While doing some research on women's athletics at South Dakota State College pre-Title IX, I stumbled across some interesting connections to our fellow classmates and to the city of Brookings.
The 1938 Jackrabbit has pictures of three seniors that we could know about, along with their hometown and major. One of these fine individuals is Mel Henrichsen from Altamont, whose degree was in General Science. Altamont is near Clear Lake. Mel ran the college bookstore for many years (https://dp.la/item/efa28f6c311dd7ee0ebc7e5b99b4cfd3). His son Mel (Jr.?) graduated in 1959 and was an all-state football player. He also held the school record in the shot-put for about 20 years, and was inducted into the Brookings High School Hall of Fame four years ago. There is a link to that story, but one must be subscribed to the Brookings Register to view it.
A second individual is Bert Rude of Brookings, also majoring in General Science. He is a member of the Rude family that started a furniture store and funeral business in the early days of Brookings. According to Generative AI, "Bert Rude, specifically Bert Theron Rude, was a significant figure in Brookings, South Dakota, known for his ownership of a furniture store and later, a funeral home, which evolved into Rude's Funeral Home."
Born in Brookings, South Dakota, USA on 30 Jun 1916 to Bert Theron Rude and Clara Knutson Rude. Bert Theron Rude passed away on 22 Jul 2002 in Park Rapids, Hubbard, Minnesota.
The third individual is the father of Nancy Webbenhurst, Charles Webbenhurst, although his last name is misspelled as Webbenhorst. He, too, majored in General Science. Wentworth was listed as his hometown, and is located about half-way between Madison and Colman. Today, "Wentworth is an incorporated village in Lake County, South Dakota, United States. It is the only incorporated village in the state of South Dakota. The population was 181 at the 2020 census. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wentworth,_South_Dakota)
In the junior class that year were Lorys Larson of Brookings, majoring in Civil Engineering, Dave Pearson of Webster, majoring in Agriculture, Chandler Shirley of Madison, majoring in Pharmacy, and Art Vandall of Lake Andes, majoring in Agriculture. One may recognize these men respectively as fathers of Duane of our class, Dave (Jr.?) of the class of 1968, Debbie of our class, and Scotty of our class.
The sophomores that year included Alvar Aho from Lake Norden, who was majoring in Agriculture. He would become the father of Cheri Aho, class of 1968. His two other sons, Jim and Ron, were a little older than we were. Ron was a long-time attorney in Brookings. Wasn't Al the county agent for Brookings County?
Another member of the class of 1968 whose father was in the sophomore class was Julie Brchan, daughter of Dale. Dale was from Kimball, and majored in General Science.
Jim Fergen was from Parkston, and was a fine sophomore basketball player for the Jackrabbits that season. Jim started Fergen's Menswear in Brookings. His major was Printing and Journalism.
Camilla O'Connell from Madison majored in Home Economics. Would that be Kevin's aunt?
A student from Bruce majoring in Civil Engineering was Harvey Schroeder, father of Nanette of our class.
Another Agriculture major was Fred Shubeck. Her daughter Ruth was in the class of 1970.
The freshman class had some members that were quite noteworthy. John Durland of Brookings must have been an uncle to Mike and Pat Durland. Mike was in our class, while Pat was a year ahead of us. The Durlands farmed south of town, I believe. The building of Interstate 29, I was told, divided their farm in half, so they moved to Idaho around 1965.
Two of our classmates, Yvonne Trapp and Howard Wells had fathers in that class. Lansford Trapp was from Verdon (https://bchsofsd.com/verdon/), a town near Aberdeen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdon,_South_Dakota). The hometown of Darrell Wells is listed as Salem, a town about 25 miles west of Sioux Falls. Whenever our basketball trips took us to Mitchell or Yankton, we would stop in Salem for pre-and post-game meals.
One of our esteemed teachers and coaches was also in that class. Listed as coming from Flandreau was Francis "Franny" Dolan. A couple of summers ago, we visited his and his wife's graves in Elkton's St. Mary's cemetery. Many of us may remember "Franny"as our elementary PE teacher, while he coached us boys in Jr. Hi basketball and track and field.
An assistant football coach, freshman basketball coach, and intramural director was Al Arndt, father of Jim of the class of 1968. Many of us may remember him as owning Al's Sport Shop, which was at 416 5th Street. His store was there from 1946 -1963 before moving to 403 Main Ave., next to Ray's Corner. There was also a bowling alley there until the Prairie was built in 1962. From 1963-1975,, the building may have been more familiar to many of us as Horatio's.
The 1939 Jackrabbit featured a reorganization of the Athletic Department at SDSC. The new Athletic Director was Bob Coffey. Mr. Coffey had been coaching and teaching at Brookings High School for the last 13 years. He was an outstanding athlete during his college days at SDSC. He is responsible for the name "Bobcats." Up until the late 1920's, high school teams did not have names. The teams were simply referred to in the newspapers as the Brookings team, Madison team, Sioux Falls team, etc. They were sometimes referred to playing like lions or tigers. However, in 1926, names began to be given to the teams. Since the reporters frequently referred to the play of the Brookings teams as "cat-like," the team was nicknamed "Bob's Cats. " The name stuck, and from then on, Brookings High School teams were called "Bobcats."
One of the "outstanding" players on Al Arndt's freshman basketball team that year was Don Holm, father of Dan of our class.
This past fall of 2024, average attendance at SDSU's football games was about 19,000 in their outstanding facility. Since the college enrollment has skyrocketed since 1938, that attendance figure may not be that impressive when it is compared to the 1938 Hobo Day against arch-rival USD. That crowd that was estimated at 15,000 for the game played at "State Field" with its wooden bleachers. Not all games, though, had that intensity and interest within the state, when Hobo Day was promoted as "the largest one-day event in the Dakotas."
