Dave Dolan coached high school track and field for nearly four decades at Rapid City Central. During his 18-years as the head coach, he led the Cobblers girls track team to two state championships and four runner-up finishes. He also led the boys team to six runner-up finishes during his time as a head coach. Dolan was also an official in South Dakota for 35-years. His resume includes officiating 16 state championship games.
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You know, you've been a busy guy. Not only decades of coaching track at Rapid City Central and being a long time official, but you taught PE and English, a teacher and a coach for 34 years in Rapid City. How did you juggle everything for such a long time?
I had a great supporting cast in my wife. That's the only way that it could occur, cause you're out all the time with coaching and reffing and she was very supportive of everything that I did.
Now you're a native of Beresford, how did the road end up in Rapid City?
I got out of college interviewing for jobs all over, couldn't get a job and had actually moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma with my wife. She got a job, and no sooner had we gotten there an elementary P.E. position in Rapid City opened up. I said, "well hey, I'd like to go at least interview, get one of those under my belt", and the gentlemen, Chuck McLain, offered me the job on the spot. So then we had a decision to make, and the decision was to move to Rapid City where we've been ever since and plan to stay here for the rest of our days.
We mentioned you're a native of Beresford, was high school athletics a big part of your life at that time?
Oh yeah. Football, basketball, track, baseball, chorus, band, you did it all in the small town.
Did you think that maybe you could do something in college with your athleticism?
Well, actually my favorite sport was basketball, I really thought I could be a basketball player in college. I didn't realize that six two post players really didn't exist in basketball, so I was fortunate enough to play a football for the University of South Dakota. Where, got some good work ethic ingrained in me and actually challenged a little bit to try and move up into the starting ranks and I think it just made me want to work a little bit harder. So, kind of took that through my teaching and coaching career.
You know, it wasn't too long when you got to Rapid City, you're coaching football, and basketball, and track. Who are some of the coaches early on that you worked with in Rapid?
Well Dave Strain, even though I wasn't a basketball coach under hand, Dave Strain was one of the basketball coaches. John Houska, who was not only a track and field and cross country legend in the state of South Dakota, but I got under his wing and he was an assistant coach, and then he brought me on as an assistant, and then I became the head and he actually became my assistant. Tim Cooper, Kim Nelson, Steve Svendsen, Pakula. I think I've lived through about six different head coaches in my time at Rapid City Central.
Tim Cooper was a quarterback at USD at one point, right? Were you guys teammates at all or no?
We were team mates, as well as we're still friends, just went to his daughter's wedding this summer.
You had to decide though, between officiating and coaching, when did that come about when you were at Rapid City?
Really, because of the way the girl's basketball fell, I could coach football and then go referee a couple of nights a week, then when the girl season switched to the same as the boys, like it is now. I really had to make a decision, I couldn't be gone all those nights and still be a dad and a husband.
When was it though you wanted to be an official? Because that was a few years after you got to Rapid City, you are coaching at the time and of course being a teacher too.
I actually started refereeing when I was at the University of South Dakota. I took a Sports Officiating class from MarV Miller. So, Marv Miller, Mick Wysuph, Colin Kapitan, would take us out and they would give us $5 to do the B game, so they didn't have to. Kenny Beringer there and Vermilion and went out and enjoyed it, and I kind of took off. Mick actually then moved out here and was coaching Sturgis and then at Rapid City Stevens so we stayed in contact and he actually got me my first taste of college basketball back in the mid eighties.
You've mentioned some great names already, Colin Capitan, when it came to officiating, what stuck most out from what they taught you as an official, when it came to basketball, what was some of the number one things they told you?
Just be fair and consistent, and always maintain your composure. I think one of the assets that all of them instilled, be able to talk to people. I think that's part of being a teacher, you're able to talk to people even when they're not happy. That was one of the things that I always tried to just maintain the professionalism with the sport, I would see them off the court and be able to talk and say hi. Didn't ever take anything personal, and I think that helped propel. Then, the knowledge of the rule, being able to apply what they had taught us.
You officiated basketball when we had two person crews, and of course now we have three person crews. How hard was it to get used to having that third official on the floor?
As I was getting up there, a little bit older, the third person was pretty easy. We've been doing three people in three person crews in college for a few years. So for us that were doing the college rank, it was probably a pretty easy transition. The hard part was then going back to two persons, and then trying to cover the court like you did with three. And the wear and tear on the body, that's probably the reason that I had two knees replaced, was from refereeing basketball. You had tartan, you had tile, you had some wood courts and you did both games, the B and the A game, so just the wear and tear.
Those tartan floors they were great when they first came out, you could put your thumb in it, but that was tough on the shins.
Yeah it was, it was very difficult. Those were the hard things. I remember when the ESD, they went to three, then they went back to two, and I just told, I think at the time I think it was Buck Timmins and I said, "I'm going to honor my contract this year", because I always enjoyed going to Pierre, that was just a great atmosphere for basketball. But I said, "if they're going to stay with two, I can't, I got to continue with three-person crews. My body isn't able to do that, they stay the same age and I get a year older every year."
Who are some of the partners you worked with on the basketball court?
There were countless. A couple that I guess come to mind first off are Steve Withorne, who was just inducted into the South Dakota sports hall of fame. He was out here a very integral part of getting Native Americans to officiate basketball. Kevin Bad Wound, and Luke Yellow Robe, Larry Stevens, Mick Wysuph, Main Stanton, Jim Aberle, Mick Wysuph of obviously. Colin Kapitan, he's the one that got me at a couple of state championships with him. That was always special. I know I'll forget somebody. Nick Gottlap, who's kind of a younger one. Mike Kirkeby, good friend and longtime official out here as well. So, there's probably, I'm guessing, I refereed with about a hundred different guys over the course of the year. Trying to think of some of those that at the states, Randy Schaefer. Know when we did the old SDIC basketball. Kurt Venekamp, Custer native.
How about a most embarrassing moment as a basketball official? I'm sure there had to be at least one, Dave.
There's probably more than one, but the most embarrassing and I don't even think I was a newbie, I was kind of a veteran. The state tournament was in Rapid City and I'm getting down, we're getting ready and I got the first game of the day. We're there in plenty of time, hour and 15 minutes ahead of time. I have no pants in my bag, and no one else is my size. So I frantically called. My wife finally brings a man about, oh, I'll bet five minutes before the start of the contest, I'm out there running. The other one was, I went out, you know how you always put your whistle, kind of didn't have it on when you were out there? I went out they're playing the National Anthem, I went to pat my chest, like I always do, no whistle, sprinted to the locker room, grabbed the whistle. Those are a couple.
You saw a bunch of great girls and boys basketball players when you officiated, which ones did you enjoy watching? Even though you tried not to watch them, but you do as an official.
Yeah, there were some phenomenal ones. Probably the most memorable athletes that I watched play basketball was Jason Sutherland.
I remember in the state championship game, first of all, we cleared the arena because of a bomb threat out in Rapid City. Colin Capitan and I were doing the game, we're out in the car, they gave us the all clear to come back in and we continued the game. Jason Sutherland went up and did a monster dunk and they ended up winning the game because I think it was against Oforeman. And he hung on the rim and gave the number one sign as he goes across, I'm actually doing it in my house right here, gives the number one sign to the crowd. And at the next opportunity I go, "Kathy, we should have teed him for that." Kathy goes, "then they'd have strung you, and the guy that called in the bombthreat, up from the rafters.
A couple extra I'd probably have to give credit to Gary Reed, Rick Romer, since you talk about names, I just remember seeing Gary, he was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame as well.
Rick was at Sioux Falls Washington for a while, and then he moved out to Rapid City many years ago. Good friend.
Gillis Stern. Probably where I got my big breakthrough was Bill Cohen, up there at lemon. He was the sports rep and he went down in a central Steven's game. There's probably I don't 6,500, 7,000 people there, and I had done the sophomore gay before that, and he went down and I looked down the row as I'm watching Duane Wayland gives me the finger. "Come here." And instantly, I couldn't draw spit. And it's only a two person crews with John Salt Sizlar. I don't even know if I blew my whistle the first half and Johnson just be out there, call the obvious I'll take care of the rest. And the game went fine. And then the next night Bill was still hurt. So I went up and did Sturgis and somebody, another big game. Matt kind of catapulted me into the double A. And having the opportunity, I held my composure, I won't say that I was perfect, but I didn't insert myself into the game and affect it.
You did officiate 16 state championship games, which one stands out the most to you?
I tell you what, the Miller's, Mike and Macy, stand out. I remember three years in a row. The best player did not win the state title. The best team did, and that will Sioux Falls watching them. But that was probably some of the toughest basketball I did at the end of my career because everything mattered, You had to know where everybody was in the court, and I thought we, within our pregame, we talked about situations and stuff, we talked about potential plays and where the ball, off ball coverage and stuff. And I thought we were I thought we were pretty good, and we nailed the game. The other one, I think gates is selling them the dunk, I don't think it was a championship game, but I remember SuAnne Big Crow. Steve Withorne and I were reffing, and she threw in a shot from three quarter court in a state tournament game. I don't even remember what, I don't think it was final, but that was spectacular for all that she did for our Native Americans down there.
One more officials question, we are running short of officials, how can we encourage more men and women to get involved with being an official, no matter what sport it is?
We've actually been having that discussion right now, we're trying to find people that want to give back to the sport. It doesn't necessarily have to be at the high school level, but I think educating them and also the fans and the parents that, "hey, we're out here, we're doing the best that we can." We're looking for people. Our biggest thing when I see, parents and fans, getting after an official is, we're always looking for more, please come and help us. They're doing their best, but anytime you're under pressure and a lot of stress, it does not help the situation, you're actually making it worse for the kids that are on on the quarter field. So, we're talking about doing some sports officiating, giving up at the colleges, maybe doing some type of seminar or a class. Get some kids involved, and then hopefully they progress. Even though they may move around the country, maybe they're interested in doing it.
If interested, get ahold of your local high school athletic director and they'll get you started on whatever.
They'll send you to the right spot, which is the activities association. There's a lot more stuff to do that now with, just to make sure everybody's certified and qualified to do it.
You were awesome as an official, but you know what? I know one of your first loves was coaching track and field, you did it for The Cobblers for 38 years, what was it about track that you loved?
Because I taught in the middle school, I love to see where those student athletes started, and where they ended up. I started a weight program over at South Middle. I didn't really start it on purpose. I said, "I'm coming in to work out if anybody wants to come in." So, it went from half a dozen kids, all of a sudden I don't have time to work out or I've got to get in there earlier cause I've got 80 to 100 in there. I think they kind of took off, that's what propelled us at central is they put in the time ahead of time and they were ready at high school. Then the kids, for track and field is easy. Cause you always see what your time is or your distance. And you can always try and improve upon that, whether that be the state champion or the person that's just out there because their friends are out and they want to be a part of something.
I want to talk about some of the track stars that you were able to coach at Rapid City central. Let's start on the boys side. I know you didn't get any track titles, but you were a runner up six times. The one I think most people are going to recognize is Tony Smoragiewicz, the long distance runner, wow. He was just awesome to watch run. What was it like to coach him?
Well, Tony was a distance runner. He was just fun to be around. He was contagious as far as his work ethic and leadership for the team. I think it drew numbers to the program itself. So that was pretty special thing for that. And then I think, what else will help us? We had a lot of crossover athletes that would come from other sports. And that's because their friends were out, plus the coaches we had. We had coaches that coach all the other sports and we found ways for them to have success. Tony Smoragiewicz, on the boys side, Jake Mach way back in the nineties, I was an assistant coach then, but he was a state cross country champ. And he was an all-state football player.
I know coaches really do want them to, no matter what sport they coach, they want them in track. Track and field, because it makes them a better athlete. Sure. How about Colt Tucker? I know he was big in 400 meter dash and the relays. A number of metals that he won.
That Cole Tucker was, I believe the first three time, 400 meter state champ. Wanted sophomore, junior and senior and amazingly enough, he never won against the Tupac Lincoln kid. He never beat him in the regular season. It always a state final. It was so fun to watch him run. Cause it looked like he was in dead last. And then at about the two 50 mark, it was like he was shot out of a cannon and he just mowed them down, coming down the stretch. That was, that was a pretty amazing thing to see him. Now we've had a long list of hurdles, with hurdlers that, John Hooks obviously coached successfully there. And Anne Bulmer was probably the one that he coached, that was probably one of the most successful athletes in central high school.
Yeah. In 1992, she had nine gold medals in her career.
The all-time leading gold medal winners, still to this day, I believe is Megan Trotter.
With 11. Jasmine King may have had 11 if she wouldn't have gotten hurt late at a track meet. Right?
Yep. So the long jump, she ended up going back after she ran the 400 and then the 200 when she tore her achilles. Jasmine was probably the single fastest individual I ever had the opportunity to coach, but she also worked hard. There was some natural God-given ability, but she put in the time and effort and we trained to peak at the end of the year. Amber Abrams, she had eight gold medals, went on to play volleyball down at the University of South Dakota.
It's kind of one of the things that we prided ourselves on. I don't know if it was me or the girls, but it was our four by one relay. Both boys and girls. It's something that we practiced and we trained and we tried to perfect, but it's probably the most stressful one on coaches. Coach Andrea and I across Stevensville. I'm so happy when the four by one is over to make sure you get those handoffs around, especially when you've got a pretty good team. And that was one of the things that we always tried to go for. And that is to get into that top 10 or even win a state title in the four by one.
I know you coached both, the boys and the girls, but there are large numbers that are involved in track at a lot of schools, including Rapid City Central. How did you handle watching both the boys and the girls and using your assistance to find out who's going to be in what event?
Well prior to the athletic.net, now the state has a new one. We'd meet, everybody would put them in events, their athletes. Then we'd compile that. And then I'd make sure that we didn't have somebody in five events or I'd ask, why is this person in this? So, that I gave them the latitude to enter them in what they wanted. Thinking, they've got a plan throughout the course of the year, but then there are times then as they entered them in athletic.net, then I could see what they ran. Maybe we're missing somebody, maybe I didn't know, and the computer actually helped things out. A lot less paperwork, handwriting everything in, going there, doing the heat and lane assignments, and scratches, and ads. It made it so much easier for coaches. One thing I have to attribute is, I had great assistant coaches. I think all, but one of mine, had been a head coach in another sport at some point in time or in another place.
Girls state track championships in 2009 and 2012, both memorable. What stands out on those two track titles for the girls?
I think, I think just the number of events that we placed in. There were a few surprises, and for us, those two years, we didn't have many disappointments. We kind of got where we thought we'd be at. Then we had an extra couple three place. I remember the one year, we ended up with three placers in the 300 meter hurdles, which we never thought would happen. That sewed up the state meet at the end of the 300 meter hurdles cause nobody could catch it. So it was a little breathing room there that you could, sigh of relief. Cause there's nothing you're just pacing all the time. You never know what can happen in any given day. But as a head coach, what I tried to do was, I tried to get to every event throughout the course of the day.
And then when the relays were on, I would stay, that was kind of my thing. I'd watch those and the kids that I actually coached directly, but I would try and find a spot that I could see the high jump, triple jump. I'd get over to the shot and disc, except for at O'Hare at the diff, that's kind of a tough place to get to as the head coach. For the same thing goes on, you got to make decisions. Somebody gets hurt and put it in, trusted my assistants, they knew what we'd already talked about. So it was pretty easy to make up a transition or make a decision.
There's been a couple of rule changes, dealing with how to qualify for state track for that night's event that is in Sioux falls and in Rapid City, alternates years. Do you like how people now have to qualify differently to get to state?
I do like the top 24 lifts. Top 24 plus ties. I just, the one thing that I think we have to get to, and I don't know where they're at. I think they just had advisory this past week, is we have to have all F.A.T. times. I know that it's not necessarily possible in some of our rural areas, but when you start doing converting, I've been at the finish line where, "did you get it? No, I didn't. Well here, you switch with me and I'll switch with you." I think we're past that we have enough meets that we can get to where we have actual timing. Or we just have to plan on it.
You're talking about electronic timing, is what we're talking about here?
Yeah. Fully automated timing, but the top 24 is good. I think it gives kids an opportunity, and actually, in some of the events, we'll put numbers. We'll put somebody maybe that's at 36, because, like a Jasmine King, she could have run in the 1, 2, 4, four by one, four by two, four by four and long jump. She only gets four of those events. So you kind of have to figure out where they're going to put their athletes. And so you might be able to take her out of the 400 and now somebody else gets to go in there. So, there's a lot of acts that goes on, but that's what makes it fun as a coach.
You've retired from coaching track. You've retired from officiating, about six years ago or so. What was going through your mind, thinking about retirement from the things you love to do?
It was hard. Basketball was essentially, I wouldn't, I'd still be reffing to this day, but my knees just, they couldn't take it anymore. And I had to give it up cause the doc said, I'm not going to give you a new knee until you quit refereeing. I'd have probably got a new knee and wore that one out, which wouldn't have been a good thing. And then the coaching, I just knew it was time. I had been retired from teaching, and I was still coaching. And now the connection with the kids that I had all the way through from sixth grade, all the way to seniors. The connection of that, was basically about over with the young kids. And it was time for somebody new, that's in the system to take over. Coach Moriarty, I hired him twice as an assistant who was with me in Rapid. Then he went out to Douglas as the head coach, then he came back into Rapid and I hired him again. He's just a class act, good man, and works very hard at it.
Two questions left. We talked a lot about coaching and officiating. We haven't talked a lot about being an English teacher. What led you to become an English teacher?
I don't know. In college, one of those things you had to do a lot of when you were in those first years. English classes, grammar, and all of a sudden, I go, oh, I have an English degree. And that was the opening that happened over at South. So I was teaching seventh, eighth, and ninth grade English for about the first three or four years. And then again, eventually got over there. I will say that there was a lot of work involved in that, morning, noon and night, planning periods, break. You're correcting papers. So I have thoughts to the full-time English teachers. They put in a lot of time. It has to do with all teachers, a lot of time and effort and energy, to do the best they can for our students.
One last question, you were so involved for so long, with being involved with kids and athletics. You're kind of retired now. How do you stay involved? You do somehow, don't you?
Oh yeah. I help at the state track meet, state cross country. I went to the cross country meet last week and helped the finish line. Still go to the basketball tournament and help there. Still observe officials for the activities association. I go watch track meets. I enjoy watching them, going. Still helping with trying to get coaches to become more involved in our coaches association. And then eventually there'll be time for me to sit back and watch.