South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame to induct 21 new members in 2026
Former Watertown High School athletic standout Jason Sutherland is one of 21 people who will be inducted into the S.D. Sports Hall of Fame.
SIOUX FALLS — Seven people with northeastern and north central South Dakota connections are among the 2026 21-member induction class for the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. Area honorees include former Watertown High School standout athlete Jason Sutherland, former Aberdeen News sports editor John Papendick, Doland native and longtime college basketball coach Tim Miles, Castlewood native Jim Dorman, Langford native Frank Cutler, Bowdle native Howard Blumhardt and 1934 Northern State University graduate and former Aberdeen Central coach-teacher-athletic director Mylo Jackson. Blumhardt and Jackson are being inducted posthumously.
The 2026 class also includes one of the most successful basketball players in state history, a baseball major leaguer who pitched to Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio, a Guinness Book of World Record holder as well as other legendary coaches and announcers. Other new inductees include The new inductees are: Taylor Baker, Mike Begeman, Julie (Krauth) Dearring, Laticia DeCory, Dan Freidel, Barry French, Jeff Fylling, Randi (Morgan) Haines, Greg Jimmerson, Louis Koupal, Mike Miller, Kent Mueller, Thelma (Austin) Smalley and Jim Sorensen. French, Fylling, Koupal and Smalley are also being inducted posthumously.
The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for Sept. 13 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Tickets will go on sale this year.
With the 21 new inductees, the hall has enshrined 418 women and men from every part of the state representing more than 30 sports. The hall was established in 1968 by the South Dakota Sportswriters Association. A group of unpaid volunteers from across the state now manages it.
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