Si Tanka To Close?

[filbert]

Not directly SDSU-related but sad nonetheless. Huron College/HU has a proud basketball history, and the last thing the city of Huron needs is another punch in the gut.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...503020336/1001

HURON - Si Tanka University missed a second payroll Monday after an agreement school officials thought they had with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to release federal money fell through.

A furious attempt late Tuesday by Tracey Fischer, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe lawyer, to repair the deal with a one-paragraph change to the university charter failed to satisfy the BIA Office of Indian Education. But if the university's governing board agrees to a three-point BIA proposal at an emergency meeting today, the school might yet get the money, Fischer said.

If the funds are not forthcoming, "that would be the death knell of the college," Fischer said.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

I have been trying to follow this story and its very complicated as it is when the financial enviroment is collapsing. I tend to believe the BIA education board has given up on this institution and wants to put its federal funds in the Indian colleges located on the reservations.

The community of Huron has had more than its share of challenges in the last 30 years or so. The fair is not what it used to be. The packing plant closed, and Huron College was sold more than once as I recall.

I do give the Native Americans credit for trying to make Si Tanka work as it provided an off reservation school for those who are aspiring for higher education.

Si Tanka is probably about like Yankton College was a few years back. The Congregational or now the United Church of Christ gave up and there just was no one there to take over financially. Now its a federal prison, and I suppose economic developement for Yankton.

I think rural communities in the upper midwest are very much struggling to keep everything going and Si Tanka is another example. I guess this is enough hand ringing for today

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Growing up in Miller, SD I was able to watch quite a few of the Huron College mens basketball teams play during their haydays in the 80s. At that time, they were probably most entertaining team in the state. Now, the school's a punchline. It's too bad for the school, too bad for the town of Huron and too bad for small town South Dakota.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

I too have great memories of HC, Its my sisters alma mater. and I went to several wrestling matches, football, and basketball games there in the early 80's.
I hope it can survive but it doesnt look good, Didnt a group from Japan purchase this school maybe 10 years ago, prior to the tribes involvement? I think SDSUFANS comparison to Yankton College is probably pretty close.

Long Live the Huron College Tribe!!

[OKC_Poke]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Slithly off-topic but, didn't a famous NFL player attend Yankton College back in 1970s?

I thinking Lyle Alazdo (sp?) who played for Denver & Oakland/Los Angeles years ago.

On the topic, it's sad to see a college like Si Tanka possibly go belly up mainly because the university was built for the area Native Americans.

I have so much respect for all Native Americans. Personnaly I think the term "Native American" is a complete oxymoron since their ancestors can across the Bering Strait thousands of years ago. So, they really aren't native to the Americas.

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Alzado did attend YC for two years in the 70's then he transferred to Minnesota I think.

Si Tanka had only been a tribal school for 7-8 years, actually I'm not sure how many tribal members actually attended the Huron campus, I think most went to the Eagle Butte campus(but I'm not positive) Prior to that Huron College had been associated with the Presbyterian chuch for most of its history.

[gojacksgo]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

The reason they are shutting down, or short on cash anyways is because the money they were supposed to get from the government isn't going to happen. They needed 50% of their enrollment to be Native Americans or something, and it wasn't.

There are other Native American colleges in SD that they can attend if they want, but I hate to see Si Tanka go. It would be a huge blow to Huron. Hopefully someone else buys it.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Didn't 7 footers Huron's Brian Shanks and Yankton's Chad Nelson also play for their respective hometown college?

[JackJD]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Chad Nelson moved to Yankton from Waubay and after starring for the Bucks, went on to Drake University where he was graduated.

Brian Shanks moved to Huron from Lake Preston. I'm not sure where Brian played college ball but now he's the High School Principal or Superintendent at Elk Point, SD.

Seven-footers Nelson and Shanks are both 1974 high school grads. Back then, the shortest center in the Eastern South Dakota Conference was Watertown's: he was only 6-7.

Must have been something in the water back then.

I watched Nelson at Drake play Indiana State the year some guy from French Lick, Indiana, with a last name of Bird, got on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Back then, the games were held at Vets Memorial Coliseum in downtown Des Moines and you could buy mixed drinks in the lobby area behind the seats. I kid you not--and I partook. At halftime I thought Chad had held his own against that Bird fellow and I said so to my buddy (former roommate of mine at SDSU) who was sitting next to me. My buddy laughed and said I had too much to drink because Bird already had something like 30 points when the first half ended.

Ahh, the good old days when the ESD recruited from the smaller schools nearby,...

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

I am not so sure about Brian Shanks but his father Bill Shanks played for Huron College and was a big star at Lake Preston High School in 1953.  

Chad Nelson played for Drake, and younger brother Coy played for SDSU. I got to know Chad's dad Dennis after sitting one row in front him at SDSU games. He often compared SDSU to Drake and mentioned the things that SDSU did not do for their players.  I may have went down this trail too far already.  As Archie Bunkers used to tell his wife Edith" Tic a Lock". :

[JackJD]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

I also remember Lyle Alzado. I saw him once when I was in high school and he was at Yankton College. Alzado, a New Yorker, went to a junior college in Texas and the found his way to Yankton College. He was drafted as Denver's fourth pick in 1971...after his rookie season he went back to Yankton college for a semester or so and finished his degree, a BA in Physical Education and was qualified to be a high school teacher.

Those who knew him well said he could be like two people. Apparently he started on the 'roids in college, before some of the now-documented dangers were well known. Some said he was a very likable guy that turned into a madman on the football field.

There was a great story floating around about how Alzado had his YC letterjacket on in a pizza joint in Vermillion. Some USD football players decided to give him a bad time and 10 minutes later, four USD football players were in various stages of disrepair, scattered about the sidewalk and street outside the pizza place.

[HoboD]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Oh my god! This is a Jacks board! Am I the only one from circa 70's? Brian Shanks actually played for the Jacks in 1975. Who was the coach? Dont look it up. Buzzzz. Times up. Gene Zulk. Probably the most undistinguished era in Jacks BB. Zulk had been Shank's coach at Huron High School when they won the state championship in 1973 when Shanks was a junior. (Upset a dominant Washington HS team in the semis and beat Chad Nelson and the Bucks in the finals.) When Shanks graduated after 1974, rumor had it that part of the idea of bringing Zulk to State was that he would bring 7'0" Shanks with him. He did, but only played one year. From there I'm not sure where he went.

[filbert]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Oh my god! This is a Jacks board! Am I the only one from circa 70's? Brian Shanks actually played for the Jacks in 1975. Who was the coach? Dont look it up. Buzzzz. Times up. Gene Zulk. Probably the most undistinguished era in Jacks BB. Zulk had been Shank's coach at Huron High School when they won the state championship in 1973 when Shanks was a junior. (Upset a dominant Washington HS team in the semis and beat Chad Nelson and the Bucks in the finals.) When Shanks graduated after 1974, rumor had it that part of the idea of bringing Zulk to State was that he would bring 7'0" Shanks with him. He did, but only played one year. From there I'm not sure where he went.

Yeah, I remember watching Shanks in high school. About as long and lanky as they come. Didn't do much when he went to SDSU though.

And, I'd hardly call a coaching career which featured getting jobbed in the national championship game (I was there in Springfield, I saw it in person, McDonald got shoved out of bounds) "undistinguished."

[JackJD]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Proof that I, too, was there in the 70s: A FAILING MEMORY (too many nights in Horts).

I now recall Shanks was at SDSU for a year...my junior year at STATE.

[HoboD]

Re: Si Tanka To Close?

Yeah, I remember watching Shanks in high school.  About as long and lanky as they come.  Didn't do much when he went to SDSU though.

And, I'd hardly call a coaching career which featured getting jobbed in the national championship game (I was there in Springfield, I saw it in person, McDonald got shoved out of bounds) "undistinguished."

Thats a valid point, but Zulk was there for 11 seasons 2 of which were .500 and 4 below .500. I guess I dont consider 5 winning seasons and 2 conference championships in 11 years as "distinguished," but maybe Im just spoiled by having Nagy around.