The 2018 South Dakota Hall of Fame class of champions were presented at the Inductee Press Conference in Sioux Falls on July 18, 2018. These South Dakotans Champion a Culture of Excellence. This year’s honorees are:
Cleveland Abbott (Watertown 1894 – 1955) SD African American Firsts.South Dakota born and raised off-spring of Alabama slavery. Hard economic times brought his parents here to raise a family. Little did they know their oldest child would return to Alabama, to help breakdown segregation at Tuskegee Institute through education and skills honed in Watertown and at South Dakota State. He and his wife Jessie, created the first organized women’s college athletic programs which then ruled national track and field events for decades. His students went on to be world leaders using the example he lived. The revered the Duke of Dakota was asked to be the first black member of the USA Track and Field Board and then on to the U S Olympic Committee by 1946. Bruce Danielson spoke on behalf of Cleveland Abbott.
Rod Bowar (Kennebec) South Dakota Telecommunications Entrepreneur. Rod Bowar has perhaps the most unique career path in South Dakota telecommunications. Rod has taken his entrepreneurial spirit and created numerous business divisions for Kennebec Telephone Company Inc. Rod serves the telecom industry on the boards of SDN Communications and the SD Telecommunications Association, also the Dakota Prairie Bank Board, Kennebec’s Town Board, Clinic Committee, Fire Department, Badlands Fire District, The Mitchell Technical Institute Foundation Board, SD Board of Technical Education and numerous community clubs.
Marilyn Hohm Hoyt (Huron) Public Service Innovator. She has served her community and South Dakota in many capacities advancing economic and quality of life issues for the generations. Her involvement included Huron College, South Dakota Board of Education, Christen-Hohm-Lusk Foundation Board, the Spirit of Dakota Award Society and currently is a Board member for the South Dakota Community Foundation.
Tom Loveland (Sioux Falls) Geographic Landscape Global Expert at EROS. One of the nation’s foremost experts on the use of remote sensing to monitor and measure changes on the Earth’s land surface. His work on the use of moderate-resolution satellite imagery to characterize land cover and changes to it is foundational, all based on science that came out of the work of Loveland. Not done just for South Dakota, but across the nation and the globe.
Anne Rieck McFarland (Sioux Falls) Empowering those with disabilities to impact South Dakota. Anne has been in a leadership position with LifeScape for 30 years, and more than 40 years in the human services profession. She is truly a positive ambassador for people of all abilities.
Roger Musick (Mitchell) – Communications Hardware and Software Creator. A founding partner of Martin & Associates, a solutions provider to the telecommunications industry for nearly 30 years, at which point he leveraged his telecommunications experience to found Innovative Systems. Roger devotes his time to numerous boards and advisory councils across the state where he strives to make South Dakota a better place to live and work. A generous benefactor, local leader, and industry pioneer.
Rod Parry (Sioux Falls) – Medical Education Trailblazer. Rod Parry, MD has dedicated his life to improving health and medical education in South Dakota and beyond. For 36 years, culminating in his role as that USD Medical School Dean, he taught and influenced generations of physicians and medical professionals
Raymond Peterson (Brookings) Mr. South Dakota Performing & Visual Arts. An invitation to serve as a vocalist for the 1966 Miss South Dakota Pageant led to a 50-year commitment to the Miss South Dakota and Miss America Organizations as a scriptwriter, designer, producer, director, and nationally renowned pageant judge.
John Porter (Sioux Falls) – Leading Integrated Health Care Systems. John has had a 44 year history with Avera Health. His journey from lawyer to CEO of South Dakota’s largest employer is inspiring and exciting. John was pivotal in the formation and growth of Avera along with the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters, shepherded the building of one of the most integrated health systems in the country
A press conference will be held in Rapid City August 2, 2018 to present Nicholas Black Elk (1863 – 1950) Native American Evolutionist. Black Elk was an Oglala Sioux medicine man who helped guide his people from the nomadic to reservation life and then, helped document the customs and traditions of Native American tribal and Plains Indian spirituality for all future generations. A witness to the Battle of Little Bighorn, then Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, returning to the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek before taking his role as a traditional holy man who blended it with his conversion to Catholicism. He related his life story to John Neihardt, for the classic Black Elk Speaks.