Clyde Hagen was a multi-sport athlete at Webster and South Dakota State University. After college, he grabbed a whistle for a three decade hall of fame career as a basketball referee.
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Craig Mattick:
Welcome to another edition of In Play. I am Craig Mattick. Today's guest was a multi-sport athlete in high school and college. And after his playing days were done, he decided to go ahead and be a basketball referee, which he did for three decades. He's the Webster Bearcat, the South Dakota State Jackrabbit, Clyde Hagen. Clyde, welcome to In Play.
Clyde Hagen:
Well, thank you very much for having me, Craig. This is a privilege and an honor.
Craig Mattick:
You were given the nickname, Wide Clyde, by a longtime broadcaster, Norm Hilson. Why Wide Clyde?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, he never told me exactly why. He said, "Well, I thought it sounded good." And it's funny that I still get called that today, 50 some years later.
Craig Mattick:
You grew up in Webster, you're involved with football and basketball and track. I mean, I know you had success in basketball, but what about football for you there in the late 60s in Webster? What was football like?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I was a two-year first team all stater in football and our football team, we were five and three as the junior and six one-on-one as a senior. There weren't any playoffs in those days.
Craig Mattick:
No.
Clyde Hagen:
And Milbank was of course a powerhouse in the northeast part of South Dakota. So we played in a pretty tough league and got a lot of experience playing football.
Craig Mattick:
Who was your coach?
Clyde Hagen:
At that time, my senior year, it was Harvey Hamrick who just passed away recently.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, yeah. How was Harvey as a football coach? I knew Harvey. Very happy-go-lucky guy. How about him on the football field?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, he had that happy-go-lucky side. He related well with people, but when it was time to get serious, he knew how to do it. I recall we were at Redfield and halftime, we were only ahead by one touchdown and he came in and he got rather lively and colorful with his language and then he stopped and said, "All right, all you little boys and girls, you go home and tell your mommies and daddies that I swore at you." And not one member of the football team told their parents about that conversation.
Craig Mattick:
You went on to win the game, didn't you?
Clyde Hagen:
We went on to win the game by 30 points. So it was a great motivational speech, Craig.
Craig Mattick:
Was your family involved in sports when you were growing up there in Webster?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, not really. My brother had played a little basketball. And my older brother had played a little basketball and of course women's sports. I had two older sisters, was really virtually non-existent.
But how I really got into it was I got into the Armory one evening when I was in the grade school and shooting baskets. And I found out if I went in the later part of the day, I could get into the armory and shoot some baskets. And the custodian there, Reuben Sandy, eventually gave me a key for their armory and I was only in grade school. But he said, "Two rules, you can only have that one light on and nobody else can be in here." So I had an advantage over other folks that I could go shoot around in the evenings when no one else did it. And I think that that was a big plus for me.
Craig Mattick:
So how long did that last or it was just you and the key and the armory?
Clyde Hagen:
Oh, probably five or six years.
Craig Mattick:
Bob Swanhorst was your basketball coach at Webster, and I believe Webster was his first coaching job after he had a huge basketball career at Cresbard and College in Augustana. I think he was there for your junior and senior year, was that correct?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, Bob Swanhorst came when I was a senior, but we'd had Marv Rasmesussun in my sophomore and junior year. So we had an excellent coaching situation going. And then when Bob Swanhorst came in, Larry Luitjens came in as his assistant coach.
Craig Mattick:
That's right. Oh my goodness. That's right. For Bob, I mean, he had such a huge basketball career and this is his first real coaching job. What was he like that senior year with that first job, with all that success and what kind of a coach was he?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, he hit it off with the players right away. Both he and Larry Luitjens, they were truly teachers of the game, demanding high expectations of people, and I think the players on the team responded to it.
Craig Mattick:
What about for you? What did they tell you? Did they know your position on the basketball court right away?
Clyde Hagen:
Craig, we were a team of kids that had been together since the fifth or sixth grade, and it was that same crew on through our senior year. And I don't believe in all the years that that crew was together with our team that I ever heard a harsh word spoken between or against any of the team members. It was just a close-knit group. And I thought Coach Swanhorst and Coach Luitjens really provided their leadership and they made it fun, but they also were demanding and I think the balance was right and it turned out to be the secret to success for us.
Craig Mattick:
What were summers like in high school for you in the 60s because you played football and then you went right to basketball, then you went right to track, you didn't have much time off at all, but what were the summers like for you?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, in the summer in high school, I went out and hauled bales and picked potatoes and just do a lot of odd jobs. But in Webster, we were fortunate that I think maybe when I was a freshman or sophomore, the men in Webster had constructed an outdoor basketball court. There were actually two full courts outside. So every evening in the summertime, 6:30, 7:00, the group would gather and we played basketball until dark, virtually every day of the week.
Craig Mattick:
Who were some of those members of the group that you played high school basketball?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, Larry Styre, Ron Jacobson, Mike Keller, Morris Benik. That was the basis that we had.
When it came to high school basketball in Webster, boy, they had a great run in the mid 1940s. They went to the state tournament championship game four times in a row. They won three of them, but it would be 18 years later for Webster to get back to the state basketball tournament. And that was your senior year in 1966. So how close did you get to the state tournament though, your freshman, sophomore and junior years?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think I going to call the sophomore and junior years where we were close. I don't think we were really developed or prepared to go to the state tournament, but we gave it a good run. And in my senior year, we in fact won the championship game in overtime at the buzzer 39 to 38. So it was a close game getting into the tournament.
Craig Mattick:
South Dakota High School basketball during your time, we had the two class system, 1936 to 1985. And that meant the Class A schools like Webster, they were playing what now are the double A schools? What was that like, Webster playing some of those bigger schools when it came to basketball?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think there were 32 schools in class A and the rest of the schools in South Dakota were class B, and I think we were either 31 or 32 size-wise. So you looked up a little bit in awe when you were playing at Watertown or in Aberdeen or one of the Sioux Falls schools or Gorman. So it was a little bit of shock and awe to begin with.
Craig Mattick:
Sure. Well, let's talk about your senior year, 1966. Webster gets to the state championship game. You mentioned it was against Aberdeen first time in 18 years to get to the state basketball tournament. So let's talk about the quarter-final game. What was that first quarter-final game like when you were there in 1966?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I remember we played Bell Fourche in the opening round, the first game of the tournament. And I still recall we didn't have breakfast until about 10:00 or 10:30 and I think it was too close to the game time. So I don't think we were really settled in and ready to go. We beat Belle Fourche but I don't think we played our best game by a long shot.
Craig Mattick:
Do you remember what seed that you were in that tournament?
Clyde Hagen:
I'm not sure. It might've been four or five.
Craig Mattick:
Well, I know the semi-final game, you went off 30 points, 21 rebounds. Who'd you play?
Clyde Hagen:
We played Canton in that crew. It was a game that I think we really gelled in, played well together and played good team defense and it all worked out.
Craig Mattick:
Well. Then you go to the championship and there's Aberdeen waiting for you. Was it David versus Goliath? What do you remember about that championship game?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I remember I had watched Aberdeen in the first two games, and of course they'd taken out a Sioux Falls team and Rapid City Central, and so they're the giant killers. So I thought this is going to be a real challenge. But once the ball went up, I realized that we could play with them, thought they were going to hold the ball, but they decided not to do that with us and we ended up with more points on the scoreboard.
Craig Mattick:
Well, remember no shot clock, no three point arc. What was the offense like between you and Aberdeen?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think the final score is something like 51 to 38, and it was closed up until midway through the fourth quarter and then we pulled away. I do recall coming out of the game with two minutes and 38 seconds to go, and I was on the bench and I think we had a 12 point lead or something and everything started chipping away and my heart started sinking.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, no.
Clyde Hagen:
I'm thinking, whoa. But it all worked out.
Craig Mattick:
You were named the tournament MVP that year. How special was that?
Clyde Hagen:
What an honor. I mean, it was just a real honor for a small town kid being at the state tournament and then winning it and then being honored by such an award. It was very humbling.
Craig Mattick:
Did they have a big parade in Webster the next day?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, Craig, they did. In fact, south of Webster, several miles, there's a place they call a Lily Corner on Highway 25, and when we came over the hill, there was a lineup of cars about a mile long waiting for the bus. And so for the last nine or 10 miles we had a procession. It was about a mile long and it was a big deal.
Craig Mattick:
Where was that state championship game played? Was it in Sioux Falls?
Clyde Hagen:
It was in Sioux Falls. It was at the Sioux Falls arena.
Craig Mattick:
So after high school, it's on to South Dakota State. Were they your first choice?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I'll just tell you this. Craig, I was totally unprepared for the college recruitment process. I had no idea what was going to happen, and I think I was contacted by nearly 100 schools and I did visit a few big schools and finally decided that I wanted to stay fairly close to home. And South Dakota State had some high school athletes, John Thomas, Guy Mather.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, yes.
Clyde Hagen:
Guys like that, that were at South Dakota State and it just looked like the right place for me.
Craig Mattick:
Freshmen, redshirted back in the day, and you played football and basketball in high school, but eventually you played football and basketball at South Dakota State, but with the freshmen redshirting, what was that year like after playing high school ball all those years and then really not getting a chance to play as a freshman?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, the freshman team had a schedule, so we played a schedule. We practiced separately from the varsity and at times we ran scout plays against the varsity. But the first thing you notice the physical development, if you're going in as a freshman and the physical development of the varsity upperclassmen is obvious, they're bigger, stronger, and in a lot of cases faster, but just learn to adapt.
Craig Mattick:
Why football and basketball at SDSU? Certainly it's very rare for that to happen today. Jim Marking was your basketball coach. And then for football, I think you had Ralph Ginn for a couple of years, and then Dave Kragthorpe, I believe, your senior year, but Jim Marking didn't have a problem with you playing football?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, when I was recruited, that's one of the things they told me that they wouldn't have a problem if I played football and basketball or if I decided to play one of the sports. So I opted to give it a whirl to try to play both sports and it's pretty much a challenge when you get to the varsity level. I know the last year that I was in college, we played in Montana. The last football game of the year was the opening night for basketball, South Dakota State. So there's a lot of catch up to do.
Craig Mattick:
Your sophomore and junior years, you led the Jackrabbits in receiving football, 30 catches, 300 yards, a couple of touchdowns. Yeah, 10 games, 30 catches, 300 yards and two touchdowns. That was your season. You were leading the team. Just think what if you would've played today, how many receptions you would've had.
Clyde Hagen:
Well, yeah, you think about it, back in the late 60s, the North Central Conference was basically run oriented. It was a lot of groundwork back then. And my senior season, I think for the most part was the same thing. But after that, the passing game took off.
Craig Mattick:
Sure, after you left.
Clyde Hagen:
It would have been fun to be part of that.
Craig Mattick:
Right. Well, you had a brand new coach your senior year, and I know Rick Dietz was the leading receiver that year, but what was football like that senior year for you?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think we were a team when I was a senior, we had some excellent ball players. In fact, a teammate of mine on that team was Jim Langer who was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame.
Craig Mattick:
That's right.
Clyde Hagen:
And just an outstanding player. Another player who played some Canadian Pro League, Tim Roth, but we didn't have enough skilled position players to really make a big mark.
Craig Mattick:
Yeah, you went four and six, four and six and three and seven in those three years at SDSU. But Jack's basketball team was very successful. Did you ever think about getting out of football and just staying with basketball?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, between my junior and senior year, some of the coaches talked to me about that, but I decided that I had signed on and I had a connection and loyalties to the players in the class and on the team, and I decided that I got to play this final season and do the best we can.
Craig Mattick:
Well, you made the all-NCC team in 1969 in football, and then also your sophomore year when you're there at South Dakota State when it comes to basketball. Your sophomore year, oh my gosh, look who the Jacks had on that team. You had Guy Mackner 19 points a game. John Thomas, 16 points a game. Gene Zulk, 14 points a game, and Vern Schoolmeester, 11 points a game. You couldn't get in the lineup very often at that time.
Clyde Hagen:
Well, but there was an advantage to that is they scored a lot of points. If we got ahead, we could get into the game and they could score a lot of points. That was a team with some great basketball players and a bunch of them.
Craig Mattick:
You went to the Division two Great Lakes region lost to DePauw. That's DePauw not DePaul, lost by two. You guys went 20 and seven that year. What was special about that team?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think everything was on a high. People were playing good. Everybody on the team got along well. It was a fun team to be around. And then the traveling and some of the facilities we played in was pretty darn exciting.
Craig Mattick:
Your junior year, the Jacks go 18 and six and you guys go to the playoffs again, it's the division two Midwest Regional where you lost eventually to Southwest Missouri State. You still had Zulk and Thomas on your roster, but then you had Dennis Womeldorf to the roster. You averaged about five points a game. What was that team like your junior year?
Clyde Hagen:
That was a good team. That was a really good team. But we also had one other player that played with us when I was a junior. His name was Raul Duarte. He was six feet, 11. He had played his first two years at Iowa State and transferred to South Dakota State. He was not only a great basketball player, he was a great person and just a lot of fun. So that may have been, in my estimation, one of the best college teams ever assembled in South Dakota with Zulk and Duarte and John Thomas, and that was a good crew.
Craig Mattick:
But the following year, your senior year, you guys were better, I think. You were 22 and four. You go to the Elite Eight, you got John Eidsness, Lee Colburn, you're averaging 14 points a game. What made you guys click your senior year?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think that it may be the best team that I ever played with as far as the team. I mean, people played together. I think having four seniors with John Eidsness, Dennis Womeldorf, Thomas and I... Lee Colburn was a talent. He spent some time in the NBA, but as a freshman, he was a little overzealous at times and people had to hold him back. But the problem with that senior year was Lee Colburn was a freshman and freshmen were not eligible for NCAA playoffs. So we went to the region and Lee was not eligible. So we win the region, we actually played in Brookings and probably one of my more memorable nights as a college player. The first night against Central Missouri I had a... I don't think it was Central Missouri, but I had a assignment to guard Curtis Perry.
Craig Mattick:
That'd be southwest Missouri State I believe.
Clyde Hagen:
Southwest, correct. A year later, he was NBA rookie of the year, but he was 6'8", very agile, very aggressive. And when I saw him on the floor, I said, "I don't know how I'm going to do this." But I watched the tape of him and when he'd go to shoot, he always turned the same way. He'd go, fake left, fake right, and then turn the same way. So the first four or five times he went to shoot, I got the basketball out of his hands, and I think that put him on edge a little bit after that. And he scored some points but boxed out a little bit. And we survived.
Craig Mattick:
Won that game by 11. And then you played Central Missouri State in Brookings, and you win that one by almost 20.
Clyde Hagen:
That may have been one of our better performances of that crew. Everybody played so well together in that game and it was pretty darn exciting. We were playing in the barn, South Dakota State. And I don't know how many people it held, but even if you were on the home team, you got goosebumps in that environment. That tells you how loud it was and how exciting it was.
Craig Mattick:
But then you go to Tennessee, you played Tennessee State in Evansville, Indiana. It's the Elite Eight, a close game, and you lose by three. What was the difference in that game at the Elite Eight?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think the big difference was they had size. They were big 6, 7, 6, 8 in the front line across the board, and I think it was 92-89 in the final score. I think it was a case where being short, Lee Colburn made a huge difference in the game. Lee was 6.6, but he had the reach of a person of about 6.10, he had long arms, and he was a good one.
Craig Mattick:
You played at Wyoming that year, non-conference game, and it was 106 to 61, got drubbed, but I think you told me you were still playing football that day, right?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, the last football game in Montana, I injured my knee. I got a severe hyperextension, so I wasn't able to practice basketball right away for a couple of weeks. And I went to see Coach Marking and he asked, "How's it going? What do you think?" And I said, "I think I can go."
Craig Mattick:
Of course.
Clyde Hagen:
So I went to Wyoming. I hadn't been to any practices yet. I went to Wyoming and I think I played 13 or 14 minutes before I'd been to any practices that year.
Craig Mattick:
Sure. What was it like though playing at Wyoming? They had a nice crowd, non-conference game, travel on the road to Wyoming. What was it like?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, it was a great atmosphere, but I didn't think it was a team that could have really dominated us if we'd have been at full strength.
Craig Mattick:
Sure.
Clyde Hagen:
They were good, but of course we had to think we were going to play just as hard.
Craig Mattick:
Maybe the best offensive game that year may have been when you guys beat Augustana. You beat them in Brookings 112 to 65. What was special about that game?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, in basketball you have those nights when everything's going well, and that night everything was going well. I mean, everybody was scoring. We had a tendency to run the break and our team could run the fast break pretty well and we got a big lead and it just kept going from there.
Craig Mattick:
Jim Marking was your coach. Great guy, great coach. What did Jim Marking mean to you as your coach at SDSU?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, Jim Marking is a legend and he was a legend to me. He was a great coach, he was a psychological coach. If things were going well, he didn't get on the officials. If things were going bad, he let him have it. He was a character. He liked to be seen on the floor, but a real mentor. He always had a strategy. He always had a plan. And I have nothing but complete admiration for Coach Marking. He was pretty special.
Craig Mattick:
Did he ever have to yell at you?
Clyde Hagen:
Probably more than once.
Craig Mattick:
Oh, that's funny. 1974. It's about four years after your playing days are done. I understand you got roped in becoming a basketball referee and then you did it for over three decades. How did you get into refereeing?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I moved to Watertown from Brookings and I was the director of the boys club in Watertown and got to know lots of the people around there. And Doug Peterson, a South Dakota State graduate, great athlete at South Dakota State football and basketball. He kept asking me if I would get registered and get my credentials, if they were short a basketball official once in a while. So I did. I took the test, I went to the meetings and I was all set, and I thought there, I've taken care of this.
Well, the first game of the season I get the call from Doug, it says, "Hey, I need a partner tonight." And I said, "Doug, I don't even have any equipment yet." He said, "I'll pick you up at 5:00." So I was off to Roys Sport Shop to grab some equipment and we went to a small town in Houston, South Dakota, and it was girls' basketball. And at that time you threw the ball up for every jump ball and the B squad game started at 6:30 and we got done with the varsity game at 10:30. I think there were a 100 jump balls a game. It just kept going and going. And fortunately the federation changed the rule. So they're alternating possession.
Craig Mattick:
Well, you were very good at it. You were very good at officiating. And being a pretty good basketball player, did that help you at all as a referee?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think it did. I think it gave you an advantage as far as knowing what was going on out there and what was happening. But I thought officiating was much more challenging than playing the game. Playing the game seemed easy and fun. This was challenging. You wanted to do a good job for the kids and you wanted to get things right, and you always have the people in the audience who are taking issue with what you're trying to do. So it was really quite an experience.
Craig Mattick:
Who was your mentor as an official?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I started off with Doug Peterson and I worked with all of the old crew, Dale Weber, and just a ton of people that one worked with. And it's a round ball, but it bounces kind of funny. That's what I always thought. I recall one time that I had a game at Dakota State. Black Hills State was coming in to play the Dakota State. The commissioner of the FBIC called me the day before the game and said, "Hey, your partner sprained his ankle tonight. I need to have you get a referee to go to Dakota State tomorrow night." So I called my high school partner, Rick Brommer. And I said, "Rick, I got a call. You need to get a person to go with me to Madison tomorrow night." Oh, he said, I didn't want to do college basketball because they've got the three point goal.
I said, "Hey, I've done four or five games already this season and it only happens two or three times. No big deal." So I talked him into going, guess what happens, Craig? Black Hills State has a player by the name of Brad Buey. He's a great basketball player in the Hall of Fame. He makes 13 threes that night, 13 out of 15 attempts, for three points and three free throws. He scored 42 points. He was a featured story in Sports Illustrated Magazine the next week. And my partner, Rick Brommer never let me forget about that. He said, "Yeah, two or three times."
Craig Mattick:
Well, Brommer was pretty good too, as an official, another long time official.
Clyde Hagen:
He was a good conscientious official.
Craig Mattick:
You officiated 40 boys and girls state basketball tournaments, 14 championship games. Which championship game that you officiated stands out most to you?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, when I think about championship games, I worked Ester and Lennox in two different basketball state championships. Once when Lance Luitjens was a sophomore and once when he was a senior and the next one of the game and Lance Luitjens' team Custer won the other one. And I think both of those games put them together, were two of the best basketball games that I ever was involved with in the state tournament.
Craig Mattick:
What was it like? Larry Luitjens is the coach at Custer. Of course, he was the coach at Webster when you were in high school, what was it like? You're the referee in his state championship game? What was that relationship like?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, it was interesting. I remember he stood up once. I don't think he favored the call that I made when I went by and just said, "Hi." I said, "Sorry coach. But that's the way I saw it."
Craig Mattick:
Oh, which gymnasium was the hardest to officiate in?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, if you were involved in some small schools, places like going down to Hurley, I mean it's shocking how small they are. A couple of the schools up in the Northeast, Rosholt, you went everywhere when you did high school sports to begin with. I mean, there was virtually no room, but you got it done.
Craig Mattick:
Strangest call you ever had to make as an official. Was there one?
Clyde Hagen:
You mean there were so many exceptional situations? I don't think there's one that really pops out. I think one of the biggest things I remember about officiating was that every pregame, a point of emphasis for me during the pregame meeting was to speak to my partner or partners that, hey, we're only out here for a couple hours. These kids got their whole life and soul and coaches, so we owe it to them to do the best we can. And I think that's the thing I'm most proud of, that I was always part of crews that tried to do the best.
Craig Mattick:
Any other reffing stories like forgetting your pants or forgetting your whistle or your shoes? Once you get to the place you're going to be reffing?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, yeah. I do remember once I went to Centerville to officiate and Bruce Berry was my partner and I had left a message for him about how we were going to connect. Well, at the same time, the director of the South Dakota State Amateur Hall of Fame had called him and me and left a message about riding with somebody, but no names were given. So I went to pick him up and he wasn't there and he thought he was going to a different assignment.
So I went to Centerville and I worked the B game by myself. And then I went into the locker room and Ron Launsberry, who was the athletic director, he said, "It was the fourth quarter before I looked out and realized you were alone."
Craig Mattick:
Oh man.
Clyde Hagen:
Yeah, I was alone. And we got by, but it was something I remember.
Craig Mattick:
You refereed for 36 years. Why did you referee for 36 years?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, I think it was the joy of being part of the game. Basketball's a wonderful game and when you become somewhat proficient at it, you're always trying to improve. And I focused on high school basketball because if you were employed, working a college schedule was virtually impossible to go to Grand Forks or one of the Minnesota schools or whatever to officiate a college game. It was tough. So I focused on high school basketball. It truly was the love of the game. It was fun being part of it. It was fun seeing that young sophomore turn into a skilled senior and enjoy the successes that the kids had on the floor.
Craig Mattick:
Got a couple more for you, Clyde. You're in the SDSU Hall of Fame, South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. You're in the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Hall of Shrine. You're also in the South Dakota Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame. You've got all sorts of records in track and field. There wasn't any sport that you were not very good at, although I did notice one thing there, Clyde. I got one and let me explain. Senior year, SDSU basketball, you could shoot from anywhere on the floor, Clyde, except the free throw line. For some reason you were 36 of 101. That's 35% from the free throw line. What happened that year?
Clyde Hagen:
Well, in high school, I was 75, 77% free throw shooter and first couple of years in college, no problem doing well. But I came out first basketball game after football, I hadn't been to a practice yet. And I was a sophomore and I went into the game in the second half. I hadn't gone to any practices yet. And lo and behold, I get in the game and I get fouled on a layup, and when I shoot the ball, it goes about two thirds of the way to the rim and drops on the floor. And so I was the brunt of good-natured ridicule from the whole team, and they thought that was funny.
I'm 6.4, 240 pounds, but I can't get the ball to the rim. You talked about Vern Schoolmeester earlier on in the interview and Vern was assistant coach. So the next week after that happened, every time we were shooting free throws, he'd come up and stand alongside me and he'd shoot it halfway to the basket. So it really became a thing. I mean, every time I went to the free throw line, that's what I was thinking and it affected me. There's no doubt about it.
Craig Mattick:
Wow. Well, what a great honor to be in all of those Hall of Fames we talked about. What does it mean to you, Clyde, when you think back, go back to the late 60s, early 70s and those playing days of Webster and South Dakota State and what you were able to accomplish?
Clyde Hagen:
It's so special to have all the memories of the great people that I met and played with and played against over the years. And you go back and wish you could have done some things better, but one of the things that sometimes comes to mind, I don't know how I was able to do it actually, because in college the sports overlapped so much. It was very difficult to catch up from one season to the next. And oh, in all, I just say it was all worth it. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Craig Mattick:
Do you still have the key to the armory in Webster?
Clyde Hagen:
Yes, I do. That was a secret that was well-kept. And I truly think that helped me develop as a basketball player because it didn't matter what the winter weather was, I could always whip down to the armory and shoot around and dream of playing in a state tournament, and dream of beating another team. And for me, those dreams became realized.
Craig Mattick:
In Play with Craig Mattick is made possible by Horton in Britton, where smiling at work happens all the time.
