New hall selects four for induction

By Journal staff | Thursday, November 13, 2008

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The first inductees into a new athletic hall of fame have been announced and they have a grand total of 122 years of experience in the sport.

The South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association has recently established its Hall of Fame and has selected Todd County’s Galen Busch, Brandon Valley’s Kathy Hunt, Viborg’s Connie Nyhaug and Pierre’s Ruth Rehn for its inaugural class.

The four inductees will be honored Nov. 21 at the Rushmore Civic Plaza during the State AA, A and B volleyball tournaments. A reception will be held for volleyball coaches at 4 p.m. on Nov. 21 in the hospitality area of the arena and the honorees will be introduced and receive plaques before the 6 p.m. MST semifinal matches.

Busch, Hunt and Nyhaug all rank among the top seven coaches in career wins.

Busch coached for a total of 32 years and served as the head coach for 26 years compiling a 617-305 record. He started his coaching career at Todd County High School in Mission. His volleyball teams advanced to the state tournament 16 times and won a state title in 1993.

Busch coached the South volleyball team in the first all-star games in 1989. He is currently retired from teaching and coaching.

Hunt has distinguished herself as a head volleyball coach at two Class AA schools, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Brandon Valley.

She has spent 26 years as a head coach and compiled a 482-315-15 record. Hunt coached at O’Gorman for 16 years and her teams played in six state championship matches wining in 1987, 1988 and 1999. She’s been at Brandon Valley for the last 10 years and the Lynx played in the state tournament in 2000 and the fall of 2002. Hunt’s Brandon Valley team set a school record for wins in a season with 26.

Hunt served on a committee and spoke in favor of the volleyball season change. In other volleyball news, she helped start the all-state awards and the first academic all-state awards for volleyball in the state. She still coaches at Brandon Valley.

Nyhaug founded the Viborg volleyball program during the 1978-79 school year and coached the Vikings for 30 years. Her career volleyball coaching record is 393-249.

Viborg appeared in four state tournaments including third in 1988, second in 1989, state champions in 1994 and eighth in 2001. She currently teaches at Viborg.

A native of Lyons and a 1966 graduate of South Dakota State, Rehn spent 34 years as an executive director for the South Dakota High School Activities Association before retiring in June. She also taught and coached in Minnesota before accepting the SDHSAA job.

South Dakota was one of the first states to experiment with rally scoring and the libero in volleyball.

Rehn assisted with the switch of seasons in girls’ volleyball and basketball and was instrumental in the addition of cheer and dance to the SDHSAA recognized sports.