RAIDER HALL OF FAME 2016
Duane Whalen
Duane Whalen was born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota
graduating from Rapid City High School in 1954. Activities were
very important to him in high school where he was a jack of all
trades, master of none, as he was involved in sports, band,
debate, and journalism. From 1954 to 1958 he attended Black
Hills State University where he pursued a lifelong dream to
teach and coach. In college he continued his interest in
journalism and thanks to a 4– 5 inch growth spurt from the time
he finished high school until he entered college he was able,
over the course of four years to play a little college
basketball. In the fall of 1958 he began his teaching career in
Rapid City. This was the first of 40 years as a teacher, coach
and administrator in the Rapid City Schools. He served ten years
as a social studies teacher and coach at South Junior High
School. Followed by another eight years as a history teacher and
coach at Rapid City Central High School. In each setting Whalen
had the opportunity to coach football, basketball, and track. He
began his career in athletic/activities administration in 1977
when he was appointed Junior High Activities Director for the
Rapid City Area Schools. In 1980, he became the Assistant
Principal in charge of Activities at Stevens High. From 1980
until 1998 the Raiders won 49 state championships and was
During his time at Stevens High School
Whalen served on numerous professional committees and boards at
the local, state, and national levels. Most noteworthy on the
state level are two terms on the SDHSAA Gymnastics Advisory
Committee, three terms on the AD ad hoc committee that studied
and revised the SDHSAA calendar (serving as chairperson of the
last two committees). For the most part the calendar is still in
place today. A long with the Activities Director from Rapid City
Central School Duane
Working with Jim Haar, the AD at Central High School, two noteworthy achievements in Whalen’s time as AD at Stevens High School were accomplished. First was the formation of the Greater Dakota Conference, which unfortunately did not last and development of the first Rushmore Bowl.
In 1997 Whalen was awarded the South Dakota High School Activities Association Distinguished Service Award. Also in 1997 he was inducted into the Rapid City Sports Hall of Fame and was pre- sented the state award of merit for the State of South Dakota by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. In 2003 he was inducted into the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Hall of Fame.
During the 1980’s there was a saying,
“School Activities, the other half of education”. Duane Whalen
believed this to be true, as he witnessed this in his own life
and that of his high school friends, and later in life as a
teacher and coach. His only regret in his
Kelvin Torve was born in 1960 in Rapid City, SD. Kelvin had a younger brother Kent. He attended Rapid City Stevens and graduated in 1978. At Stevens he lettered in basketball and football two
years. He was first team
Kelvin went on to play college baseball at Oral Roberts Universi- ty.
He was a three year letterman and named to the Sporting News 2nd team
In 1981 Torve was drafted in the 2nd round of the Major League
Baseball draft by the San Franciso Giants. He went on to play thirteen years of profes- sional baseball. Torve played for San Francisco, Baltimore, the New York Mets, and Minnesota Twins organizations. Kelvin made it to the Major League level twice while play- ing for the Mets and one year with the Twins. He also played two years in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave.
In 1993 Kelvin hung up his spikes and began working in sales in Davidson, NC. In 1995 he was inducted into the Rapid City Officials Sports Hall of Fame.
After working and coaching baseball in North Carolina for
Joann (Krause) Sterner
JoAnn (Krause) graduated from Sisseton High School and earned a BS Degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Northern State in 1963, as well as an MS Degree from South Dakota State in the same field in
1972. Her teaching and coaching career began in the Rapid City School District in 1965, prior to state sanctions and Title IX, which recognized girls’ participation in sports. Track and Field, Basketball and Volleyball were offered only as Girls Athletic Association (GAA) activities. During the summer, girls interested in sports started AAU competition until Title IX became a law and girls and women were allowed to participate in organized competitive sports in their schools.
JoAnn stated ”My teaching and coaching career began in the early 60’s when it was still largely a man's world. Northern State College in Aberdeen opened their doors to me and I joined the PEMM Club (Physical Education Majors and Minors). As president of PEMM, I organized the 1st Volley- ball “Play Day” for high school girls to play in a Round Robin Tournament. It took all day because so many teams
showed up and every team played each other. The Play Day could not be called a Tournament be- cause that meant competition. It was certainly obvious these girls were enjoying the 'Tournament'. My advisor at Northern State College encouraged me to join the state and national AAHPERD association as a student member. Well that fired me up and I got more involved in sports. No one would or could stop me now!”
JoAnn continued to attend AAHPERD conferences, clinics and workshops. She felt it was an honor to be asked by the SDHSAA to give clinics to students who wanted to learn new fundamentals. JoAnn said “The sport of gymnastics was the most popular sport for girls in the area at that time and I couldn't learn fast enough to keep up with all the talent. All the girls on my high school teams were great coaching assistants. This was the advent of the sport of Gymnastics in South Dakota”.
Before Title IX, she held practice meets with
teams from area schools. Space for practice and funds were always
limited, but parents were always willing to support their daughters. One
of JoAnn’s fondest memories was when her team asked her if she would
sell her Corvette for a station wagon so they could travel to
competitions. She did it for the team and they all enjoyed the new
experiences. The initiation of girls’ sports in South Dakota was very
exciting; every girl tried her hardest and enjoyed the thrill and
Jo Ann feels very honored to receive the Hall of Fame Award for initiating girls’ sports at Rapid City Stevens High School. She is given this honor for coaching the first individual state champions in gymnastics, for putting the Stevens girls’ track team in the record books for the first time in 1975, (when they placed second at state), and for being actively involved in Title IX and initiating numerous female sports to become sanctioned by the SDHSAA.
“There is no greater place to live than South Dakota. It’s great because we have all taken advantage of various opportunities to make it great. I thank all the parents and their daughters for all the memories they created for me. I was blessed with my opportunities”.
ken linstrom
Ken Linstrom was born in Whitewood, South Dakota
and attended Sturgis Brown High School where he was a
Ken worked for the South Dakota State Game and Fish Department for a year after graduating from SDSU, before taking teaching and coaching positions in Gregory and Winner, South Dakota. He
received his Masters degree in Science Education
at the University of North Dakota and then accepted a position as a
science teacher at Rapid City High School in 1961. When Stevens High
School was established in 1969 he moved there to teach Science and be-
came an Assistant Track & Field Coach focusing on the hurdlers and
jumpers. He coached Rapid City Stevens athletes to nine (9) gold medals
in the high and low hurdles. In 1982 he became the Head Track & Field
and Cross Country Coach. His Boys and Girls teams won nine (9) state
championships between 1982 and his retirement in 1988; Boys Tr&F
Coach Linstrom received the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year award for Boys Track & Field in 1988. He was inducted into the Sturgis Brown High School Hall of Fame in 2013.
In his spare time, Ken ran twelve (12) marathons between age 50 and 61 with a best time of 3:07. Upon their retirement, Ken and Martha have spent most of their time traveling to visit their children and grandkids. Steve, Jim, Karen and Sue are all Stevens High School alumni.
randy lewis
The 1977 Rapid City Stevens grad won the gold
medal at 136.5 pounds in freestyle wrestling at the 1984 Olympics,
outscoring his first four opponents
He was second in the ‘88 Olympic trials to John
Smith, who wound up winning a gold medal. He was the 1990 Pan Am
champion. In the biggest match ever held in South Dakota, Lewis pinned
At Iowa, wrestling for Coach Dan Gable, he was a
NCAA champion with a record of
At Stevens, Lewis was
Lewis began his wrestling career as a
He used that “toughest kid on the block” mentality the rest of his career, taking him from grade school champion to Olympic champion.
janet gunderson-powers
Janet
In 1972 Janet
After High School
After college Janet
She is married to Randy Powers and the mother of
Kinsley Powers Groote who won a State Championship team and singles
title in tennis for the Raiders in 2002 and was part of the
Janet and her husband live in Rapid City.
banquet program 2016