Former basketball standouts honored

• Randy Fletcher

Randy Fletcher
• Jack Theeler

(Claire Meador/Republic) Mitchell resident Jack Theeler gives a speech at the South Dakota Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday in Madison.
• LaMoine Torgerson

(Claire Meador/Republic) LaMoine Torgerson, right, accepts his award after being inducted into the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday in Madison.
• Barry Glanzer

Barry Glanzer
• Dana Honner

Dana Honner
• Greg Hansen

Greg Hansen

Talk about it

MADISON — Despite strict instructions to keep speeches to three minutes or less, the third annual South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame banquet went on for just more than three hours Saturday.

Many memories, jokes and stories were told about the inductees, including Mitchell residents Jack Theeler and LaMoine Torgerson.

“I don’t know how many e-mails I got saying our speeches could be no more than three minutes,” said Torgerson, who was the last inductee, at the beginning of this speech. “What happened to that rule?”

Theeler and Torgerson were two of the 16 former South Dakota high school basketball players who were part of the third class inducted into the South Dakota Basketball Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Saturday.

Other Mitchell-area inductees were Barry Glanzer, Greg Hansen, Randy Fletcher and Dana (Nielsen) Honner.

Glanzer played for Freeman for his freshman year of high school before transferring to Armour as a sophomore. As a senior in 1978, Glanzer helped Armour reach the state championship and led his team to a 26-0 record. After high school, Glanzer went on to play at the University of South Dakota where he completed his career with 1,180 points, 566 assists and 186 steals.

Hansen graduated from Hurley High School in 1970. Hansen finished his high school career with 1,989 points and 1,663 rebounds. Hansen played college basketball at Dakota Wesleyan University. At DWU, Hansen totaled 2,146 points and 1,047 rebounds under coach Gordon Fosness.

Honner graduated from Armour in 1988. Honnor helped the Packers win five consecutive state tournaments from 1983-1987. She led the Packers to a 123-4 record during her high school career under coach Ron Weber. Honner went on to play for Augustana in college where she totaled 1,978 points and 894 rebounds.

Fletcher graduated from Reliance in 1965. He went on to play at the college level at DWU, where he totaled 1,829 points. He was named all-conference twice during his time as a Tiger. During his freshman season, the Tigers won the Wayne State (Neb.) Holiday tournament.

Along with those five, Randy Jencks, Eric Kline, Jesse Mendoza, Myron Moen, Tom Orton, Courtney (Stapp) Pool, Taran Stapp, Karla Stevenson, Bob Stewart and Jason Sutherland formed the class of 2012 inductees.

Also inducted was a team — the Webster Bearcats — and a contributor, Leon Tobin of Aberdeen. The Webster Bearcats won the Class B title three years in a row in 1946, 1947 and 1948. Tobin was an official for more than 30 years.

“It makes you feel old,” Theeler said of being among the list of talented players inducted in the Hall of Fame’s third class. “But it kind of capped off years of involvement in high school sports, so it’s a real honor.”

Theeler, who graduated from Sisseton High School in 1963, was a three-year starter and two-time all-state selection at Sisseton. In 1962, he helped lead the Redmen to a 23-2 record, and they took third place in the Class A state tournament. The next season, Theeler helped the Redmen to a 25-0 record, finishing the year with a 58-42 win over Brookings in the championship game of the state tournament. That year, Theeler averaged 17 points per game.

After high school, Theeler went on to play one year at the University of Minnesota before transferring to the University of South Dakota, where he scored a total of 1,573 points and grabbed 720 rebounds.

Torgerson, who graduated from Forestburg in 1959, agreed, saying he felt honored to be inducted.

“Jack and I were probably the oldest people here,” Torgerson said. “Being with all the big stars that were inducted (Saturday), it’s a tremendous honor just to be associated with all these people. For a kid from a small town like Forestburg, I was just in awe.”

Torgerson racked up 2,381 points during his high school career.

He went to South Dakota State University for his college career and helped the Jackrabbits win the NCAA College Division II championship in Evansville, Ind., in 1963.

“It was just a tremendous honor to see all the people here (Saturday) and to be a part of it all,” said Torgerson.

Tags: sports, updates, basketball