Former Dakota Wesleyan Hansen, Fletcher standouts to be inducted high school Hall of Fame

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Greg Hansen
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Randy Fletcher

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At least two former Dakota Wesleyan University men’s basketball players will be inducted into the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame on March 24 in Madison.

Former Hurley standout Greg Hansen and Reliance native Randy Fletcher are part of the third-ever class to become a part of the hall.

“It really is an honor,” Hansen said. “When I was growing up, I admired the great players in South Dakota before me, like Jack Theeler, who is also being inducted. To be inducted with him and a lot of other players, I am very appreciative.”

Hansen and Fletcher are being inducted with 14 other people, including Mitchell residents Jack Theeler and Lamoine Torgerson, who were featured in a previous edition of The Daily Republic.

Former Armour players Barry Glanzer and Dana (Nielsen) Honner will be featured in a future edition.

Hansen, 60, graduated from Hurley High School in 1970. He scored 1,989 points in his career and grabbed 1,663 rebounds.

Fletcher, 64, graduated from Reliance in 1965 and scored more than 1,800 points in his high school career.

“It’s an honor, that’s for sure,” Fletcher said. “To get put in this kind of company, that’s special.”

“The Mitchell area is very well represented from this year’s class,” Hansen said.

South Dakota and Indiana are the only two states in the country to have high school basketball halls of fame.

“It really says something about how important and how good basketball in South Dakota is when there is only one other state to have a (high school) hall of fame,” Hansen said. “I think our hall of fame has done a very good job in figuring out who is deserving.”

Hansen, who currently resides in Sioux Falls, is the business manager for GSP Inc.

Fletcher is the boys’ and girls’ golf coach at Lennox High School.

Hansen and Fletcher both left their marks on the Dakota Wesleyan basketball program.

When Fletcher ended his collegiate career with DWU in 1969, he was the all-time scoring leader in Tigers history with 1,829 points.

During high school, Fletcher said, he grew up under the right set of circumstances.

“I had the best opportunities to do what I could do,” he said. “A small school always gives you good opportunities, and somehow you get the nod and good things happened.”

Fletcher said it is special to be a part of the third-ever class to be inducted into the hall of fame.

“That’s unbelievable,” Fletcher said. “As a boy growing up, you think you are going to do this and that, but you never know how it’s going to turn out. To have it happen, that’s special.”

Fletcher’s DWU scoring record stood until Hansen finished his DWU career in 1974 with 2,146 points. Mitchell native Alan Miller now holds DWU’s all-time scoring record with 2,920 points after breaking the record in 1985.

Hansen still holds the all-time free-throw percentage for a season at DWU with 91.7 percent in the 1970-71 season.

Two of Hansen’s former teammates from Hurley, Greg Farrar and Merle Reiners, played with him during his time at DWU.

“I was fortunate to play with some really, really good teammates at Hurley and Dakota Wesleyan,” he said. “I am really proud of the career I had at Hurley and for the opportunities I had.”

In 1974, Hansen became the sports editor of The Daily Republic. He held the position until 1984 when he became the sports editor of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls.

“I was at The Daily Republic for nine years, and they were good years and I enjoyed my time there,” he said. “(My wife and I) loved our time in Mitchell, and we have nothing but fond memories.”

Tags: sports, updates, tigers, basketball, reliance