In The Daily Republic's sports section of May 7, I was pleased to read that Jason Greenway broke the long jump record that had been held for more than a half century by Sandy Milne. He not only broke it; he eclipsed it by more than one and a half feet. I believe Jason's distance of 22 feet and 10 inches will endure for a long, long time.
I was a classmate and teammate of Sandy Milne. John "Sandy" Milne moved to Mitchell in 1953 when his father assumed the manager's position at the J.C. Penney store. He was at Mitchell High School for his junior and senior years before moving on to the University of South Dakota.
As a junior, Sandy lettered in football, basketball and track. In his senior year he also lettered in all three venues, but he really blossomed in the fields of football and track.
Joe Quintal, the head football coach, believed strongly in the old "T" formation and made Sandy its fullback. With speed and agility, Sandy led us to a second-place finish in the Eastern South Dakota Conference, only behind the undefeated Yankton Bucks -- I believe Mitchell was one of the few teams that even scored on them that year.
Our fullback, Mr. Milne, was not only recognized by the local media but also at the state level. The Sioux Falls Argus Leader named him, along with our modern-day local businessman Dick Klingaman, to the ESD all-conference team. Sandy's accolades did not stop at the state level, either, when he received honorable mention on the All-American High School Team.
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The track team not only relied on Sandy for team points in the long jump, for he also ran in everything from the 100-yard dash to the quarter-mile run. Remember, this was before the metric system came into use. He anchored all relays as well as competing in the open events. At most meets an individual was limited to four events, so we knew that the long jump had to be one of his events -- I don't remember him ever being bested in that event.
Another race Sandy anchored was the half-mile relay, a team that was never beaten by another South Dakota team that year. At the state track meet, we missed the state record by a half-second in the mile relay, mainly because Sandy had to run in the finals of the open quarter 20 minutes before the mile relay.
Sandy also loved tennis, golf and almost any other athletic endeavor. Oh, by the way, he was also the king at Mitchell High School's homecoming parade. This above column published Tuesday with an incorrect photo for Sandy Milne. It is being republished today with the correct photo.
Bob Brady, of Mitchell, was a teammate and classmate of Sandy Milne.
