The state of South Dakota lost a good one last month with the passing of Denis ‘Deny’ Lather. Not only was he quick-witted, funny, and extremely sociable, but his knowledge of sports in the state and his passion for coaching – it’s obvious there can only ever be one Deny Lather.
Whether it was a conversation on the street, or listening to him do an impression of Howard Cosell, if you met Deny once, you’d remember him – and he’d remember you.
Deny was born in Huron but moved early in life with his family. He graduated high school as a Woodchuck from Waverly. In college, Deny played football at Dakota State where he received SDIC First Team All-State honors. After receiving a master’s degree from the University of South Dakota, he moved to Watertown to teach math. His passion for sports, however, quickly brought him into the coaching world as he became an assistant football coach for the Watertown Arrows.
In the 1970s, he met Virg Polak, who would become a longtime friend of Deny’s.
“He was just a guy that had had a lot of fun with kids, and kids just adored how he kept them entertained,” told Virg. “He was a great teacher, math teacher, and he just always was on the upside with everything you did. He was a great motivator of a person.”
Deny was also incredibly funny. He loved to tease people, but always with good intentions.
If you met Deny, it wouldn’t be uncommon for him to ask where you went to school and if you played sports. His response to whatever you answered would typically be the same.
“I knew a lot of good athletes from Roosevelt. You, however, weren’t one of them…”
Deny’s nephew Chris Lather also mentioned how he loved to joke with people, even the ones who were really good in athletics.
“I got to see Paul Raasch throw two no-hitters last summer. Unfortunately, it was in boxing.”
Chris said he’d use the same joke on him during his playing days. “He used to use the same line on me when he’d come to watch my baseball games, and I would pitch in legion,” chuckled Chris. “I think he came to a couple of my amateur games when I first started amateur baseball, and he would use the same line that he used on other people. I don’t know if any two people ever knew that they were both mentioned in the same story like that, but yeah, he’d do that.”
Deny’s sense of humor became a well-known commodity in the Watertown area.
“People were just gravitated to him. If we were in the lounge or something like that, and they had a band when the band went on break, he’d go on and do a whole community comedy skit,” said Virg. “I mean, he’d go 20-30 minutes just off the top of the head, and the people wouldn't want the band to come back. They’d want him to keep going. He just had a heart of gold. He worked hard at being a great coach, but everybody kind of gravitated to him when he came around because he could make them laugh and they had fun.”
Deny was also known to do an impression of Howard Cosell, which always seemed to work its way into a comedy routine or table conversation with friends. He’d also sell fireworks near the Minnesota border during the fourth of July. Just another talent of Deny Lather. It didn’t matter if you were meeting him for the first time as a new customer, he had a way of capturing your attention and making you laugh.
“There was another [firework] stand. I mean, it wasn't 100 yards away. He would stop a vehicle and say, “You better buy your fireworks here. The bridge is out down the road,” and they’d stop,” laughed Virg. “He was always doing funny things like that to lure people in, and then he’d have a conversation with them from there.”
After spending ten years as an assistant coach in Watertown, he became the head coach at Redfield. In 1983, he coached at both Redfield and Huron College. Coaching two teams simultaneously took a toll on Deny. He took time off as both a coach and a teacher for personal reasons. Eventually, however, he boosted himself back up in life where he once again found a passion for sports and socializing with people.
Another aspect of Deny’s life that most will remember is him trying to sell people books. George Kiner, who wrote a book entitled “Tall Tales but True: South Dakota Sports Stories,” met Deny in the 80’s in Watertown.
“We were trying to sell that book and Deny told me that he was a professional, that he was good at sales. He had sold Christmas trees around Watertown. He told me that he'd be happy to try to help me sell this book. I had no idea what I was getting into with Denis Lather,” explained George. “I gave him like a small box of books, and he claimed that he could sell them. So, a week or two later, I would come back up to Watertown, and I would meet him somewhere, and he'd say, "Well, I'm all out of those books.” He said, “bring me another box of books,” so I would, and he would go around Watertown again, selling those books to anybody that he would meet on the street, in the bar, or wherever.”
Eventually, his book-selling tactics made their way to the state tournaments in South Dakota.
“Deny and I would go to sports events around South Dakota. Like up to Aberdeen to sell books at the Class B basketball tournament. We would go to the Howard Wood Relays, the state track meet, and the state wrestling tournament. Normally, those places would let us set up with our books, and then [Deny] would sit with me,” George said. “People would walk by, and he would know nine out of ten of them by name.”
Deny was a walking and breathing South Dakota sports encyclopedia.
“If somebody was wearing a t-shirt or something of a sports team, he'd be like “oh hey, Scotland Highlanders,” and he'd be like “do you know so-and-so from that place?” They’d be like “yeah, that's my coach,” or something like that, and then he would have this hour, two-hour long conversation with this person that he just randomly met” stated Chris, Deny’s nephew. “If there was one person that I would ever say was meant to be in South Dakota, it was him.”
Deny’s personality also led to him being a frequent guest on KWAT Radio for the ‘What’s Up” show with David J Law.
“[David] was good at interviewing Deny. Deny would basically take over that show, and people would call in and ask sport questions about everything and Deny would know their name, he would know their school, and he would know what their mascot was,” George explained. “He would know an unbelievable amount of knowledge about all these people. This would go on during the David J Law show, which resulted in the selling an enormous number of books around Watertown and immediate area.”
While the book selling was certainly a passion of Deny’s, he never took money for doing it.
“He donated the money to ‘Coaches Against Cancer’ in South Dakota. It was called the ‘Dave Prohl Coaches Against Cancer Foundation.’ So, he volunteered all of his time with all these sales, and he didn't take any money himself,” George exclaimed. “He wanted the money to go into our scholarships for kids that have had cancer and give to children's care charities. I'm hoping that he will go into The South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame because of what he's done. His knowledge of sports was unbelievable, so that's where I'm at with Denis Lather.”
Deny knew so much about sports in South Dakota, because he loved it. It was a passion of his. He loved to talk about it with people, and people enjoyed talking with Deny about it as well.
“The pride that Denny had in South Dakota sports, not only at the high school level but at the collegiate level as well. You know, Dakota State was near and dear to his heart,” said Chris. “They had taken him back to the alumni days for homecoming this last year, and he got to be a part of their celebration, which was wonderful.”
Chris also mentioned that Deny was a key person in the family as well.
“He was a lot more active when I was younger. We'd go swimming for hours. We'd go fishing,” explained Chris. “Family meant the world to him. He was kind of the person that held everybody together as far as family reunions and things. Deny, he put himself out there, and I think he always made sure that when he encountered people, they always walked away knowing who Deny was.”
Denis Lather passed away on March 11, 2025 at the age of 72. And while he may no longer be with us, it’s clear his legacy and the stories will live on. Whether it’s the jokes that some knew as ‘Latherisms, his Howard Cosell impression, or just an evening discussion about sports – plenty of South Dakotans will always remember Deny, and South Dakota can always be proud to claim him as one of our own.
