2010 Dakota State University Athletic Hall of Fame
| Inductee Name |
Title/Award/Honor/Athlete/Coach/Others |
| Gene Appelwick |
Men's Basketball |
| Amy Crissinger |
Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Track & Field |
| Connie (Robinson) Nyhaug |
Coaching |
| Al Weisbecker |
Coaching |
| 1989-91 DSU Men's Cross Country Teams |
SDIC Championship Team |
Gene Appelwick – Men’s Basketball
“Freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity,” said Gene Appelwick, who is one of the Class of 2010 Hall of Fame honorees, “but, I was allowed to play in the last game that season. Playing against Black Hills State, I scored 18 points.”
From that point on, Appelwick played for General Beadle State Teachers College (now DSU) through his senior season in 1961. Appelwick, at the time, was the Trojans’ high career scorer.
His college career was highlighted when he scored 45 points in a game against South Dakota Tech on Feb. 3, 1960, breaking the school’s single-game scoring record held by LeMar Nelson six years earlier.
“I sat down on the bench with 3:48 left in the game,” said Appelwick. “Looking back, I maybe should have asked Coach (Homer) Enngelhorn to go back in.”
Appelwick was a second team all-conference (S.D. Intercollegiate Conference) selection as a junior and a first-team player as a senior.
“Gene had a jump shot that was a pure as it could be,” said Doug Groce, one of Appelwick’s teammates at General Beadle. “He could make a basket from any place on the court. Gene was an offensive ‘machine’, but he was a great, unselfish player.”
After graduating from General Beadle, he went on to teach and coach at both Bridgewater (1961-65) and Las Vegas (1965-72).
He then managed Culligan Water Conditioning franchises in Las Vegas, Nev. and in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He moved back to Madison in 1977 where he ran the Madison Culligan franchise until 1992.
In 1992, he formed the G.A. Murdock Co., which specializes in manufacturing of water fittings and valves. He has been involved in the Murrdock company ever since.
Appelwick still plays basketball, competing in the Senior games on the local, state, and national levels. In 2009, Appelwick and the S.D. team earned a National Senior Games third-place medal in his age level in Palo Alto, Calif.
This past November, Appelwick played on three different age-level teams in the World Masters Tournament in Sydney, Australia. He earned gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively in the 70-, 65- and 50-and-older divisions.
Appelwick and his wife Priscilla have two sons – Brian, who is the vice president of G.A. Murdock, and Scott who is the manager of a Banana Republic clothing store in Minneapolis.
Amy Crissinger - Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Track & Field
DSU can thank Coach Buzz Stevenson for snatching Amy Crissinger from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., getting the recent Sherburn (Minn.) graduate to come to Madison in 1987.
Crissinger had already registered for the fall term when Stevenson, head track and field coach at DSU, made a visit to the Crissinger farm owned by Dennis and Susan Crissinger near Sherman.
Stevenson had seen Crissinger run in the regional track meet in Pipestone earlier in the year.
“Buzz was a smooth talker, I guess, because he got me to sign up with Dakota State,” admitted Crissinger.
Stevenson added, “All I know is that I went out to the Crissinger farm and sat at the kitchen table with mom and dad Crissinger and Amy. I may have told her that she could run for me, play basketball for Judy Dittman and volleyball for George Stowe.”
Crissinger did just that, making a name for herself in all three sports. She was an all-conference performer in the three sports all four years. She also was a two-time female athlete of the year at Dakota State, including her senior year.
As a sprinter in track, Crissinger put herself in the DSU record book, producing the third- and fifth- best times in the 400-meter hurdles at 1:06.8 and 1:07.6, respectively.
Playing basketball for the Lady T’s, Crissinger ended up with 613 career rebounds, placing her at the time as the school’s all-time third-best rebounder. She also helped the Lady T’s finish 10-0 in the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference and claim the conference title as a sophomore.
“Personally, I knew that I wasn’t the go-to person on offense, but I knew I was the go-to person on defense. I knew that I had to step it up. Rebounding was my strong suit,” said Crissinger.
Following her 1991 graduation, she went to work for Terra Western here in Madison before taking a position in the admissions office at Dakota State in August of 1992.
“When you get a chance to get back into the college community, it sounded like fun,” added Crissinger. “There’s a lot of energy here at Dakota State.”
“Each year is a new challenge. There are always new students to work with. It challenges me to always look for new ways to do my job better.”
In addition to her parents, she has a sister Emily, who lives in Sioux Falls, and a brother Jeff, who with his wife Leslie, are parents of Crissinger’s niece, Taylor and nephews, Jacob and Joe.
Connie (Robinson) Nyhaug – Coaching
Connie (Robinson) Nyhaug is the second of Frankfort’s Olivier and Clarice Robinson’s children to become a member of the DSU Athletic Hall of Fame. Her brother Darwin was inducted into the Hall’s first class in 1995. Their brother Dale and sister Carman are also graduates of then Dakota State College. (As a freshman, Nyhaug played volleyball with her sister, who was a senior).
The Dakota State heritage runs ever deeper for Nyhaug. She married a DSU alumnus, John Nyhaug, in 1978. Their two daughters, Amanda and Michelle, are respective 2002 and 2004 graduates. Michelle’s husband, Jake Swantstrom is also a 2004 graduate.
Nyhaug graduated from Dakota State in 1978 after playing volleyball for four years and playing softball for three. She had the unenviable task of playing each of her four years of volleyball for different coaches – JoAnn Coco, Deb Singleton, MaryJane Weisbecker and Maxine Mehus.
Sherri (Heckenlaible) Wire was a freshman when Nyhaug was a senior, and was glad to have Nyhaug as a teammate.
“Connie was a good team leader,” said Wire. “She was the most experienced player on the team. She was a good server.” Former coach Weisbecker added, “She was a good leader, being an intelligent player and having great compassion for her fellow players.”
Nyhaug took that volleyball experience to Viborg High School where she has taught and coached for the past 32 years.
She was Viborg’s head volleyball coach for 30 years, earning a 393-249 record, highlighted by winning the 1994 State B championship. Earlier, Viborg was a runner-up in 1988 and a third-place finisher a year later. Her 2001 team was an eighth-place finisher.
Nyhaug was also the school’s head boys and girls cross country coach for 15 years, an assistant girls and boys track coach for 15 seasons and an assistant girls basketball for two years.
She was president of the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association (1998-2000) after serving as its secretary (1980-92) and its president in 2006. In 1997, Nyhaug was named the volleyball chair on the National High School Coaches Association Board and held that post until 2007.
She earned Coach-of-the-Year honors in boys cross country in 1989 and volleyball in 1994 by the South Dakota High School Coaches Association. She was named to the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in its first year, 2008.
She was awarded the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s Region 6 Coach-of-the-Year honor in 1995 and that association’s volleyball Coach-of-the-Year award in 2009, the same year in which she was named the South Dakota Girls and Women’s Sports Leadership award winner.
A year earlier, in 2008, Nyhaug was named the Max Hawk Award winner by the South Dakota High School Coaches Association and given the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
Currently, Nyhaug is the technology coordinator for both Hurley and Viborg High Schools.
Al Weisbecker – Coaching
Al Weisbecker, one of the year’s DSU Hall of Fame honorees, just can’t get enough of coaching. After graduating from Northern State (S.D.) in Aberdeen in 1955, he went on to teach and coach in a number of high schools, including Bristol, Parkston, Watertown, Flandreau and Madison.
He’s remembered here in Madison to have coached the only Eastern South Dakota Conference champion – the 1964 football Bulldogs.
And that is what got him into coaching at General Beadle State Teachers College (now Dakota State University).
Weisbecker’s coaching abilities caught the attention of General Beadles’ athletic director/football coach George Blankley (DSU Hall of Fame Class of 1996).
“He had been a very successful high school coach,” says Blankley. “The college (GBSTC), at the time, had tried t hire as many South Dakota coaches as it could. I asked him if he was interested in coaching for me, and he said that he was interested in coaching at the college level.”
“He came highly recommended by his college football coach, Clark Swisher,” added Blankley. “Al did a very good job coaching here. He was loyal to our program. We also became very good friends.”
In 1967, Weisbecker became the athletic director at General Beadle. He also coached football and track at Dakota State until 1985. Weisbecker was part of the football coaching staff which directed the Trojans to an undefeated 10-0 season and national recognition.
“I’ll always remember our undefeated season,” said Weisbecker. “I was especially happy that we finished the season as the NAIA’s No. 1 team in scoring defense. That year we allowed just 4.3 points per game. Fourteen of the points which were allowed were by our offense on pass interceptions.”
In 1985, he left for Black Hills State (S.D.), where he coached football and earned two SDIC titles and Coach-of-the-Year honors in 1989.
He retired in 1990 and, with his wife MaryJane (a former Dakota State coach) moved to Dell Rapids. Seven years ago, they moved back to Madison. Two years later, Weisbecker was back coaching, helping Buzz Stevenson and Trent Mack as the school’s throwing events coach.
“I’ve always considered coaching not as a job,” says Weisbecker. “It is something that has been a part of my life, and something that I like doing. If you’re coaching, you should be making it a positive experience for the athlete.”
Weisbecker has been the executive director of the South Dakota Senior Games since 2002. He and others have expanded the Senior Games from just four local events to a 13-community program, along with producing the State Senior Games.
Weisbecker is already a member of the Northern State University Athletic Hall of Fame for his football-playing accomplishments. He is also a South Dakota Senior Games Hall of Famer both as a competitor and contributor.
He and MaryJane have two children, a daughter Lynn and a son Bill.
1989-91 Men’s Cross Country Team
There was no South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference men’s cross country team that ran better for three straight years in 1989, 1990 and 1991 than Buzz Stevenson’s Trojans.
In only his second year as the Trojans’ coach, Stevenson set his team on a course which would led them to three straight conference titles in 1989.
Roger Kramer, Rob Martiniek, Magic Walton, Mark Waterman, Ed Roling, Tim Smit, John Scriver and John Selchert won letters that year.
Kramer, Walton, Watertman, Roling and Smit earned All-SDIC honors, and Waterman and Kramer went on to earn All-NAIA District 12 honors.
Out of that group, Martinek, Kramer, Smith and Roling were among Stevenson’s first recruiting class.
“All of these guys were really very team-oriented,” says Stevenson. “They helped and supported each other out.”
Ryan Phillips, Jamie VandenHoek, Mark Neshim and Tom Pickering joined the returning letter winners in 1990.
They were pivotal additions to the team and helped the Trojans become back-to-back titlists, according to Stevenson.
“These young men were a very close-knite group that blended in well with the returning runners,” adds Stevenson.
Not only did the Trojans win the 1990 team title, Phillips, Kramer, VandenHoek and Smith earned all-conference recognition. Pickering and Phillips ran to all-district honors in the District 12 meet with Pickering qualifying for the NAIA Nationals.
Scott Lewno, James McNealy, Kevin Meyer and Brad Seamer were recruited for the 1991 season and joined letter winners Kramer, Troy Waterfall, Phillips, VandenHoek, Martinek and Pickering to make a successful run for three-peat honors.
“Lewno, McNealy, May and Seamer added a great amount of depth that made us an even stronger team,” says Stevenson.
Phillips, Seamer and Kramer all raced to all-conference honors. Phillips later ran to an All-District 12 finish and a spot in the NAIA Nationals.
Stevenson is especially proud of Pickering and Phillips who went through an additional race during the postseason back in the 1989-91 years to make it to the NAIA Nationals.
“At that time we had a different qualifying procedure that we do today,” stresses Stevenson. “Back then you had to not only run in the conference race, but then you had to do it through district meets. Today, it happens (just) through the conference meets.”
