Hot Springs Bison Athletics Hall of Fame inducts new members

HOT SPRINGS – An enthusiastic and large crowd helped celebrate the annual Hot Springs High School Athletics Hall of Fame banquet Saturday night at the Hot Springs American Legion Post 71.

Established in 2016, the Hall of Fame inducted its ninth class that included two individual athletes, one coach and athlete and one state championship team. Selected to the Hall of Fame was Carl Andre, an athlete and coach for the Bison, athletes Todd Malott and Ted Niemann and the 1990 Lady Bison track and field team.

Also, the 1974 Hot Springs High School graduating class attended the banquet as part of its 50th anniversary banquet. From that class, Roger Burg, a retired twostar general in the United States Air Force, was also presented with the first HSHS Alumni Association Achievement Award.

Hall of Fame chairperson Quinten Hofer opened the banquet by presenting Burg, also an outstanding studentathlete at HSHS, with the first alumni award.

Maj. General Burg, who retired in 2010 as the Twentieth Air Force commander at F.E. Warren Air Force base near Cheyenne, Wyo., after a 36-year career in the Air Force, downplayed his athletic achievements as a Bison, instead citing the athletic abilities of many of his family dating back to his grandfather. But he said growing up in Hot Springs and Fall River County was a big part of his success after graduation.

“Hot Springs is where I grew up and it is the place where I learned who I wanted to be,” he said. “Quinten (Hofer) talked about what I was able to do in my career, and I attribute that to growing up here. It’s the kind of the place where, at least for our generation, your parents didn’t micromanage you – try to be back home by six, or something like that. But it allowed you to make mistakes and learn from them. It allowed you be to be supported by people who thought you had potential that you might not know that you had.”

The first new Hall of Fame member was Andre, who was inducted posthumously after he passed away in 2011. Andre was an outstanding three-sport athlete for the Bison from 1942-45 and he came back to teach in 1953,

HALL OF FAME, page A8 coaching at HSHS from 19541958. During that time he was the head track and field coach and assisted in football and basketball before leaving for Riverton, Wyo., where he was an outstanding teacher, coach and official for many years.

He was presented by one of his former athletes, 1958 HSHS graduate Dave Batchelor, who said that Andre, who went by “Teenie,” was a great coach who had the ability to connect to his athletes on a personal level.

“Teenie became a real mentor for many of his athletes, who for various reasons, needed someone like him to serve as a role model as we developed into adults,” said Batchelor, who mentioned weekend hunting and fishing outings that were special to him and his friends and classmates. “Time spent with Teenie, whether in the classroom or athletic field and especially the weekend excursions, was special to all of us athletes as we learned about life and how to conduct ourselves as we went out into the world.”

Accepting the Hall of Fame award for Andre was his grandson, Reese Andre, who has followed his grandfather’s footsteps as an athlete, coach and physical education teacher in Lusk, Wyo.

He said that although his grandfather built a legacy as a coach, teacher and official, in comparison he had somewhat of a short tenure as a teacher and coach at Hot Springs High School, short enough that people might not think he was there long enough to build a legacy or warrant an induction to the school’s hall of fame.

“But it has become apparent to me that a person’s legacy is not simply built on the amount of time spent somewhere,” he said. “A person’s legacy is built on their level of commitment, their heart and their intent. I come from a family of educators. Perhaps we ask ourselves why we chose this profession to begin with. I have to admit, for me, some of those questions have been answered here tonight.

“We made a choice to become educators and coaches to make a difference in the lives of our students and student-athletes. Don’t think for one second that you are not making a difference here. You are. Tonight my grandfather is being honored for that very decision he made all of those years back. I believe as long as there is someone to speak their name, our loved ones who have passed are never really gone. Tonight, Hot Springs High School, you spoke the name of my grandfather, Carl ‘Teenie’ Andre, and me and my family are honored and grateful to be here tonight and for you to do that.”

Malott, a 1982 graduate, was an outstanding threesport athlete, competing in football, track and field and wrestling.

Track was his specialty as he would finish with three state titles – one individually (100-meter dash) and two on relays through his junior season.

In his senior football season, he scored five touchdowns before a knee injury in the fourth game ended his high school athletic career.

Malott was unable to attend the banquet, but introducing and accepting his award was his wife, Debbie Malott, a 1981 HSHS graduate.

Debbie mentioned that one of Todd’s opposing school runners – Walker Witt from Custer -- sent her an email that explained how much he admired Todd as a runner.

“I do remember that I wanted to sprint like Todd, but I struggled to run smooth and relaxed,” Witt wrote to Debbie in the email. “My coach told me, ‘watch that Malott kid.’ I believe it was at the conference meet Todd’s junior year, he ran relaxed and won the 200 meters. I emulated that form for the rest of my career. Even though we didn’t compete against each other much, he definitely impacted me in how I ran.”

Debbie said that although he couldn’t attend the banquet, he does accept this award with a grateful heart.

“When he got the call from Scott Haden, he didn’t see it coming,” she said. “He was just beside himself. He was just thrilled.”

A 1984 graduate, Niemann scored over 1,000 points in his career for the Bison, twice being named all Black Hills Conference as well as to the All-State second team his senior season.

After moving to Hot Springs with his family in the summer of 1981, Niemann earned his way into the Bison lineup as a sophomore, and in three seasons he would score 1,150 points. In his senior year he averaged 26.4 points per game.

Introduced by friend, mentor and fellow HSHS Athletics Hall of Fame member Joyce Farrell, Niemann broke eight school records for the Bison and he still holds records in season scoring, season rebounding, season field goals made and career scoring.

He would go on to star at Chadron State College where he would finish with 1,490 points, which moved him into ninth place all-time for the Eagles at the time.

“I first met Ted and the Niemanns in the early summer of 1981 when they arrived at their grandparents home here in Hot Springs,” Farrell said. “What a blessing for our community when they settled here.”

Niemann said that what he remembers the most about playing for the Bison was the friendships and coaching he received after moving to Hot Springs. He added that he had a little bit of luck in his career as well.

“When we got here in the spring of 1981, one of the first people we met was Joyce Farrell,” he said. “Joyce was of tremendous help to our family. There were eight of us, and Joyce, from myself, from our family, thank you.”

Niemann said that HSHS brought in a new coach (Larry Jones) his first year and Jones “allowed me to participate as a sophomore on the varsity team, which was cool.” He also credited the four seniors on the team -- Jeff Wass, Cleve Janis, Dwight Wynia and Frank Birkholt.

“Those four guys brought me along and helped me grow and learn,” he said. “I appreciated what they did for me. We had a pretty good team and sectionals came around and we had to play in a class with the Rapid City schools. That year little bitty Hot Springs beat Rapid City Stevens, so that was cool. We didn’t make it the next night, but we gave it a hell of a try and that was cool.

“In my junior season we didn’t have as good of a team, but we played down in Chadron, and the coach at Chadron State saw me play and he offered me a scholarship. Things went pretty well down there as well. You have to have a little bit of luck and you have to have a little bit of help along the way.”

The 1990 Lady Bison track and field team became the first-ever girls’ team to win a state title for Hot Springs High School and it did it in nail-biting fashion, winning the the last event of the meet, which was held in Spearfish.

The Lady Bison beat Madison by seven points in the team race by edging the Bulldogs in the 1,600-meter relay to clinch the championship.

Longtime Hot Springs coach Cheryl Huddleston, a 2020 inductee in the HSHS Athletics Hall of Fame, was an assistant on that team and said the whole squad should be recognized – not just the ones who qualified for the state meet.

“Without the competition within the team itself, you don’t develop as well as you can,” she said. “Those girls were just as important as the ones who made it to the state track meet.”

Huddleston had the members of the 1990 team in attendance come forward and talk a little about the team.

The 10 members of that team that attended the banquet pretty much came to the same conclusion that everyone helped and pushed each other to the higher levels and it was more about the team than individuals. Many also shared memorable stories of their head coach, the late Hall of Famer Dave Scott, Huddleston, as well as crediting their other coaches, Huddleston, Hall of Famer Jim Tays, along with Mark Rude.

Scott’s daughter, Marianne Scott Drobny, spoke in behalf of her father, saying he believed success on the track was the reflection of hard work and dedication, and most of all, teamwork.

“You don’t get to where they got by just a few individual people,” she said. “They already talked about pushing each other because it is all about a points’ game, track is. Every week people are pushing each other to get to that top spot. That entire team got this championship, for sure.

“This award is about the athletes who ran their hearts out, the families that supported them and the fellow coaches. It takes a village and a community to support a team like this.”

An emotional Scott Drobny ended the 1990 track portion of the banquet by stating, “Once a Bison, always a Bison.”