RAPID CITY - The Black Hills, and South Dakota as a whole, lost a great member of its educational community on Friday night.

Longtime Hill City activities director Cory Ginsbach passed away late Friday night after returning home from the Hill City-Lead-Deadwood football game after halftime. He was 49 years old.

Ginsbach was diagnosed with ALS - or Lou Gehrig's disease - last year. He had been the activities director in Hill City for 23 years before stepping down last spring, but his presence was felt all over the Black Hills and beyond. Ginsbach, a Buffalo native, was the head basketball coach at Dupree, where he took the Tigers to three state tournaments in the 1980s before becoming the AD at Hill City.

"A lot of times with a death it affects a family or a certain group of people," Hill City boys basketball coach Blake Gardner said. "This one affects the entire town. It seemed like no matter where I went in South Dakota, when I told someone that I was coaching in Hill City they always asked me about Cory Ginsbach. I don't know how he did it, or where he found the time, but it seemed like he knew just about everybody in this state."

Todd Weber, the Hill City principal, knew Ginsbach for over two decades and couldn't help but choke up a bit as he remembered a great friend.

"I've known him for 22 years and he was the classiest man I've ever met," Weber said. "He always put his family first and was just one of the best people I've ever known."

Ginsbach's influence over the entire school, and every detail that went into teaching and coaching, was immeasurable according to head girls' basketball coach and new activities director Shawn Woodward.

"He was just tremendous," Woodward said. "Growing up in Custer I knew Cory from an early age, and he was always a standup guy, a real straight shooter. I never really had anyone teach me how to do things as a coach until I got here to Hill City and got to know Cory. I did a lot of learning from him as a coach, having him show me how to do different things, and not just the X's and O's. He taught me about every aspect of being a coach."

Woodward said that even up until Friday afternoon, as he was out preparing Ranger Field for the game against Lead-Deadwood, Ginsbach was making sure that everything was just right.

"He was texting me, reminding me of the different things I had to get done to make sure everything was ready," Woodward said. "He was just a tremendous person. I had kids from the team texting me last night from 10:30 to midnight just asking me what they could do to help.

"He touched a lot of lives."

None more than Gardner, the young head basketball coach.

"He packed more into those 49 years than most 70- or 80-year olds do," Gardner said. "He was like a father figure to me in a lot of ways. I looked up to him as a coach and teacher as much as anybody else I've ever known."

Weber knows that Ginsbach passed away a happy man.

"He died the night that he did everything he loved doing," Weber said. "He went to a football game and got to be around people. It's amazing how many phone calls I get from former students and colleagues already. He meant a lot to a lot of people.

"I really don't know how to express in words what he meant to this town."

Ginsbach is survived by his wife, Kim, and three children, Clint, Wade and Kati.

Memorial services are scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. at Ranger Field in Hill City.