Jackrabbit Football in the Black Hills

[West-River_Jack]

Re: Jackrabbit Football in the Black Hills

I went out and watched for a while. I left early to watch a very good friend of the family run in a track meet on the other side of town. I wish I knew enough about the fine points of the game of football to analyze it for you but I don't. About the best I can say is that the cold damp weather was good practice for home games in October and November.

I spoke briefly with Coach Stig at the alumni gathering later in the day. What a fine gentleman he is. After he spoke to the group he made a sincere effort to personally meet every fan in attendance.

The event got good media coverage in Rapid City. I generally think that South Dakota State gets decent media coverage here to the extent that they print the press releases from the university. We are too far away to expect coverage like the Jacks get in eastern South Dakota. Press releases from the university don't get on the front page of the sports section above the fold but they do frequently get printed. The moral of the story is for South Dakota State to send plenty of press releases. I don't know if there are photos with those press releases but I hope that there are. There was interest generated by this visit and I suspect that the Rapid City media will be more aware of Jackrabbit football this fall. Hopefully that will result in good placement of those press releases.

[89rabbit]

Re: Jackrabbit Football in the Black Hills

One more story from the Black Hills, and it is a good one, Coach Stig talked about this last night in Yankton:

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/arti...d370202933.txt

Spring training: It's not all scrimmaging

SDSU football team visits Black Hills Children's Home

By Jake Nordbye, Journal correspondent | Monday, April 20, 2009

"They're here!" screamed one 10-year-old as two buses of South Dakota State football players pulled up to the Black Hills Children's Home, and all the kids went running to greet them.

It isn't often a kid has the opportunity to spend some time with a group of Division I football players, but that is exactly what 52 kids, ages 4 to 13, at the Children's Home did on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The Jackrabbits were in Rapid City Saturday and Sunday for spring football practice, and on their trip, they held a youth clinic, visited kids at Rapid City Regional Hospital and stopped at Black Hills Children's Home.

"We have a philosophy in our program that we are going to serve," head football coach John Stiegelmeier said. "Oftentimes in intercollegiate athletics, it is about chartering airplanes, nice facilities, and big stadiums, so I want our guys to appreciate what they have. They can't letter until they do three service projects a year. We are a family, and as we do things like this, we grow closer as a family." . . . (read more)


Go State!