men's programs

• Baseball
• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Football
• Track

women's programs

• Basketball
• Cross Country
• Softball
• Track
• Volleyball

dsu athletics pages

• About DSU Athletics
• Athletic Training
• Awards and Honors
• Apparel
• Calendars
• Camps
• Cheerleading
• Compliance
• Corporate Partners
• Facilities
• Forms and Handbook
• News
• Scholarships
• Schedules
• Staff Directory

DSU Athletic Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame Nomination Form

DSU Athletic Hall of Fame By-Laws

Bob Casagrande (Class of 1975)
Bob Casagrande, one of the players who helped Dakota State win the Boot Hill Bowl in December of 1971, was ready to mow grass on his 200-acre spread near Corning, Iowa, in early May, when contacted regaring his Hall of Fame induction.

It all started prior to coming to Madison in the fall of 1971, Casagrande had spent his early life at Maywood, Ill., near Chicago.  A teacher at Proviso East High School in Maywood who was a former General Beadle (Dakota State) student made a call to Coach Lee Moran at Dakota State in the spring of 1971.

In turn, Moran sent DSC's director of physical plant, Ed Tyc, to talk to Casagrande and make the pitch to the Proviso senior to attend the Madison college.

Beginning in his freshman year, Casagrande started a rewarding college football career.

Playing as a linebacker, Casagrande helped the Trojans to a 9-2 season, including a win in the Boot Hill Bowl at Dodge City, Kan., which (at that time) was the first win by a South Dakota college in a post-season bowl.

"That was the real highlight of my football career being a part of the Boot Hill Bowl team," said Casagrande.  "It was a great win playing with a great bunch of guys."

As a sophomore, he was forced due to team injuries; to play both ways for the Trojan football squad.  He still played on defense as a linebacker, but then played as starting center on offense for a half season. 

In his four-year career at Dakota State, the Trojans were 25-14.

Casagrande earned All-South Dakota Iowa Conference (SDIC) honors in the loop three times, starting with his sophomore season onward.  As a junior and senior, he was an All-NAIA Dist. 12.

For the Trojans, Casagrande was the team's most valuable defensive player.  He was also the squad's most valuable player as a senior, when he was also one of the team's captains.

Casagrande had lived in the Des Moines area until recently when he made the transition to rural Iowa living.

He wants to see his and his wife Taj's two children, an 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, and son, Kyle, who is 10, to enjoy the good life in rural America, which he experienced while attending Dakota State in Madison from 1971 to 1975. 

After graduating from Dakota State, Casagrande went on to coach football and wrestling and teach at Sioux City Heelan for 13 years before going into the insurance/finanical field.

He worked at Met Life for three years before establishing BCA Financial Incorporated at West Des Moines, which has been in operation for the past 20-plus years. 

Terry Kasperbauer (Class of 1977)
On June 4, Kasperbauer will enter the DSU Athletic Hall of Fame.  He is being recognized for his achievements both on the football gridiron and baseball field.

Kasperbauer ended his four-year football career (1973-76) beign the Trojans' starting quarterback.  While at the 'helm', Kasperbauer complied a 26-12 record and led the Trojans to three South Dakota-Iowa Collegiate Conference (SDIC) titles.

As starting quarterback, Kasperbauer amassed 4,044 yards on 262-for-502 passing.  He had 49 touchdown strikes.

He also played baseball for the Trojans, earning All-SDIC baseball honors in both his junior and senior seasons.

"These were all school records at that time, but have since been oblieterated," said Kasperbauer.

These days Kasperbauer, former Dakota State quarterback and incoming Hall of Fame member, is cheering and coaching his son Casey on at Carroll High School in Carroll, Iowa.  (Casey, a junior and a starting basketball, graduates in 2012.  He also runs track and plays football.)

Kasperbauer has been both the assistant football and basketball coach at Caroll since the early 1990's.  He has also been a teacher at the Alternative High School since 1992.

He and his wife Lois, have two other sons - T.J. and Shaun.

T.J. and his wife Megan live in College Station, Texas, where he is a graduate student at Texas A & M working on his masters in psychology and doctorate in philosophy.

Shaun is a 22-year-old student in New York City attending Parsons (aka The New School), majoring in product design.

Prior to moving back to Carroll, Iowa, where Kasperbauer graduated from Kuemper, and after graduating from Dakota State in the spring of 1977, he and Lois lived in Yuma, Ariz., until 1990.

In Yuma, Kasperbauer was the recreation supervisor for the City of Yuma.  He earned the Arizona Supervisor of the Year honor in 1989.

Kent Kersten (Class of 1973)
Kent Kersten comes back to Madison and Dakota State on June 4 after achieving much in Iowa high school wrestling.

Joe Carmody, a teacher of Kersten at Logan-Magnolia High School during Kersten's high school years (1965-69) in Iowa and Dakota State wrestling coach Dr. Neal Hattlestad, played key roles in Kersten attending the Madison college and sending him on to a very successful Iowa high school wrestling career.

"I first heard about the college from Carmody, who was a General Beadle (Dakota State) graduate and a Madison native," said Kersten.

Dakota State's name came up again for Kersten in 1971 after he graduated from Creston (Iowa) Junior College.

"My brother Kirk graduated that year from Logan-Magnolia," added Kersten.  "Dr. Hattlestad asked him to make a visit to Dakota State.  I'd wrestled in junior college and I was looking to continue wrestling, so we both went up to Madison."

The next two years, Kersten wrstled for Hattlestad whose background included wrestling at the University of Northern Iowa, and his assistant Jon Walczyk.

"Kirk and I were both inspired by Hattlestad and Walczyk," admitted Kersten, who considered himself to be an average wrestler back then.  "They were both role models and great coaches.  They worked us hard and wanted us to succeed.  I learned a lot from Coach Hattlestad.  I'd have to go a long ways to find a better coach.  I owe him and Dakota State a lot."

Kersten earned a biology degree at Dakota State and used it to get a teaching position at Arlington High School, which he held for three years.  He then moved back to teach junior high science and coach wrestling beginning.  This spring he retired from teaching, but will enter his 30th season as Logan-Magnolia's head wrestling coach this winter.

This past winter, Kersten's team completed a perfect 32-0 dual season, along with claiming both Iowa's state dual and team Class 1A titles.  In 2008, Logan-Magnolia was the state team champion.  the school also won another dual title in 2002.  As head coach at Logan-Magnolia, Kersten has achieved a 491-87-4 dual mark.  He has also coached 129 state qualifiers, 57 state place-finishers and four state champions.

Kersten was the 2009 Iowa Class 1A Coach of the Year.  In 2007, Kersten was inducted into the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Kersten and his wife Sandy have been married for nearly 39 years.  They have two daughters - Angela and Lanae.  Angela, a first-grade teacher at North Loop, Neb., is married to Tony Boyce.  They have two sons - Kaden (10 years old) and Brendan (7 years old).  Lanae is a nurse for West Harrison Community School at Mondamin, Iowa.  She is married to Matt Chase.  They have a son Colben (7 years old) and a daughter Campbell (3 years old).

Marie Sample (Class of 1998)
Marie Sample began her Dakota State athletic career as a Lady T basketball player.  Quite by an actual accident, however, she graduated from DSU four years later as one of the best women's distance runners in South Dakota.

The Lake Andes, S.D. native is the university's record holder of numerous indoor and outdoor marks.  Her indoor marks include:  1000-meter run (three minutes and 5.10 seconds); 1500-meter run (4:48.80); 1600-meter run (5:08.80) and 5000-meter run (17:42.00).  In outdoor track, her records are:  800-meter run (2:20.56); 1500-meter run (4:45.76); 3000-meter run (9:56.57); 5000-meter run (17:24.00) and 3200-meter relay (with Katherine Fisk, Summer Stulken and Amy Hansen - 9:48.44).

Sample was also a four-time All-SDIC runner in both track and cross country, a three-time NAIA All-American in the two sports as a sophomore, junior and a senior.  Finally, she was DSU's outstanding female athlete as a junior and senior.

Sample came to DSU to play basketball for Coach Jeff Dittman and did just that as a freshman.  She and her then-friend and future husband David Sample were involved in a car accident between the Parker pig farm near Lake Andes and Sioux Falls during their Christmas break.

After that, Marie began having headaches that impeded her basketball play.  Dr. Richard Sample, David's father, helped Marie remedy those headaches.  He also introduced her to distance running.  The Madison physician was and still is one of Madison's premier amateur runners.  As a part of Marie's rehabilitation, David and Richard had her join them on four-mile runs.

In February of 1995, DSU was scheduled for an indoo meet at Aberdeen where David was scheduled to run.  The Samples invited Marie to come along and watch.

During the meet, DSU Coach Buzz Stevenson approached Marie.  He told her that he had brought an extra uniform and invited her to run the mile.  "I ran and won the race - much to my surprise." said Marie.  "That started my running career at Dakota State." And, the rest is history.

It has included her training and running for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in timed trials.  She has also competed in many, many marathons and other distance events, placing well in the races.  Marie is also a member of the Brookings Prairie Striders' squad.

"I think it is absolutely great that she has continued running," said Stevenson.  "She has to go down as one of the top female distance runners to come out of the state of South Dakota.  I am very happy for Marie and all the success she has had running.  She is very deserving of her Hall of Fame selection."

She and David have been married for 13 years, and they live at Marshall, Minn.  They have two daughters - Natalee (9 years old), who is a third-grader at Marshall Area Christian School (MACS), and Allyson (5 years old), who is entering kindergarten this fall.

Marie is a substitute teacher in MACS.  She also helps runners at Marshall's YMCA, along with conducting private training sessions.  She also coaches cross country at Marshall High School.

Rob Van Laecken (Class of 1974)
He wasn't a Dakota State athlete, but Rob Van Laecken learned enough about coaching and the administration of sports programs to later become one of South Dakota's girls' basketball coaching pioneers.

"There are a number of people at Dakota State who inspired me while I attended the school," admitted Van Laecken, who graduated from then-Dakota State College in 1974.  "There are about four who stand out in my memory.  They are Tom Farrell, Jim Swanson, George Blankley and Al Weisbecker."

Van Laecken had some knowledge of Dakota State before arriving at the Madison college in 1970.  "I had a brother, Ron, who graduated back when Dakota State was known as General Beadle State," said Van Laecken.  "I also had two teachers - Steve Entringer and Donna Eide - at Letcher High School who were General Beadle graduates."

Van Laecken began his teaching and coaching career at Corona High School in 1975.  Two years later, he came to Parkston, and like people say, the rest is history.  He became Parkston's head girls' basketball coach in the fall of 1977.  That was the third year of sport's existence.

With the 2011 season looming, Van Laecken is only three wins away from breaking the legendary late Fred Tibbetts (former DSU alumnus) for the most wins (551) in South Dakota high school girls' basketball history with his current 549-198 record.  He has had only two seasons when his Lady Trojans have failed to win at least 10 games.

At Parkston, Van Laecken has also been its athletic director since 1985.  He's also been a track coach there since 1975 and has also served as an assistant football coach early in his career.  He has coached his Lady Trojans to 23 district titles and taken them to the state tournament nine times, finishing third in 1989.  The Lady Trojans have won 25 conference titles and the Hutchinson County tournament 17 times.

Van Laecken has coached 16 different All-State players.  Ten of his Lady Trojans have scored over 1000 points.

In addition to being named DSU's Alumni Coach of the Year in 1982, he has been honored numerous times, both on the state and national levels.  The South Dakota High School Activities Association brought him into its Hall of Fame last year and was given its Distinguished Service Award earlier.