered in track that year, but also in basketball. I believe believe Judy of our class is a cousin.
What is most admirable about Phil is that he was an all-around athlete. Too many youngsters today seem to concentrate on only one sport. Doing so can result in overuse injuries and loss of interest ("burn-out). https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/04/427421/children-specializing-one-sport-more-harm-than-good and https://www.sportsmed.org/membership/sports-medicine-update/fall-2024/the-fallacy-of-falling-behind-the-realities-of-early-sports-specialization
I was fortunate enough to coach Phil in the 800 in track, and could recall many of his races for this post. However a few stand out in my mind. First, he won the conference 800 as an 8th grader. Girls have achieved that honor, but it's doubtful if a boy had ever done that. He would go on to win that race three more times, thus making it four in a row, a feat that may never have been done before, nor will probably ever be done in the future.
Phil qualified for the state meet that 8th grade year. At the state meet, there were two heats of the 800. Since he did not have one of the eight fastest time during the year, he was placed in the slow heat, so his chances of placing were rather remote. He started off perhaps a little too fast, but was able to tough it out and finish with a nice time. His time was good enough to beat all but three of the finishers in fast heat, so he placed 4th. Not bad for an 8th grader.
As a sophomore, Phil had times that earned him a spot in fast heat. Our strategy was to run at a fairly even pace. Too often, high school runners start off too fast for their ability. So Phil hung back. He was almost last after the first 200. He gradually started to move up. With about 200 to go, he appeared to speed up. In reality, everyone else was slowing down, and Phil was just maintaining. With about 80 meters to the finish he took the lead and won by a comfortable margin of five meters or so. A parent of a runner from Sioux Falls Washington asked me "Where did he (Phil) come from?" His race was somewhat reminiscent of the 800 at the 1972 Olympics, although not nearly as close at the finish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k)
Because Phil had to run many races during a meet. he was often a little bit tired when his 800 was run. Thus, his times during the year were not that impressive. He would just run fast enough to win so he could be competitive in his other races. Since times during the year determine seeding at the state meet, Phil did not get a top seed, but he had a time that placed him in the fast heat. He peaked at the right time.
As a junior, Phil had two other teammates that were also respectable 800 runners. For the conference meet, we wanted to put together a good 4 X 800 relay team, as we had a chance to win the meet. We had to find another runner, though. Our 300 intermediate hurdler felt he up to the challenge. During those years, Yankton had a powerful cross-country team, and were highly confident they could win the 4 X 800, as they had a number of quality cross-country runners from which to choose.. Our four runners, Ben Fairbanks, Ty Nelson, Andrew Winterboer, and Phil Workman, all played football. While the Yankton runners trained all year round, our runners only trained hard for two months in the spring. Our boys ran exceptionally well, and won the race, while Yankton seemed devastated David had defeated Goliath.
As a senior, Phil was unable to repeat as champion in the 800. He finished runner-up to a Pierre runner who had also been running cross-country for a number of years. That training eventually paid dividends, as the Pierre runner was also strong in longer races. When it is considered how few miles Phil actually covered during the year in comparison to his competitors, one could say he overachieved. 'Truly Phil was on of the most outstanding all-around athletes to ever come out of BHS.
I was fortunate enough to assist Jerry Kluess, the coach who was inducted this year. The girls track team of 1989 that was under Mr. Kluess's guidance was chosen as the team to be recognized for their achievement, which entitled them to be included in the Hall of Fame.
Perhaps because the Brookings Register had ceased publication for a few weeks, and when it resumed publication on only two days of the week. there was little publicity for this year's Hall of Fame recognition. We hope this glitch can be overcome in future years.
