Mr. Tlustos Inducted Into Hall of Fame

Mr. Tlustos came to Brookings as the wrestling coach and junior history teacher when we were seniors, replacing Mr. Sherrill.  Some of us had him for economics class that year.  His career got off to a fantastic start at BHS, as the wrestlers were state champs in those first two seasons of 1969 and 1970.  He was a very well-known and respected wrestling coach throughout the state. At BHS, he also coached 9th grade football.  He even agreed to coach varsity football one year when there were some difficulties finding the right individual for that position.  This link will take you to the story from the Register's on-line edition:  http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=77&story_id=15370 

On a more somber note, Don Rykhus, the brother of Mr. Duane Rykhus passed away recently.  Mr. Rykhus was the ninth-grade science teacher when we were still in the old school.  Some of us even had him for 8th grade science.  He was also the track coach for a few years.  He had a roofing business that kept him busy during the summers.  He retired from teaching in 1975 to devote full-time to shingling.  Yours truly replaced him, but after two years, I moved back to the middle school.  Teaching the younger kids was more enjoyable to me than teaching the older ones.  This link:  http://kirkfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/KirkFu1/obit.cgi?user=685644Rykhus is the obituary for Don Rykhus.  Ken Kirk is one of the managing partners at this funeral home.  He is 1971 graduate of BHS:  http://kirkfuneralhome.com/?page=kenkirk  His sister Kathy was a year ahead of us, I believe.  Their father worked at the "Bug Lab" near Sunnyview north of town.  Jim Kortan's mother was also a secretary there.  With Jim's help, I was able to land a summer job there after high school graduation.  That employment for the next few summers paid for most of my college education.