RAIDER HALL OF FAME 2018

 

RICHARD "DOC" MICHEL

EGON DZINTARS

GENE BREEMES

STEVE LINSTROM

LINDA (GRAVES) KUSHMAN

PAUL STERLING

ROSE (WARNE) DUBOIS

 

 

 

My family moved to Rapid City when I was five, so I consider myself a native. I started school at Meadowbrook when it was a new school, and my first PE teacher was Jim Brandt; I imagine it was his first teaching job. He was a big “wrassling” fan, made it a part of his PE classes, and also ran a wrestling program after school. He taught me very important lessons in sportsmanship.
My lack of talent for basketball was apparent when I failed to make the 8th grade basketball team at West Junior High. The wrestling coach at West, Gene VanAlstyne, asked me “Why don’t you quit bouncing that bubble around, and try out for a real sport?” So, I did.
“I have to recognize my high school coaches: Ethan Hanks, Tom Long, Gene Breemes, Doug Cogan. I was not a gifted athlete, but I was stubborn, and I never gave up. John Sterner, the assistant wrestling coach, saw something in me, and pushed me constantly, even arranging for me to work out at the School of Mines.
Egon was a three-sport athlete competing in football, wrestling and track. “My biggest wrestling challenge was in the state tournament as a senior, when my opponent in the finals outweighed me by 100 lbs.” Egon overcame that challenge and became the State heavyweight Wrestling champion his senior year at Stevens High School. He was the 1973 SHS Top Raider football player as well as the Defensive player of the year.
The lessons I learned in sports carried over to life. I went through difficult times in medical school, analogous to wrestling: what am I going to do to get through this, to be successful, to come out on top? I couldn’t depend on others to do it for me.
I’m proud to be a Rapid Citian, a Stevens High School alumnus, and proud to have been a physician in Rapid City for the past 30 years.
Egon, thank you for your leadership and contributions to Stevens High School.

 

 

GENE BREEMES

Gene Breemes became Rapid City Steven’s head first track coach (boys and girls) and head cross country coach (boys and girls) in the 1969 – 1970 school year. In the twelve years before his untimely death in the summer of 1982, his Raiders compiled 12 South Dakota State Championships. Gene coached at Hurley, Beresford and Rapid City High School before joining the initial coaching staff at Rapid City Stevens. His amazing record included 34 Regional Championships in addition to his twelve State Championships. In his second season (1971) with Rapid City Stevens, he recorded his first State Championship (Boy’s Track & Field). No one would have predicted there were 11 additional championships to follow under his leadership. Gene obtained a total of seven Boy’s State Track and Field championships with an impressive six championships in a row from 1977 – 1982. Gene also won 2 Boy’s State Cross Country titles in 1980 and 1981 after winning 3 Girl’s State Cross Country titles in 1976, 1977 and 1979. Gene was highly recognized for his successes within the State of South Dakota. • 1971 South Dakota HS Coach of the Year (SDHSCA) • 1977 South Dakota HS Coach of the Year (SDHSCA) • 1976 & 1977 South Dakota Girl’s XC Coach of the Year. • 1980 & 1981 South Dakota Boy’s XC Coach of the Year. • 1984 Inducted into the South Dakota Coaches Association Hall of Fame • 1984 Inducted into the Black Hills State University Hall of Fame When Gene was inducted into the SDHSCA Hall of Fame in 1984, his athletes had won more state and regional gold medals than any other coach. Until his death ended his career in 1982, Gene had coached for thirty-three years – making his successful tenure one of the longest in the state’s history. Breemes was a native of Philip, SD and attended Black Hills State University and the University of South Dakota. Gene competed in all college sports and began his high school coaching career in 1950. He and his wife, Ruth had two children, Greg Breemes of Gilbert, AZ and Kristin Allen of Sioux Falls, SD along with seven grandchildren.

  

 

 

 

 

STEVE LINSTROM

Steve Linstrom believes that a person should not be afraid to pursue a diversity of interests.
Steve grew up in Rapid City and had a successful three sport athletic career at Rapid City Stevens High School.
He was a running back in 1974 on the Raider’s first State Champion Football Team. In 1975 he was a member
of the school’s first State Champion Wrestling Team, winning the individual 138 lbs. Championship. As a
Junior in Track, he anchored the 4x400 relay team to a State Championship in 1974 and was also the Individual
State Champion in the 400 and 200. He repeated as 400 and 200 Individual Champion as a Senior in 1975. In
all, over a two-year period, he was part of eight team and individual State Championships spread across three
sports.
Linstrom attended South Dakota State University on a Track scholarship and graduated with a degree
in Economics in 1979.
He started his professional career in South Dakota State Government serving as a Fiscal Analyst for the
State Legislature, then was the Director of Research and Legislative Liaison for the Board of Regents of Higher
Education and, finally, was the State Director of Information Services. In 1996, he entered the private sector
serving in a number of different roles for The Schwan Food Company including Vice President of Corporate
Relations and Company Spokesperson.
He left the corporate world in 2009 to pursue a dream of becoming a fiction writer. He received his
Masters Degree in English Studies from Minnesota State University Mankato in 2011, found a publisher and
produced two historical fiction novels, The Last Ram and The Murder Trial of the Last Lakota Warrior. He is
currently working on his third novel and is teaching writing at Southwest Minnesota State University.
The diversity in Linstrom’s professional career in government, corporate and academic / literary
settings mirrors the diversity of his successful high school athletic career in football, wrestling and track.
Steve and his wife Steph live in Marshall, MN. His father Ken was inducted to the Rapid City Sevens
High School Hall of Fame as a coach in 2016.

 

 

 

 

LINDA (GRAVES) KUSHMAN

Linda (Graves) Kushman was born and raised in Rapid City, SD and considered herself very fortunate to have been a female when sports activities were beginning to be offered to women. At Stevens High School she participated in many activities including gymnastics, dance, drill team, Concert Choir, Singers, and pep club. Her junior year competing at the State Gymnastic Meet she finished first in the floor exercise, and fifth all-around. She was also the co-captain of 36 Blues Drill Team during her junior year. Her first day of gymnastics practice her senior year she broke her arm! She recalls that “it was a most depressing season”, but she was able to compete again at the end of the gymnastic season and actually took 2nd on beam and 3rd on floor at the 1973 State Meet. Her senior year she was also the Captain of 36 Blues, a member of the All State Choir, Member of the Student Council, a member of the Stevens Singers and was a South Dakota American Legion Girls State Delegate.
After graduating from Stevens in 1973 Linda attended SDSU in Brookings, SD where she competed on the gymnastics team and was a choreographer for the SDSU Dance Club. She captained the gymnastics team her sophomore year. But after a year of multiple injuries she gave up competing in gymnastics and starting her new most enjoyable role as a coach. She was also employed by SDSU in the HPER department from 1975-78 teaching ballet and jazz dance classes. She began her coaching career in 1976-77 as an Assistant Coach to the Brookings High School Gymnastics Team. The following year SDSU hired her as Assistant Coach to the Women’s 1978-79 Gymnastics Team.
Linda’s first job after graduating from SDSU was Head Coach and Physical Education teacher at Sturgis High School. She coached for 6 years, taking the Black Hills Conference Gymnastics Title all six years, and qualifying her team to the state meet 5 of the 6 years she coached. Interested in the health of this sport Linda was the Vice President of the South Dakota Coaches Association in 1982 and the President in 1983. During her short time as a coach Linda was nominated as Gymnastic coach of the year in 1982. She was also a nominee for the North Central Region High School Coach of the year in 1984. During her wonderful years at Sturgis she also ran a summer community gymnastics program for the local youth, and ballroom dancing for adults!
Moving with her husband to Seattle Washington she was the Wellness Director and faculty member of the Lutheran Bible Institute for two years. Upon returning to Rapid City she taught PE and Health for grades K-8 at a private school for four years. With a growing family, three boys by this time, Linda gave up full time teaching and moved into part time instructor at local health clubs.
Linda says she “loves teaching all ages how to move, eat and take care of themselves better”. And so, taking her passion into the private club world she spent the next 12 years teaching numerous classes, including kinder gym, social dancing, aerobics, step classes, weight classes, PACE classes, Spinning classes, personal training, and nutrition classes.
For the last 16 years she has studied under and worked for a Naturopathic Doctor and now is running her own Wellness Consulting Business with her husband Tom in Rapid City.
   

 

 

 

 

 

PAUL STERLING

Paul Sterling was a Madison, SD native until his senior year in high school when he moved to Vermillion, SD. He competed in Football, Wrestling, and Track and in his senior year was selected as all conference in football. Paul went on to college at USD and Dakota State University where he competed in Football and Wrestling. He received his Master’s degree at Northern State University. Paul began his professional career at Madison, SD, coaching Football and Wrestling for two years before moving on to Mitchell, SD, where, over a 12-year period, he coached football, wrestling, cross country, track, and boys and girls basketball. In 1982 Sterling was named Assistant Wrestling Coach of the Year by the South Dakota Wrestling Coaches Association. In 1990 he was the Assistant Basketball Coach when Mitchell won both the girls and the boys state championships. Paul changed focus in 1992 when he was selected as the Activities Director in Mitchell. Over the 18 years at Mitchell he was involved in 25 “Eastern South Dakota Conference” championships and 15 State Championships. Paul began his career at Rapid City Stevens in the fall of 1998 as the Activities Director. During his ten years at Stevens the athletic teams won 54 “Greater Dakota Conference” championships and 42 State Championships. In 2005 Stevens was named as the #1 program in the state of South Dakota and #38 in the nation. Paul was chosen for the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Hall of Fame in 2012. Sterling is quick to give credit where credit is due stating: “It’s not hard to get championships if you have the right people in place and then you let them do their jobs. And personally, getting the opportunity to work with many of the top coaches in the nation, was a rewarding experience.” Paul Sterling worked tirelessly in accomplishing and instituting the following projects while acting as the athletic director at Stevens High School: • North Gym Addition, • Weight Room/Multipurpose room addition, • Daktronics Project (new scoreboards) in Carold Heier Gymnasium, • Sioux Park remodel, • Getting Rapid City in the rotation to host the State Tennis Tournament, • SHS Theatre remodel, • O’Hara Stadium remodel (turf and track) with Jim Harr. Paul wrote: The thing that I want understood up front is that I do not see these things as “my accomplishments”, all of these things are “OUR” accomplishments! I defined my job as being the best “enabler” that I could be. It was my job to take care of the things around the activity and let the coaches coach.
A quote that sums up Paul Sterling’s Leadership: “True leaders are not those, who strive to be first but those who are first to strive and who give their all for the success of the team. True leaders are first to see the need, envision the plan and empower the teams for action. By the strength of the leader’s commitment, the power of the team is unleashed. Paul Sterling is a True Leader!

      

 

 

 

 

 

ROSE (WARNE) DUBOIS

Rose (Warne) DuBois was born and raised in Rapid City, SD. She was very active in extracurricular activities while attending Stevens High School. She was a class officer, danced with the Blues, was a master of ceremonies and participant in Raider Rarities, and also participated in school plays. She was Stevens High School’s Most Improved Gymnast in 1974, Most Valuable Track Athlete in 1974 and 1975, held the school record in the 400 meters for over ten years, and became the first Top Raider Female Athlete in 1975. She helped lead the Raiders to their first runner-up trophy in Track and Field in 1975, placing in all four of her events.
Rose attended SDSU in Brookings for her undergraduate and graduate studies. While there she competed in track, gymnastics, field hockey, and danced with the Dakota Debs. She returned to Rapid City to teach at Central High School in 1979 and retired in 2012 after 33 years of teaching Physical Education and Biology. She received the SD High School PE Teacher of the Year Award in 2010 for her commitment to physical education. She coached numerous sports at both the middle school and high school levels and served as an adviser for Pep Club, Cobbler Coeds, and Agents of Change. She received the Good Apple Award from the School Board in 1996 for running Pep Assemblies and improving school spirit. Her greatest athletic coaching achievement was leading the Cobbler gymnasts to their first ever girls’ Class AA state gymnastics championship in 1991, along with coaching numerous individual state champions.
The Rapid City Journal referred to Rose DuBois as “running the table when it comes to athletics”. She participated in high school and college athletics, coached middle school, high school, and club athletics, officiated middle school, high school, and club athletics, and was a parent of two talented athletes. Her daughter, Melissa, was the first gymnast to ever receive a perfect ten in SD high school gymnastics and won five state titles. She was also a six-time All-American collegiate gymnast and won three collegiate national championships. Rose’s son, Austin, won the PGA Junior Championships in golf at age thirteen, and also participated in numerous sports at the high school level.
Rose became a gymnastics official while in college and continued judging for a total of 26 years. She judged many state tournaments and was the State Meet Referee for two years. She received the National Federation Officials Association award in 2000 and the Judges Leadership Award in 2009. DuBois also received the Distinguished Service Award from the SDHSAA in 2009 and was inducted into the Rapid City Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 for her years of dedication to coaching and officiating athletics.
After retiring from coaching and officiating, Rose turned her attention to teaching graduate courses on achieving excellence, both in the classroom and on the playing field. She co-authored a book with Randy Hagen, titled “Success Perfect”, which consists of sixteen ingredients for achieving success in life. She promoted character education and encouraged all teachers to take a few minutes during each class to encourage wholesome, positive, and healthy lifestyles. Her hobbies now consist of playing golf, hiking, gardening, and traveling.

 

banquet program 2018