South Dakota
Four coaching greats set to be inducted into the S.D. High School Coaches Association hall
Note: The print edition of this story incorrectly lists these four as going into the South Dakota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame this Friday. They are going into the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in July.
MITCHELL — Four coaching greats will be inducted into the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in July.
Bill Weber of Watertown, Kim Nelson of Sioux Falls, Jerome Garry of Madison and Jeff VanLeur of Emery are slated to be inducted during the 54th annual SDHSCA Awards Ceremony scheduled for Sunday, July 20 at 1 p.m. In the Mitchell MCTEA Performing Arts Center.
Bill Weber
Weber spent 35 years as a teacher and football/track and field coach in Rosholt, Mitchell and Watertown.
He was a nine-man football head coach for Veblen-Rosholt and the state’s first three-school co-op (Tri-School with Rosholt, Veblen and New Effington) from 1986-2004 before serving as an assistant in the sport for Mitchell (2004-2006) and Watertown (2006-2021). He compiled a 97-67 record as a head coach with eight Eastern Coteau Conference titles, three Region 1 titles and a runner-up finish in Class 9A. Weber also was an assistant on Watertown’s state Class 11AA runner-up team in 2013.
In track, he coached five individual and two state relay champions along with two Veblen-Rosholt teams that placed fourth in the state meet.
Weber served as president of the South Dakota Football Coaches Association from 2000-02 and was inducted into the SDFBCA Hall of Fame in 2018. He also received the SDFBCA Keeper of the Game Award in 2015. He was twice nominated for the South Dakota High School Football Coach of the Year award and twice earned Region 1 Coach of the Year honors.
His lengthy list of honors includes being named the NHSACA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2022 and South Dakota Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021 and receiving a Max Hawk Distinguished Service Award from the South Dakota High School Activities Association in 2014. He also served as president of the South Dakota High School Coaches Association in 2010-11.
Kim Nelson
Nelson’s 45-year football coaching career included stops at Milbank, Rapid City Central, Sioux Falls Washington and Roosevelt as well as Edina, Minn.
With career record of 314-154, Nelson is the winningest coach in South Dakota high school football history. He led his teams to numerous Northeast, Sioux Interstate and Greater Dakota Conference titles along with a state Class 11AA championship with Roosevelt in 2011 and state runner-up finishes in Class 11A at Milbank (1983), Class 11AA at Washington (2002) and Class 11AAA at Roosevelt (2013, 2014 and 2017).
His list of honors includes numerous conference and region Coach of the Year awards, the South Dakota Football Coach of the Year Award in 2011 and the Dakota State University Alumni Coach of the Year in 2001.
Nelson has been a member of the South Dakota Football Coaches Association since its inception, served as the group’s president in 2012-13 and executive secretary from 2019-2023 and was inducted into the SDFBCA Hall of Fame in 2017.
In addition, he received the American Youth Character Builder Award from Character Counts and an Award of Gratitude from the Communication Services for the Deaf in 2000, was a national finalist for the Power of Influence Award in 2004 and a national finalist for the High School Football Coach of the Year in both 2015 and 2024.
Jerome Garry
The 1975 Garretson High School graduate played football, basketball, wrestling and track and field before continuing his football career as a tight end for South Dakota State University.
His 40-year teaching and coaching career began in 1979 at O’Gorman High School, where he spent eight years. He later spent 20 years at Madison High School (1987-2007) before closing his career at Lourdes High School (2007-2019) in Rochester, Minn.
Garry enjoyed success as a coach in football, serving as an assistant on three state Class 11AA championship teams at O’Gorman before compiling a 74-66 record in 14 seasons as the head coach at Madison. He also served as an assistant at Lourdes where the teams went a combined 102-18 with three state Class AAA championships in 10 seasons.
He also coached Madison to a state powerlifting championship but really made his mark as a head boys and girls track and field coach. At Madison, he led the Bulldogs to five Class A boys and seven combined state titles. He also coached state champion athletes in the sport at both O’Gorman and Lourdes.
Garry spent three years as the Executive Director of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association and has received many honors, including the NFHS Track and Field Coach of the Year in 2001 and the South Dakota High School Activities Association Track and Field Coach of the Year in both 1993 and 1994. He was a finalist for the NHSACA Track and Field Coach of the Year in 2005. He also received the Ralph Ginn Award for Coaching Excellence from South Dakota State in 2010 and the Max Hawk Award (SDHSAA Distinguished Service) in 2021.
Jeff VanLeur
VanLeur has compiled an impressive 45-year coaching career in South Dakota that has included 45 years as head coach in football and boys and girls track and field, 25 years as an assistant boys basketball and four years as a head coach and 17 as an assistant in girls basketball.
At the completion of the 2024 season, VanLeur had a 300-137 career record in football that has included six state Class 9AA championships (2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013) and a state Class 11B championship in 2019. His teams also produced state Class 9AA runner-up finishes in 1993 and 2009 and Class 11B runner-up finishes in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.
The run of success also has featured 12 Cornbelt Conference titles between 1989-2009 and Big East Conference titles in 2018-2020.
Other coaching highlights include being an assistant on four state-tournament teams (1987, 1990, 1994 and 1995) and top finishes as a head coach in girls track (third in 2006) and boys track (fourth in 1994).
VanLeur served as a board member for South Dakota Football Coaches Association from 2000-2002 and the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association from 2007-2022. His various honors include being named the South Dakota High School Football Coach of the Year in 2007-08 and Region 6 Football Coach of the Year six times as well as a nominee for the American Football Coaches Foundation Power of Influence Award in 2015. He was inducted into the SDFBCA Hall of Fame in 2014.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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