The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has received a donation of more than a million dollars to fund scholarships in four sports. The gift comes from an alumnus of the Rapid City institution.
The funds will support scholarships in men's and women's basketball and in men's and women's cross country. The Hardrockers compete in NCAA Division Two.
Joel Lueken is the Athletic Director at the School of Mines. He says the donation will strengthen the school's efforts to recruit scholar-athletes.
"It's tremendous. Unfortunately, million dollar gifts don't just fall in your lap every single day. We work at it every day...But, this takes hours and hours and years of relationship-building and we're just very blessed that this individual thinks so highly of our basketball and cross-country programs," Lueken says.
Lueken says the contribution puts Mines ahead of its competitors in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in terms of the number of scholarships the school can afford to offer. ?