Fosness, Miller among those to be inducted to SD High School Basketball Hall of Fame

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MADISON — The second class for the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame will be inducted at 2 p.m. today at the Dakota Prairie Playhouse in Madison.

Last year’s first-ever hall of fame induction included 16 individual players. This year, is the induction of one team — the 1963 Sisseton Redmen — and one contributor — Pat Morrisson of Mobridge, along with 16 individual players.

“It’s a strong class and a good class,” Executive Director and President of the state’s basketball hall of fame Myron Moen said. “It’s just the second year, and there are so many good basketball players.”

Longtime Dakota Wesleyan men’s basketball coach Gordon Fosness and Stickney native Alan Miller are two of this year’s inductees.

Fosness is a 1953 graduate of Presho High School. Fosness led the state of South Dakota in scoring during his senior year as he averaged 32 points a game. In his senior year, Fosness had four consecutive games where he scored 40 or more points.

He finished his career with 1,442 points and was a starter midway through his sophomore year.

Fosness played basketball at DWU and is sixth all-time in points scored (1,805) and third in points per game (23.4). Fosness was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA in the 10th round.

After moving back to South Dakota, Fosness coached Gregory’s boys’ basketball team for three years before becoming the coach at DWU, which he would coach for the next 22 seasons. Fosness led DWU to 10 conference championships and had a career record of 351-195.

In 1980, Miller led Stickney to the Big B tournament and placed third. Miller received all-tournament honors and was named third-team all-state.

The next year, after growing to 6-foot, 4-inches, Miller led Stickney to the 1981 Class B state title. Miller was selected first-team all-state and was named Mr. Basketball of South Dakota. Miller went on to play at DWU under Fosness and is the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,920 points.

Slattery was a member of Salem St. Marys team in 1956. Slattery was a center and scored 23 points per game for his career and finished with 2,074 points.

As a senior, Slattery averaged just over 30 points a game with a season-high 56 points in one game.

Also to be inducted is Jerry Wingen, who played for the Canova Eagles and graduated in 1956. Wingen was selected to the all-State Class B first team in 1956 after scoring 30 points per game. He scored 2,333 points for his career.

During the Little Hickory Conference Tournament in his senior year, Wingen scored 44 points in the championship game against Howard and set a tournament record with 120 points scored in the three games.

After this year’s induction, three more classes of 16 players, along with one team and one contributor, will be inducted. Then the induction will drop to 12 players annually, according to Moen.

Moen said last year’s banquet attendance was around 350 people, and he is expecting that number to climb to around 500 people this year. He said one of the reasons for the jump is because an entire team is being honored this year.

“Instead of inducting a person, we are inducting a team and most of them are still living,” he said. “So that makes a difference.

“Plus, Jerry Wingen is pretty well known, and I suppose he has about 70 people by himself.”

The other 12 players being inducted are Rick Nissen, Kim Templeton, Harry “Bud” Carleton, Terry DuPris, Roger Nelson, Harley Petersen, Jim Sutton, Tom Malchow, Renae Sallquist, JoElle Byre Benson, Diane Hiemstra Gabriel and Cathy Coyle Grubb.

The ceremony starts at 2 p.m. today and tickets cost $35, which includes the meal at 4:30 and the program.

Tags: hall of fame, gordon fosness, alan miller, sports, updates, tigers