For most of them, they no longer play the game.

Yet on Friday night, more than 30 Native American coaches and former players met at center court of the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena to be honored as legends by Lakota Nation Invitational.

Former Rapid City Central High School coach Dave Strain was honored for his groundwork in blending talented Native American players into the Cobbler's basketball teams. He not only created championship seasons for Rapid City's Central High School but also created Native American heroes for generations of children to admire.

"It's always nice when it happens. You make an impact along the way," Strain said.

Marty Waukazoo, chief executive officer of Native American Health Center of Oakland, Calif., and a former Cobbler all-state basketball player, said Strain underestimated his legacy and what he had achieved.

"He gave the American Indian an opportunity to belong," Waukazoo said.

As a teenager, Waukazoo crossed racial barriers when suiting up for the Rapid City basketball team. Strain wanted talented boys ready to work hard, study - and most importantly, to build a team. "We weren't Indians and whites, we were Cobblers," he said.

Waukazoo said that after games, young Native children would often ask for his autograph.

"I never had that kind of role model when I was growing up," he said.

He said Strain's teams would go on to expand their talent on the basketball courts and into their lives as well. "I have a great deal of respect for him," Waukazoo said.

Other players honored, part of the Catholic State Tournament, had long left their rivalries behind - along with their youth.

Silver haired, some bald, using a wheelchair or even canes, these once big men of the basketball arena reached out to shake hands and laugh in recognition at their old teammates and rivals.

The Catholic tournament ran a basketball conference among Catholic schools from 1937 to 1964. The teams included the Stephan Chieftains, Marty Braves, St. Francis Warriors and the Holy Rosary Crusaders.

Harlan Gunville of Flandreau recalls that Stephan offered a great education, but it was on the basketball court as a Chieftain that he learned sportsmanship - something he used in his rodeo career and throughout his life. "I still have friends from 50 years ago," he said of his days in sports.

A White Horse native of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, Gunville, 70, said that when he played for the Chieftains from '55-'58, it was a much more deliberate game.

"We sped it up," Gunville said.

Larry Mendoza, 63, played center for the Chieftains 45 years ago. It was the year they won their chance to play for the championship title. Like the movie "Hoosiers," they were the little guys with a lot of heart, he said.

"There must have been all of 65 students enrolled in Stephan, and then we played Sioux Falls O'Gorman. They were big," he said.

At 6-foot-4-1/2, Mendoza was 5 inches taller than the O'Gorman center. Although the Chieftains weren't necessarily deep on their bench, they introduced the private Catholic school to a Native basketball style of run-and-shoot that exhausted their opponents.

Mendoza still feels the elation and happiness of that 1963 victory and championship. The bond with his teammates has not dimmed, even after nearly a half-century, he said.

"It's like it was yesterday," he said.

Those honored included: Stephan Chieftains - Pete St. John and Dale Ducheneaux, '50-'54; Harlan Gunville, '55-'58; Melvin Hawk, 1961, All Tourney; the 1963 team - Lonnie Spotted Bear, Joseph Culbertson, Roger Lawrence, Justin Lawrence, Ed Grandboice, Saul Fleury, Larry Mendoza, Ronald Howe and Coach Mike Reddy.

Marty Braves - Larry Dauphinais, Grover Yellow Bird, Joe Merrival, 1955; John Duane Goes In Center Witt, Dean Brewer, Walt Cournoyer and Jerome Witt.

St. Francis Warriors - Skeeter Leader Charge, Leroy Swalley Sr., Vincent Brewer and Lionel Bordeaux, '57-'58.

Holy Rosary Crusaders - Basil Brave Heart, Billy Swift, Floyd Hand Jr. and Melvin Clifford, both '57-'58; Percy Little Bear, '63-'64; and Herb Colhoff, '45-'49 and All State, '48.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com