NEWELL, S.D. – The Newell High School Sports Hall of Fame added two new inductees on Thursday night to their 2021 class at the spring athletic banquet.
Harry Stapp, a 1963 graduate of Newell High School, was inducted for his accomplishments on the basketball court, the gridiron and for his work with AAU girls’ basketball in South Dakota.
Stapp scored 34 touchdowns during his football career with the Irrigators as the starting half-back, averaging 130 yards per game as a junior and 140 yards per game as a senior. Stapp was named to the South Dakota all-state football roster in 1961 and 1962.
“Newell has a special place in my heart,” Stapp said following the induction ceremony. “We raised three daughters here who went on to great basketball careers, it’s just a great place to take part in high school sports.”
Stapp also tallied 990 career points for the Irrigator basketball team, helping the team win their first ever district basketball championship in school history. In 1988, Stapp petitioned the Newell Board of Education to start girls volleyball and was the founder of South Dakota AAU girls basketball, serving as state AAU director for five years.
The 2000-2001 Newell boys basketball team was also inducted in the NHS Sports Hall of Fame. The team finished the regular season with a 13-6 record but then stormed through Districts and Regions to make it to the State Class A basketball tournament for the first time in 22 years. The Irrigators entered the tournament as the #7 seed and beat #2 seeded Cheyenne-Eagle Butte in game one of the state tourney, 77-67, then downed the #4 seeded Platte Black Panthers 60-54 in the semi-finals. Newell ran into a buzz saw in the state championship game, losing to the #1 seeded West Central Trojans, 104-73. The Irrigators second place finish at the 2001 State A Basketball Tournament is the best finish by any boys basketball team to date.
Former journalist Tim Velder, a 1986 Newell graduate, inducted the team and spoke about the parallels between hard work on a farm and hard work in sports. Six former members of the 2001 team were on hand to accept the honor.
“It’s just great to see some of my former teammates again,” said Blake Proefrock, who was a sophomore reserve player on the 2000-2001 basketball squad. “It was a special time in our lives 20 years ago and we realize now how much work it takes from the coaches and our parents to make something like this happen.”
Members of the team inducted to the Hall of Fame are Troy Cooper (head coach), Steve Schoenfish (assistant coach), Blake Proefrock, Josh Wilson, Craig Kirk, Tyler Smeenk, Tyson Hewitt, Chad Oliver, Shawn Shelly, Ryan Brunner, Luke Bonefield, Kyle Cox and Chester Ismay.
