The Sioux Falls Roosevelt girls basketball program went on a record breaking run of 111 consecutive wins from 1997-2001. During this span, Fred Tibbetts' Rough Riders also won five-straight state championships. Assistant Coaches Larry Toft, Denise Klein, and Nate Malchow, and former player Courtney Farrell all joined ‘In Play with Craig Mattick’ to talk about this historical run.
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Today on In Play, the 111 game win streak over five years in the making by the Roosevelt Rough Rider girls' basketball team. 111 straight wins, five straight state championships a win in Beaverton, Oregon in '99 at the Northwest Holiday Hoopfest. Our guest today will include former coaches and players of that unbelievable run by the Riders. Of course, Fred Tibbetts was the head coach started at Roosevelt in 1994 after a successful run at Jefferson where he won five titles.
Assistant Coach Larry Toft
He even had a win streak in Jefferson of 67 games, but 1995 to 2005, Fred was at Roosevelt and, of course, Fred passed away in 2008 of cancer at the age of 59. One of his longtime assistants, Larry Toft, he joins us now on In Play. Larry, thanks for joining us. When Fred was at Jefferson and he was having all of that success, what were you doing?
I was coaching basketball. I got out. I started out over at Montrose and the old Irish teams. Then, I wandered up towards Egan. I was at Blue Jay for quite a while. I always thought if I ever got out of head coaching, that would be nice to be an assistant coach. I met Fred in college and everything. And lo and behold, I was trying to get a job teaching in Sioux Falls. I ended up doing a whole lot of substitute teaching at Roosevelt.
One afternoon, Fred came up to me. He said, "Hey, how would you like to be my freshman basketball coach?" I said, "Yeah. That'd be great." That's where it all got going.
Was that in 1994, Fred's first year?
No. That was 1996.
Okay, because I know that '94, his first year at Roosevelt was not very good. He went four and 16 at Roosevelt.
Yeah. He came up to me. It was actually weird because he says, "I'm going to need a new coach." I didn't know what the reason was behind that. I never really did find out, but it didn't take me very doggone long to accept that role. And Fred pretty much took care of it for me. I didn't have much of an interview or anything. He just said, "You know what? I want this guy to have the job." That'll be the way it's going to be.
What was it about Fred? You knew him in college and a long-time friend. What was it about Fred that made him the way he was with basketball?
Well, he was very loyal. He didn't always want you to keep up. He didn't want you to agree with him all the time. He wanted you to coach. And most of all kids worked hard for him because he worked hard for everybody and he like any coach that he cared a lot about kids. There were times when we would... It could be right in the middle of a practice, and Fred would decide that it was time to just sit and talk about life.
I think that the kids that he was able to coach learn more about living life and just enjoying it and a lot more than basketball, but either loved him or you didn't like him very well, but I think deep down inside, all of the kids that he's coached over the years, I tell you what, they became friends. He was like a father figure. I'm sure that they could call him if they had any problems or anything. He followed their lives too. He was more than just a basketball coach. He was a lot of different things, a lot of great things.
That first year, Roosevelt again, it was not very good, was four and 16. But then after that, boy, the success really started to get going and the next year in '95, Roosevelt made it to the semifinals, but lost to Mitchell. A year later, the Riders were undefeated, but lost to Yankton in the finals in the championship game.
Then, the streak begins in the middle of the 1997 season that ran for five years. What was it about those players maybe beginning in '96 once you got there? What was it about the players and the kind of players that Roosevelt had?
Well, I tell you what, any good coach will tell you that you need good kids. You need kids that are willing to buy into whatever you're coaching. It really helps, Craig, I've noticed over the years that if you've got kids with a lot of talent, you end up looking like a pretty darn good coach. We were really, really fortunate. We had kids coming to Roosevelt and people always accused of Fred of recruiting. These kids are Roosevelt kids.
It just started out. There was a group that came in and bought into everything. They wanted to win. They wanted to listen to Fred. Our practices, honestly, the practices that we had, a lot of times, were harder than the games because we had so much competition. We had years where the JV and sophomore teams were every bit as good as some of the teams that we played.
It wasn't so much great coaching. It was just kids that were talented and listened to what you said and had parents that allowed us that the kids weren't actually doing exactly what we thought that they should be doing or doing it as good as they could be doing it. Then, it was okay if we got after a little bit.
I think that was a big part of the streak. The kids, they didn't want to lose. As the streak went on, the pressure built towards by that, by getting closer where it was to the end of it. I can't tell you the pressure that the kids built, but it was a ride that I just can't see it ever happening again.
Starting the streak, I don't... Mandy Campbell, was she on that team at that time? In fact, she was starting or playing for you as an eighth grader at that time.
Yeah. Mandy and Christa, yeah. They were all playing. If I remember correctly, there was a kid by the name of Renae Luecke. It seems to me that she was the last eighth grader to ever play up, I think. Of course, Renae was [Donnie's 00:08:37] sister. Boy, she was multi-talented. She was just a great kid.
I want to talk about some of the players. A lot of these players not only were successful in high school but went on to play college ball division one. Lindsay Thomas did a division two NAIA. There was a number of them that went to play at the University Sioux Falls with Courtney Farrell. And Krista Orsack played there and Kristin Kono.
When it came to deciding how to play college ball, what was the influence that Fred and you guys had with these girls making the decision where they wanted to play?
Well, the one thing I know they all wanted to do is play. They didn't want to go someplace where they couldn't play. They all wanted to win. I think that had a lot to do with their choices. And most of the time, it worked out. Eric Case went down to Vermillion and USD.
She played down there, but was something about it that didn't work for her, but she found another place to play. I think I want to say Mount Marty, but I can't remember, but if it didn't work at one place, they wanted to play basketball. Can't forget about Ashley Peterson either.
She was volleyball star.
Yeah. She goes off to Penn State for crying out loud who is the number one team in volleyball. She jumps right in as a freshman and plays. Another thing about her was she was really the only kid that we had that whenever we played Sturgis and somebody had to guard Megan Mahoney, they were built a lot like ladies. She caused Megan dips.
Sturgis was one of those teams that was really good because of Megan. She went to play division one basketball, but Roosevelt, Sturgis came in at the wrong time with Roosevelt making this streak losing a couple of state championships. In fact, it was Sturgis. I was there. Win 111 came on the road at Sturgis.
Now, tonight, I still have a t-shirt that Fred had packed away someplace on the bench. And before the game was over, if you've seen it, I've still got it in my hanging in my office at home but there's Denise and Fred and myself. We got the shirts, and somebody took a picture of that. That's a moment you'll never forget. It was awesome. Sturgis was good.
Yeah. Sturgis was really good. Sturgis almost won three straight titles, but the Roosevelt Rough Riders got in the way.
Yeah. You know what? I remember when we were down in Yankton or I think it was Yankton and we were walking around the hotel in the morning. There was those Yankton girls in a whirlpool in the morning. They had to play us. In the afternoon, Fred grabbed me. He said, "Hey, they're going to be so tired out by the middle of the second quarter. Then, we'll have them."
You know what? We had them. That ball game, we couldn't have played any better. I think to this day, I can't remember the final score, but it had to be one of the largest margins of a state championship game. It wasn't that we poured it on. We just dominated. We had 12 kids and they just went in and out. They just went in out. Even if you were really in good shape and well coached which they were, it didn't matter. We were going to beat them. We weren't going to take any prisoners.
There were some that said, "Well, the Riders ran up the score all the time." But you know what? Fred came back and just said, "Hey, if you don't like it, get better."
Well, that's exactly what he said. I don't know how many times we got stopped, and people come up to them and say, "Coach, can you run the score up all the time?" He says, "I tell you why, because we work all summer with these kids as much as we could. And the kids all want to play. When they get in the game, they're going to play hard because if they don't play hard, they're not going to get to play."
If you look at the minutes of a lot of our kids, a lot of our varsity starting kids, they're not going to have a whole ton of points in their career because they don't get to play the minutes. They would at another school or the starting five is going to be in there for 30, 32 minutes. For these kids, a lot of times because the games were way out of hand early, we took them out or we kept switching.
Fred always told them, "You know what? Put in the time. Go to the camps in the summertime, and spend as much time with your kids as we do, and you'll get better too." You know what? It happened. People started to get better. They started to do that stuff. And the competition got stronger.
1999, the basketball season is played in the fall. The season is over, but the Roosevelt Rough Riders were invited to play in Beaverton, Oregon at the Northwest Holiday Hoopfest. When did you first hear about maybe getting a chance to go to Oregon to play basketball against some of the top teams in the nation?
It was a great trip. Governor Janklow just basically said, "You know what? They're going to go." I remember that the basketball season that ended, so we hadn't practiced for a couple of weeks. The kids were playing volleyball or whatever, I can't remember.
But in order to practice for every practice that we had, we had to give up the summer camp. Fred decided, "Okay. We better at least have a practice." We practiced Fred was on one side of the gym. I was on the other side of the gym. We've been in there for about 45 minutes. It was like a bunch of third grade girls that never played basketball before. Fred comes over and he says, "What do you think?" I said, "Hey, we're not going to be having many summer camps this summer."
But you go out there, and you're playing some of the top teams in the country. I had the opportunity to go out there too because we did the games on the radio for that because there was so much interest that the Rough Rider girls had brought forth on this. Three games, you're going to play three games. What was the thought of your chances of winning at least maybe A game or being competitive in that Northwest Holiday Hoopfest?
Well, I told many people this story, but Fred and I were getting off the plane. He grabbed me and more or less just looked at me and whispered almost. He says, "Coach." He says, "Geez, I hope we can win at least one game up here," because those girls are all practicing. They were in great shape and everything. But you know what? Once our kids stepped on the floor, it was like they'd never stop playing. I just can't tell you what it was, but once they got that here we go, we got to win this game. There was a lot of controversy on whether or not those games should count on the streak or whatever. Well, they weren't playing molly pots or whatever. We were playing good teams. I'll tell you what-
Teams that were bigger, faster.
Yeah. There was this team from Georgia that had girls that were six twins. I remember six three, six four, but you know what? Some of those teams, the ones in Georgia and the ones from Michigan, I can still remember, they like playing little two, three zone with Mandy and Krista winging them from all over the gym. Those zones were very, very good against us.
What was it like coming back to the Sioux Falls Airport after you had won the title?
It was amazing.
The airport was full? The lobby was full of people?
It was packed full of people. It was like we were returning from, I don't know, a war or something. People were just smiling and happy for us. They weren't just Roosevelt people. They were O'Gorman people, Washington people. We went out there. We were representing Roosevelt High School. We were representing girls basketball in South Dakota.
I think people were genuinely happy for us. I had heard stories, but it was hard to get the radio you, guys, were broadcasting, but people sometimes had to drive out in the country to get the radio in their cars so they could listen to our games for crying out loud.
Yeah. There was no streaming back then in '99.
No. But there was a lot of interest. My friend always said, "Our trip out there wasn't just good for us. It was good for South Dakota girls' basketball," because it showed a lot of people, you know what, a lot of college coaches, maybe we should make a trek to South Dakota once in a while. Let's see. It sounds like maybe they got some pretty good girls out there. Cripes sakes, now, we got girls going all over the country. I think that had a lot to do with it.
Well, you know that a streak is going to end at some point in time. And the win 111 happened out in Sturgis. And the next game was going to be against Lincoln. Tell me about that night when Fred Tibbetts was out of town that game, and the Lincoln Patriots win the game. You knew it was going to come to an end at some point in time.
We did. I was there that night along with Denise and Fred. Fred, I think, he was out in Vegas with his son which was where he should have been, and Chow was there with us. It came right down. We jumped out to a really good lead everything. Of course, the gym was packed.
I forget. I think we decided to play zone and should have played man-to-man, but the kid can't think of her name right now, but she hit the baseline shots. That was it. It was tough. I felt bad for the kids. We all felt bad for the kids. We talked to them. It was difficult. I can remember just like it happened yesterday, but it was over. Then, the next game I think we played was O'Gorman, if I remember correctly.
They beat us that night too. Fred came up to me and slapped me. He said, "There, I got you off the hook." He said, "You've been blaming yourself. Well, we lost this one too. So, it's over.: Then, we just went on.
How many consecutive state tournaments were you involved with, Larry, because, let's face it. After Roosevelt, you went over to Washington and were Nate Malchow's assistants for a while.
Well, I was really lucky. Nate was our freshman coach. He sat there and picked Fred's brain and anybody else's brain that he could pick. When he got that Washington job, a lot of people thought maybe if you wanted to take the Roosevelt job, but Nate, he wanted to do something on his own and, brother, did he ever.
I remember when I left Roosevelt, I think they called me. He wanted to know if I was any interest in the sophomore job. I said, "Nate, that's probably the stupidest question you've ever asked me." I got together with him and Mr. Kennedy. They hired me. I don't know what would have happened to me. My wife said for about two weeks I was out of coaching. She didn't know what that she was going to do with me.
She thought maybe she just put me out and put a bullet between my eyes because I wasn't a really nice guy to be around, but no. We continued it. I ended up being in 12 different state championships. Fortunately, I was in a lot of championship games. I remember all the wins, but I remember the losses just as quickly. We had some great teams that I don't know. I can think of three or four teams that were undefeated and just couldn't get past that first game.
But no. It was great. It was for 20 years of my life. I couldn't had more fun and was able to coach a bunch of great kids and working with Fred. He was awesome. I can't tell you how many times he told the rest of us his practice wasn't going well. He'd be screaming at us. He said, "Geez, all I want you guys to do is coach. Don't just stand over there."
He allowed us to coach. I remember numerous times, I think, one night with Lindsay Thomas was not playing like Fred should. Finally, he turned to me and said, "You culture them." I think I must have suggested some maybe this would work, but we did not. We didn't hide our feelings.
But one thing about Fred was he could chew us out or chew a kid out, but then, that was it. That was it. It was over. You know what I mean? You got the message. You got the message he wanted you to hear. Then, let's get going and coach.
What piece of paraphernalia do you have that you treasure the most? Maybe, it's not Roosevelt. Maybe, it's a Washington championship or maybe another basketball game. Do you have one besides the t-shirt 111?
I think the finest moment that I remember is when I left Roosevelt and went over and coached with Malchow. We had some young kids. Chow had been there for a couple of years. He just brought these kids along to the point where they were ready to win. I remember when I got the job the next morning, we had a basketball camp up in Madison, South Dakota.
I'm driving up there as I get the call from Washington telling me that I got the job. Then, I got to gym, and I walked in, and I see all these kids. And a lot of those kids I had had in when I was teaching gym over at Harvey Dunn. They were just like, "Well, what are you doing here? You've been wearing Roosevelt stuff for all of our years that we've ever been around you."
That group of kids, back in 2008, won a state championship. I was so happy. That was Chow's first on his own and [inaudible 00:26:07] and I were able to be helpful and the run was going down. We had it going over Washington. We weren't doing a lot of things the same way that we did at Roosevelt, but the fundamentals were still basically the same.
If Fred was still around and looked at the status of girls basketball in South Dakota, what do you think he would think because I think it is really good across the state?
Well, he would say that coaches nowadays, it's different coaching now than the way we coached back in the day, but we got kids interested in girls' basketball. Plan started down there in Wakanda.
In the early days, the girls started playing with the big basketball for crying out loud. Now, look at it today.
Jump ball. Every tie-up was a jump ball.
Yeah. It's great. It's great. I miss it. Tell you what. It's good. It's fun to watch little girls getting interested in playing basketball and spending their summers. It's good for them. It's good for sport.
Assistant Coach Denise Klein
It is hard to believe it's been 20 years since the streak occurred with Sioux Falls Roosevelt. Some of those players now have families of their own. It's always fun to talk about what was going on at a time where 111 wins in a row, just unbelievable over five years, an event that most likely is not going to happen again. During that time, of course, Fred Tibbetts was the coach, but he had some great assistance with him as well. One of those joins us now on In Play is Denise Klein.
Denise, welcome to In Play. When I say 111, what immediately comes to mind about that time?
It was kind of amazing at the time at 111. Honestly, I think some of the other numbers were different. It's only in hindsight did we know that was going to be the last win of the streak. I think at the time, the 111 wasn't maybe as meaningful as maybe it was after, if that makes sense.
Right. We didn't know what was happening. Sometimes, we just take for granted what's going on. Over four years, Roosevelt goes undefeated. It was just always undefeated in a title. What was it like during that time knowing the athletes you had at Roosevelt at that time?
Well, I think that you hit it right there, Craig, with the athletes that we had. They were really great kids. They were smart girls. They were great athletes. I was blessed to get to watch them play every day at practice and the games. They were good. They were. I enjoyed every minute of it. I think, for me, I've always taught middle school. I taught a number of those girls when they were in sixth grade.
To have taught them as sixth graders and watch them through middle school and then get to see them all summer, I got to know some of those girls for a lot of years. To watch them grow up and become these great athletes, it was a joyful time, I'm telling you.
Fred Tibbetts was a Jefferson. He won five titles down there before he came to Roosevelt in '94. What were you doing when Fred was at Jefferson?
I actually was at Roosevelt since it opened. I did a coaching internship the first year it was open. I was a senior in college and finishing up my degree and getting ready to student teach. I coached the freshman then and then was the assistant, the JV coach the next year with Deanna Hansen. '91, doing an internship there.
When Fred came, he inherited me. I was there already. It's different now. We never played Jefferson like when I was in high school because I was a Sioux Falls girl. But I do remember him being at the U when I played. I knew of him. I knew he was before he came.
Well, we knew that Fred certainly had a way to coach and how to play the game. Maybe, it took players some time to get used to it. How about the assistant coaches like Larry Toft and you even Nate Malchow? How long did it take you guys to understand what Fred was doing and where he was going?
Well, I would say those first couple of year, there was some adjusting for the girls and the coaches. But I don't think it took very long. We figured out the way that he was and the way he coached and how we run practices. Yeah, a lot of repetition. I think the girls could have run practice after a while. We had a way of doing things the way we practiced, the way we played. There was some adjusting and trying to figure out things as there always is when there's change.
Well, that first year in 1994, you went four and 16.
Yeah. That was the tough one. Yup.
But you're in the state tournament the following year lost in the semifinals. You're in the championship game the year after that, lost to Yankton. Then 1997, the streak began.
Right. I think a lot of that and I think the other coaches would say the same. Part of that is that we were all in the same system together. It didn't matter if you were the freshman, sophomore, the junior, senior. We practiced all together often. We ran the same things. We played the same way. They knew the expectations. We did a really good job in those years of... I think the rules have changed now in the day. They could play six quarters in a night.
We got kids all kinds of playing time as much as we could. They got a lot of time to play. They figured out the system. It was the same through the years. As the kids worked their way through our system, it wasn't like anything was new once they hit the varsity team.
What was your role during a game? You got Fred on the bench. You got Larry on the bench. You're on the bench. Everyone's got their own roles, but what was yours during a game?
Oh, sometimes, I was the calming influence with all of them and being the only female too. I kept various stats sometimes. I was at a clipboard in my hands. Honestly, I don't think we ever sat down and said, "All right. Larry, here's what you're going to do. Here's what you're going to do."
I think it evolved. There'd be times. I would try to remember things. I know Larry spent a lot of... I think he was always looking at who was going to sub in next. Yeah. It depended on the game, I think, as we went along.
Was it basketball 24/7 for you, winter, spring, summer and fall, especially once Roosevelt, that title in 1998 and then in '99 and then in 2000, and then in '01? During that time, was it basketball 24/7?
I would say we would take our breaks, but we spent a lot of time in the summer. We had the team camps and summer camps and change seasons there. We were in the fall. Then, it changed so the girls would play in the winter. That season there was a lot of ball going on then too. It was a lot. I don't know if it was 24/7 necessarily for me. We would take our break in between.
I taught middle school, so I wasn't necessarily at Roosevelt through all of that. If we weren't in season, I wasn't over there so much.
What was it like going to Beaverton, Oregon? That was 1999. You just went 23-0, won your third, what? Third straight state title. This his was in the fall. Then, all of a sudden, a little controversy of having Roosevelt being invited to go out to Oregon to play against some of the top teams in the country.
Yeah. It was kind of controversial which was too bad. We got in invited because we played in the different season. We had to maybe give up some things to be able to go. We were just glad to accept the invitation.
Then, when we won the first game and the second game, there was always that streak in the back of our minds just because people said, well, if you win or lose there, is that going to count? It's funny people talked about it before we even went. Then, when we won all four of the games, it was like, "Oh, wow. I don't know if we went in thinking we were going to win the whole thing." But those girls, I'm telling you, they loved it. It was really fun. They're such a fun group of kids too. Those games were close. They played so hard. That was fun.
I will never forget. I think this may have been in the semifinals or maybe it was game two, I don't remember. I will never forget the shot by Renae Luecke on the free-throw line, makes a free-throw, I believe, and then hit the front of the rim to have it bounce right back to her to preserve the win.
You know what? That's my one memory of that trip too that I don't think I'll ever forget which she did that all on her own. Again, they were smart kids. They really were, not just basketball smart. Smart, they're always thinking. For her to miss that shot on purpose and then to get her own rebound and make that basket... Yeah. We freaked out on that one because we did not see that coming.
I don't know how many times I've tried that shot. I can't do it. I've never been able to get the ball come hit the front of the rim and come right back into me at the free throw line.
Yeah. That was something special.
Well, the streak eventually had to come to an end. After 2001, you went 23 and zero. The title over O'Gorman was the fifth title in a row. What about 2002? You had to think that the streak was going to come to an end at some point re-prepared for whenever that was going to be.
I would probably say no. We didn't really talk about it That was a shocker. That was a tough one.
I think part of what it made such a shock was that Fred wasn't there. Maybe, I felt this way. I don't know. I think maybe everyone felt this way that maybe it was all of our faults that we had let it down somehow.
Well, I know you and Larry and Malchow put a lot of weight on your shoulders with that game.
Yeah. It wasn't even really talked about. It was just like, "Okay. We got another game." All right. I don't think we went into it unprepared, but I think we were like, "All right. We got this." That was a tough one, not that we didn't think it was ever going to come to an end. It had to come to an end at some point, but the timing of that wasn't real awesome. It was such a close game. It was hard. That was a hard thing to think to get over there for a while.
You had your own streak of losing two in a row because your next game, you lost to O'Gorman.
Right. I was going to say, "Then, we lost the next game." I don't know if I could say that maybe helped a little, take a little of the sting away. That was hard. It was hard.
What about the players today? Do you get a chance to run into any of the players? A number of them still live around Sioux Falls? Maybe, they go to state tournaments or some Roosevelt games or events that you run into. Do you get a chance to see them once in a while?
Yeah. I run into the kids every once in a... The kids, I still call them the kids. I was thinking Lindsay Thomas went in the hall of fame and a bunch of the girls got together. She came to town. That was really fun to see all of them to catch up and see the pictures of their kids and what they're doing now and to reminisce, "Oh, we had some good laughs." Like Courtney Farrell's a teacher. You go to teacher in service and then to see Courtney around. It's hard to believe.
It's been 20 years, Denise.
Oh I know. Yeah, don't remind me, Craig. They always seem like they're still 16 years old or whatever. I think that's part of when you're a teacher, when you have them, when they're in your class, kids, they stay in that time frame for you. Yeah. It's fun.
Last one for you, Denise, when you take a look back at that time at Roosevelt even before Fred Tibbetts became the head coach and the streak and 111 and playing on after that, when you sit back and take a look at it right now, what was the biggest takeaway that you have of what happened 20 years ago?
I just think it was all about those kids and how much fun they had and playing together and just that whole team concept and the things that you learned being on a team how to work together. We learned how to lose tough one together. There was a lot of learning going on in there. It was really fun along the way, the community, the fans, the parents. We had a lot of support. Really, it was all about those girls.
When you go to ball games today, you see a lot of girls teams play the way that Roosevelt did back in the '90s and the early 2000s. It was a surprise to many, many basketball teams of the way that game was played with the Roosevelt Rough Riders.
We used to run plays all the time. I'm thinking about like when I was a player even and then to go... Yeah, they ran. They played the game. I think they played the game the way it should be played. If you're open, shoot. If you're not, dribble or pass it to a teammate. Then, go pick away somewhere. They just learned how to how to move on the court and play together. I think that was part of the success. They did what they needed to out there. They knew what was going on out on the court. Again, I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed watching them.
Do you miss coaching today?
Oh, I missed the girls. Yeah. I don't know. It's exhausting. Sometimes, I've said to a couple of people, "I don't know how I did it." I teach middle school kids. I'm an English teacher. The amount of grading and the work just in my school job and then the coaching takes a ton of time and hours. I don't miss all of that, but, yeah. I miss the girls and watching them and going to practice.
We had a lot of fun. Yeah, it'd be easy to miss that. It was a good time.
Assistant Coach Nate Malchow
Still hard to believe it's the 20th anniversary of the streak Roosevelt girls' basketball 111 wins in a row. We've talked with Larry Toft, an assistant coach under Fred Tibbetts and Denise Klein, assistant coach under Fred Tibbetts. But there was also another for four and a half years under Fred Tibbetts. It was Nate Malchow.
Nate, of course, went on to become a very successful coach at Sioux Falls Washington, won at least three state titles in a very short period of time, and that was the assistant principal and activities director at Sioux Falls, Washington. Nate, welcome to In Play. When I say 111, what is the first thing that comes to mind for you?
Well, Craig, first off, great to visit with you again here, and what a fun topic of discussion with 111. I think the first word that comes to mind to me is unbelievable. I think it's a mark in a streak that is reflective of a lot of great players, a lot of great coaches, a great community over Roosevelt and just a great time for girls' basketball over there too.
I look at that number, 111. And funny, I was talking with my kids a little bit about that today. They're asking, "What are you going to do tonight?" I told him that I was going to be visiting with you a little bit about this. I told them, "I firmly believe that's a record that will not be broken." Just an unbelievable run for Coach Tibbetts and his teams and was just happy to be a part of that towards the latter part of the streak.
Now, you joined Fred's staff in 2001. You were there until 2005. You had joined them when the streak could already won four titles in a row already, and the streak was running pretty well. How did you become an assistant coach at that time under Fred?
Well, it started. I graduated from Concordia College in 2000. Then, I was up at South Dakota State in 2000-2001 going to grad school and also helping out as a volunteer assistant with Scott Nagy in the men's basketball program. I was ending that, getting close to the end of my studies and was looking for a teaching and coaching position.
I knew Fred. He had helped us out coaching an AAU basketball team back in the mid-90s that his son, Nate Tibbetts, was a part of. I knew Fred and Nate and the family. I inquired about it and threw my name in the hat. I think within a couple days, it was all systems go. Freddie was certainly very generous to get me on that staff and start my coaching days working with him as an assistant coach.
That's where things started, and just was so fortunate and grateful to learn under Fred. He was the best and certainly still think about him often in the influence that he had on me and others. That's where it started. I started coaching girls' basketball with him and continued that. He was a great role model and a mentor and so grateful that he got me into the game of girls' basketball.
Yeah. Roosevelt's winning all these state championships in a row. You come on board as an assistant here in your early 20s. Did it seem a little daunting, or was it a little scary maybe at points knowing what you were getting yourself into?
Well, I was young and basically right out of college and was just looking forward to getting with a great program and working with some great coaches and was fortunate to do that with Fred and also Larry Toft and Denise Klein and the staff that we had and everything over Roosevelt.
But going in, I had known about the success that they had and obviously known about Fred playing for him in AAU basketball and just the excitement and energy that he brought enthusiasm to everything and went in there. The talent that was in that gym at one time, I can recall going into my first open gym. There's about 50 kids in there playing and getting better and put in the time and just enjoying playing the game and open my eyes a little bit.
I'll never forget Fred at a camp one time having me jump in there and work with the posts. I had just the honor of working with the post-player named Lindsay Thomas who ended up being Miss Basketball that year, her senior year. I just remember going into some drills and working with Lindsay and saying, "This kid is the real deal." And also her teammates were so talented too. It was a lot of fun and a blast. Fred gave me a lot of responsibility and just learned as I went. He was there to help and guide and just great memories.
What was your role?
I was the freshman coach. I had my own gym. Our practice groups were split up into two groups. Our sophomores JVs and varsity were in the main gym with Fred, Larry Toft and Denise Klein. I was the mini-gym with the freshman.
I had my own practice group and had to write up my own practice plan and just couldn't ask for a better situation just having a little bit of autonomy with my own group. At that time, when I first came in, I was the coach of the A and B team. So, one coach and we had about 20 kids and learned how to put together practice plans and run a practice.
Then, when I was done with that, I would go in and help out with the older kids. Fred would have me work specifically with the posts and put them through drills. I was just there as a young coach just trying to soak in as much knowledge and experiences as I could. That was just the perfect situation to be in.
What was it about Fred? What was it about him from practices to game day that made him the coach that he was and saw the success not only Jefferson, but at Sioux Falls Roosevelt?
Well, the first thing that drew me to Fred was that experience playing with his son, Nate, and playing AAU Basketball, but just the energy and the enthusiasm, the guy just loved the game. He loved to have fun at open gym and the style of play.
I got in there. On offense, you had a rule. If you're open, you shoot it. The kids just thrive off of that energy and enthusiasm. I always tell people too. Basketball wise, one of the things I remember about Fred is I don't think I've ever been around a coach who has created more enthusiasm with younger kids and their families and their parents about getting them excited to play the game of basketball.
That was reflective with the open gyms that we had in there in the off season. You'd walk in. Like I said, there'd be 50 or 60 kids in that gym in the middle of summer playing basketball and working hard to get better. Once you do that and you start developing that talent and that pool and he was a great scheme coach as well with what we ran. I think Fred was running motion offense and letting players play, but teaching them those concepts and allowing players to do their thing and show their talents off the court.
You combine all those things, but the big thing was just the energy, the enthusiasm and getting the collective group excited about a game and really getting the school excited about the game of girls' basketball. I think that was created. It just created a perfect storm for success.
Natured Roosevelt, from 2001 to 2005 and then the Sioux Falls, Washington job becomes available. What was that like trying to determine whether you wanted to stick around or maybe go off on your own and be a head coach somewhere else?
Well, it was it was always a goal of mine to be a head coach. I joke with people that the situation at Roosevelt was almost like getting another master's degree just being around Fred and the staff and not only Fred, but all the great coaches that we had there at that time. I had chance to coach with Bob Wilber and Kristi Rieger and a lot of great Brent DeBoer, just a lot of great young coaches that were there at that time as well.
Mark Madsen was another head track coach, so just wanted to be a head coach. And the time was right. The Washington opening came about. Fred was very supportive of me applying for that. I know that he had helped me along that route in the application process to get an interview and ultimately become the head coach.
It was sad to leave your former players because any collective group that you work with for a period of time, you become close as a group and seeing those kids get better and seeing their successes and being with them during some tough times as well. That was tough. But the opportunity to come over to Washington and to be on the East Side with the tradition and everything that Washington has itself was great and really leaned on the experiences that I had with Fred and at Roosevelt at the transition in that job over Washington High.
What was one thing that you took with you to Washington that was all Fred Tibbetts? Just one thing. Was it as a practice or a type of the way you played the game? There had to be an influence that Fred had at least one item that you took with you.
Oh, I think the biggest influence was the player development and getting kids in the gym and working in the off season to get yourself better with your skills. It took us a couple years at Washington at the start to get that going, but basketball as we all know is a game of putting in the time and getting in the gym and getting yourself better. Fred had such a great work ethic with that and a great rapport with families and kids to get them in.
I think that was the biggest influence that I got from him and also anytime you enter that gym, you come in with energy and enthusiasm, but you also come in with high expectations for kids and the expectation that they're going to come in and work hard.
I look back at Fred's teams at Roosevelt. And, yes, there was talent. And, yes, Fred could scheme as good as anybody. But those kids always worked hard. That was the expectation. If you're going to come on the floor, you're going to put everything on all systems go. You're going to work hard. We're going to be the hardest working team out there as well. I think that's another thing that I took to heart that we tried to do at Washington, was anytime we stepped on the floor, we want to be the hardest working team around and make our community proud.
Give me one game or two during that streak of 111 when you were there at Roosevelt that was, "Whew, got by that one that. That was a close one." Roosevelt blew up a lot of teams during that streak, but there was a couple of games that streak maybe should not have gone to 111.
Well, I think the two games that I can think of from the first year, and this would have been the fall of 2001, when we went to the state tournament up in Huron. This had been the last year of all basketball for girls in the state of South Dakota. I can't recall who we played in the first round, but I know I believe that was a pretty comfortable win, but when we got into semis, we played Aberdeen Central. That ended up being a very close game.
Of course, Dawn Seiler was the coach for Aberdeen at that time. I think it was a two or three-point game in the semifinals. Then, in the finals, we ended up playing O'Gorman. I was coached by Kent Kolsrud again who's still the coach there. We ended up winning. I believe the final score was 36 to 29. I can remember that.
Yes, of course. 36. Roosevelt would score 36 in the first quarter.
Yeah. I think that's just a testament to the game the way it went that night, but the grid of the players that sometimes when the shots don't fall, we're going to play good defense. That's exactly what we did. O'Gorman had a great point guard in Meghan Woster who ended up being a great player there and a great player in college. We just ended up winning that one, a low scoring game.
It was really, really tight score throughout. I think we were down for a while there too. We had some foul trouble and funny story with that, I remember being on the bench and working with Larry and Denise. We're seven players out and all that. We had some players with three or four fouls.
I think Renae Luecke got into foul trouble a little bit early in the second half. And Fred looked at us and said, "We ain't losing with our best players on the bench." We got them right back in. Thank goodness, they didn't fall out, but that's another thing I learned too when you get into games, your players got to be out there and put yourselves and your teams in the place to win. Those are things I remember, two close games in that streak, but fortunately, we ended up winning the state championship that year too.
Following year, those streak did come to an end. And Coach Tibbetts was out of town watching his son play in Vegas that evening when you lost to Lincoln. You were on the bench. What was it like that night?
Oh, that was tough night, but I can remember vividly Craig starting that game and Larry and Denise and I were coaching the girls because Fred had gotten permission to go watch his son play, Luke play out in Las Vegas. We knew ahead of time that we were going to be coaching. We went in there. We got up early. I think we were up 10 or 15 points early in the game.
The memory that I have is the cameras were there in the first quarter. Typically, when you're playing a city game, you get your city media, and they're coming in. They're filming or whatever. Well, they take a little bit of film. Then, they take off because they have to get back and edit and get it on the news, whatever it is.
The media was there for the first quarter. We're up comfortably. They clear out. We continue with the game. We still had a lead, but Lincoln kept chipping away. And pretty soon, it's a very, very close game, tie game, what not in the fourth quarter, and the media shows back up. They were there.
I think people were keeping their eye on that streak. They must have caught wind of the score. They were back to film. Unfortunately, we lost that game. And all great things come to an end. That was tough. I think it was tough on that group of kids just because they were probably seventh or eighth graders, Craig, when that whole thing started.
That's not an easy streak to put on your shoulders and keep going, but it was still a great group of kids and a tough night. But in sports, sometimes, you learn from that adversity, and you get on. You move on to the next one. Played O'Gorman our next game the following week. We lost that one as well. Those streaks are tough. I've been around long enough to know the significance of 111 and how tough that was. It came to an end, but it is what it is. We move on. We get better with the next one.
Nate, you won three titles in nine years. Then a decision came to leave the coaching field and become an administrator at Washington. How tough a decision was that?
To be honest with you, Craig, at that time, the toughest part again was leaving a group because we had a lot of great young players that were coming up that had success over the last couple years or the first couple of years too after I'd gotten out of coaching. Coach Parrish did a great job with them after I was done. That part's tough.
When you leave a group of kids that you've been working with and you've known since they were little kids coming to your camps, but I was ready for a career change for not really... I shouldn't say a career change, but a role change and moving into administration. Being an activities director had always been a goal of mine.
I put a lot into the coaching with my coaching staffs. Fortunate to have a great support staff at Washington with Larry Toft who came over and Brett Schlekeway and Heather Conrad, Gretchen Johnson, Dana Marquardt, Todd [Alberti 01:00:49], just name a few of the people that helped out. Lisa Riggs, [inaudible 01:00:55] were there, so had done that part, but working with great coaches and trying to build a program the best we could.
But it was time for a change and certainly appreciate the memories of coaching, but right now, I have a position that keeps me somewhat in the game and just a joy to come to work every day at Washington High School.
Last for you, Nate, how often do you talk with Coach Toft, to Coach Klein, some of those Roosevelt players from that streak? How often do you get a chance to talk with those to reminisce a little bit?
Well, Coach Toft obviously and I still talk quite often just we coached together at Washington for, I believe, he was on our staff when I was head coach for seven years. I also worked closely with Larry during that time too and still visit with him a little bit. I know he's enjoying retirement in Arizona in the winter times. Of course, he calls me to remind me of the weather or his golf outing that day, but no. Still talk a lot of sports and everything too with Larry's. That's been special.
Members of the staff, I still see Coach Klein, Coach Denise Klein at events in the district that we have and always great to catch up with her. And then the players, it's funny how many that you run into in town now or they're around town. They're coming to events. Maybe, they have kids of their own.
That's a lot of fun. Again, one of the best parts in teaching and coaching is seeing what your kids strive to be and what they become and what they've accomplished and everything too. I've been out. That's been 20 years ago. So many of these kids have moved on to great things and to having families of their own. It's special when see them and you're able to reminisce and catch up and tell stories.
Like anything, the stories get better by each year or whatever that 15-foot jump shot becomes a 25-foot jump shot in a hurry. It's good. What a great group, and what a great run.
Former Player Courtney Farrell
We're talking winning streaks today specifically girls basketball. Wakanda, the class B powerhouse back in the late '80s, early '90s. They had 101 wins in a row, but then they got wiped out by Sioux Falls Roosevelt who the 20th anniversary of the streak ending back in 2001 after 111 straight wins. We've heard from some of the assistant coaches. Now, it's time to talk to one of the players who was on that roster, was a part of the streak and one of the all-time greats at Roosevelt and had a great career at the University of Sioux Falls and was the all-time rebounder, all-time point scorer for the University of Sioux Falls.
We're talking with Courtney Farrell, who joins us on In Play. Courtney, is it hard to believe it was 20 years ago that 111 game win streak came to an end?
It totally is because it seems like just yesterday sometimes and anyone and everyone who likes to talk about it, I still like to talk about it, but 20 years is a long time.
You were at Roosevelt as a freshman in 1998, but how early did you start playing competitive basketball?
Fourth grade is when we started back in the day. Then, I would play outside until two in the morning. My neighbors would say that they went to bed by the bounce of my ball Super lucky to play with some great traveling teams. I played with a couple girls that actually played at Washington High School. Dave Dickmeyer was my coach.
I played with Brooke Dickmeyer and Laura Hensley, those girls. Then we got our Roosevelt summer team going with Charlie Luecke coached us with Renae and Sarah Timian and Lindsay Thomas. We had our traveling team there. Erin Case was another one. Then, we just all knew each other. We were just ready to head up to Roosevelt, I guess.
Fred Tibbetts arrived at Roosevelt in 1994, just a couple of years before you were maybe going to get varsity action. What did you think of the Roosevelt Rough Rider girls before you were even a freshman in high school?
Oh, my gosh. We would go watch the games. I personally was so scared of Coach Tibbetts. I was thinking like, "Oh, my gosh. Am I going to be able to do this?" He's super intense. These girls are super intense, fun to watch them, but definitely scary being an underclassman that's for sure.
What was that first practice like as a freshman?
To be honest, trying to think back, super competitive but really fun. We would do a lot of like game like situations, playing against each other. A lot of times, we said like our best competition was in practice. Once in a while, Coach Tibbetts would just sit us down and talk about life and the game. Just the practices were fun like intense for sure because we always wanted to win. And everyone was competitive, but my memories, we just loved being at practice.
What was the locker room like before a game before you would go out on the court and final words from Coach Tibbetts or maybe it was one of the assistant coaches?
Locker room depending, half time, if you weren't playing so hot, a little bit intense. We have some veins popping out of Coach Tibbetts and some yelling trying to get us going, but really, we would say the Lord's Prayer, would slap this championship clock he had, pumping each other up. A lot of times, it's like, "Don't do anything out of the normal." But we always do stay calm, good words of wisdom from assistant coaches, just a good atmosphere all in all.
How soon did you get into the starting lineup once you were a freshman in high school?
Pretty much. If I can remember, I started most games as a freshman. I'm going to have to say the one loss I had, I did not start as a freshman. I feel like most of the time I did start freshman year, but I think sometimes we played a little sophomore JV, but I think I started most games in high school.
By 1999, okay, let's go to 1999, you'd be a junior at Roosevelt, 1999. And the writers had already won their third straight title. You had defeated Sturgis. That made it the 61st win in a row. How much talk was there about a win streak? That was 61 was unbelievable then.
For sure. I was talking to Charlie Luecke about this. He was one of my coaches back in the day. I can't remember if it was more pressure to keep the streak going or more pressure to keep the state championships going. I feel like a high school kid when you have wins in the 60s. It seems like looking back now, pretty intense, but at the time, just getting the state championships was pretty huge for us.
Game the game was huge. Of course, other people wanted us to lose. You want to go after the underdog. We definitely weren't the underdog. We would have buses, car loads of people coming to our game state championship games cheering against us. But just the streak, I don't remember. Looking back, it's so impressive, but when you're there, it's like as a high school kid, you just want to win those state championships.
Let's talk about 1999. We'll keep on because that was kind of a controversial time. We're playing fall girls basketball at the time in South Dakota. It was going to change real soon, but Roosevelt gets invited to go out to Beaverton, Oregon to play four games out there. It was a little controversial because some thought you shouldn't go out there. Others thought it was a great idea. I think most thought it was a great idea.
I happened to find the book of the trip to Beaverton, Oregon. You're a junior. You're a starter. Your first game up, you're playing Lakeridge of Oregon in the Northwest Holiday Hoopfest. You led the scoring that game with 12. How nervous were you guys playing that first game at the Northwest Holiday Hoopfest in Oregon?
We were just super excited for the opportunity to be there and to travel that far as a team. We didn’t know what to expect for the games. We were playing against different competition. There was big, tall girls, physical, exciting, but yet we weren't totally sure if it was going to count against our streak.
Pretty much to me, that I can remember was mostly like any other game.
Mandy Koupal, Erin Case, Krista Orsack, you and Lindsay Thomas were the starters. You had AJ Iverson and Renae Luecke. Ashley Peterson come off the bench, Katie Pulford, there's a lot of points in those names, I just mentioned. The next day, you played Springfield, and you win that game. You only had seven points in that game, but Mandy Koupal with five threes led the way with 15 points. You were a three-point shooting team, no doubt.
Yes, for sure. We had girls that love to shoot the ball. Honestly, I feel like our scoring was always so spread out just because we were so deep, and we had so many awesome girls coming off the bench. It was just always different who was the leading scorer. It was never the same people.
The next game, again, you're taking on west view. Remember, they were trying to win this tournament for the third year in a row. They had players at 6-5 and 6-2 and 5-11. You guys go in there. You win at 71, 69. Krista Orsack had five threes. Case had one. Koupal had four. you had two points in that game, but I think that was the game where Renae Luecke was at the free-throw line to keep you guys with the win. You remember when Luecke was at the line, the free-throw line near the end of the game, two shots and she made the first, but then intentionally missed the second free throw, and it bounced right back at her. You guys were able to run the clock out after that.
Yes, oh my gosh. We gave her crap about that for the longest time just like as a young kid to do that. I quite honestly don't think that was planned. I think that was planned in her head, not written up on the coaching board, but just what a play for a young girl to do in a huge game. That was one of our best moments of the tournament for sure.
Well, the next day, it's the championship, you're going against Buena out of California. They were ranked number 11 in USA TODAY. They had the players at 6-3, 6-2, 5-10. They were all tall in physical teams. Roosevelt's going with capital at 5-7. Case is five 5-5. You got Orsack at a 5-10. Then you and Thomas also with some good size. Certainly, you guys were outmatched, but what was it about winning that final game by three points?
We were just such a physical team and just such a balanced team and such a deep team that I don't know. To us, I'm sure we were used to winning. We're used to being physical. We're used to pushing each other. We're used to all relying on each other that it just was the magic thing that always worked out.
I was lucky enough to travel with you guys because I did the games on the radio back to Sioux Falls. I will never forget when we came back to the airport, it was totally packed from Roosevelt fans and non-Roosevelt fans to come to see you guys come back to town.
Yes, which was so fun. It was just such a special part of the trip. We so appreciated the community support. We had anonymous money coming in and just so many people, random strangers that I still talk to today that were remember listening to it on the radio and just such a special thing to be part of. As a high school kid, it's just a once in a lifetime thing.
In the end, you didn't lose much when you were at Roosevelt. Four titles. You were involved with four titles, four of the five. What was it like though when you're traveling back from Marshall, Minnesota? You were on the USF bus. You had played Southwest State coming home on a Tuesday night and hearing that the streak had ended that night as Lincoln had defeated the Roosevelt Rough Riders.
Yeah. It was tough to hear. We knew that it would end sometime. Those were still my teammates, still my friends. So super big bummer. I felt bad for them, felt bad I wasn't there. It's just such a big thing that you just feel so bad that it has to happen.
During the time you were there at Roosevelt, on the team, who was the one that was always trying to keep everybody motivated amongst the players?
Oh, man. I think Krista Orsack was a big one, super smart player, intense player, a serious player. Coach Tibbetts, definitely top motivator.
Who was the jokester? Who's the one that was always freewheeling?
All of us. Probably me, Susan Sherman, Erin Case. I remember one time me and Susan Sherman decided to switch our shoelaces. We had rainbow shoelaces. We showed up at a game, and Coach Tibbetts was mad. He did not like that. That was a funny thing that we laugh about now.
When you think about that time at Roosevelt, how did that prepare you for college at the University of Sioux Falls, your experience with the Riders?
Yeah. Just level of play even if my own teammates just always being physical. I was undersized as a post-player so just learning being physical from our coaches and teammates and having to guard Susan Sherman and Katie Pulford and Lindsay Thomas. I had to be extra physical. I think just the level of play from high school going into USF was so similar because we played at Roosevelt. We were the best of the best and then taking that into college wasn't a huge transition.
Well, I was lucky too because I was doing the University Sioux Falls Women's Games at the time when you were at Roosevelt along with Kristin Kono and Krista Orsack. It was a great fun time, but I think I've told you this before, but I don't know anyone in women's basketball who scored more from the lower left corner fouled and then made a free throw to make it a three-point play. I don't know how many of those in your career.
Well, I tell people that I feel like I can easily make it when I'm like getting followed or someone's hanging on me rather than a wide open layup probably.
When the career ended, how tough was it to walk away from... You had success at the University of Sioux Falls, all-time leading scorer and rebounder and all those state titles at Roosevelt. How tough was it to walk away from basketball at that time?
Oh, so tough. I remember we were out of town. Was it at Doane? I can't remember where it was. I remember it was a last second shot. Of course, Katie Daley, awesome coach. She drew up the play for me. I ended up... I don't know I think I got fouled, but that's your say. It's the last second shot. And of course, I miss it going into the locker room just knowing that was the last experience the last time I would be in a competitive collegiate sport. I could still play women's league. But definitely the end was was really tough especially with a loss and a bus ride home.
You have a family now. You got a boy who's seven. You got a girl who's four. Is your youngest going to be a player just like her mother when she gets a chance to play?
I think so. It's a spitfire. She's a fighter. She's a go-getter. She goes hard all the time. She can run for days. I think so.
When it comes to girls basketball in South Dakota, high school girls basketball, there's a lot of teams now to play like Roosevelt did back in the late '90s and the 2000s. That's quite the honor I would say for Roosevelt girls basketball, a trendsetter at the time.
Yeah, for sure. Playing for Coach Tibbetts and Denise Klein, Larry Toft, Eric Linder just super lucky super blessed to be a part of it. That era of my life, I'm just so proud about. I love to talk about, reminisce about. I'm lucky that it was me. I got to be in that situation. We had that success, and I can talk to my kids about it. I talk every time. I'm a PE teacher. The basketball unit, it's always a big thing that we talk about. I tell them that they can have the same dreams as I had and just such a lucky time to be in.
