July 16, 1998

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Six former Northern student-athletes will be inducted into the Northern State University Athletic Hall of Fame during homecoming week festivities this year. Myrna Becker and Cathy (Coyle) Grubb were standout women’s basketball players during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Pat Fors paved the way for women’s golf teams when she fielded Northern’s first squad in 1975. Kevin Carson and Mick Wysuph enjoyed outstanding careers in football at Northern as well as long and successful stints as basketball officials out of college. Barry Erickson’s marks in track and field during the 1960’s still stand in the record books today. All six inductees play a vital role in NSU history and have extended their excellence to their communities and careers.

Myrna Becker competed in three sports during her collegiate years at NSU, but is most remembered as one of the greatest women’s basketball players to ever suit up for the Wolves. Becker, a four-year starter and rebounding machine in basketball from 1976 to 1980, also lettered in track her freshman year and volleyball her sophomore year before turning her athletic focus to hoops.

In addition to already being the team’s leading rebounder, Becker also led the Wolves in scoring during her junior and senior seasons. She ended her career as the leading rebounder for all South Dakota colleges (she is currently third with 1,129 rebounds) and is still NSU’s career leader in boards. She ranks 14^th on NSU’s career scoring chart with 1,243 points and holds the school record for rebounds in a game with 21. During her four-year reign on the court, NSU boasted an incredible 93-13 record and the Wolves fared no worse than third in the state tournament. There were no conference or district titles available for women’s sports at the time, but Becker was selected to an all-regional six-state area team as a senior.

Out of college in 1980 with a degree in education, Becker had a two-year stint at Webster High School as a teacher and coach before returning to Northern to study what that job had introduced her to – counseling. She received her master’s in education from NSU in 1984.

Today, Becker is an elementary school counselor for grades K-5 in Rapid City. But just as the title "basketball player" couldn’t describe her prowess on the court, her job title alone again doesn’t tell the entire story. Becker is a board member and State Advocacy Chair of the South Dakota School Counselor Association, and was selected to attend Advocacy Leadership Training in Washington DC in the spring of 1999. She is also a member of the American School Counselor Association at the national level.

Kevin Carson made his mark in football and basketball before earning a degree in secondary education and health/physical education composite in 1975 . After college, he didn’t leave the sporting scene, working as a high school boys and girls basketball official from 1973 to 1990. Carson also served as a football and basketball coach at Langford high school from 1979 to 1981.

While in college, Carson was a part of NSU’s SDIC conference champion football team in 1972. The following year, he was selected to the all-SDIC team. He repeated that feat as a senior captain in 1974, and was named to the All-NAIA District 12 honor team. He also earned the team’s most valuable defensive player award that season.

But his achievements go beyond the lines of athletic playing fields. Just as when he was in college, Carson has always been involved with activities outside of competitive athletics. He has served on Langford’s Board of Education, the Hickman Township Board, the Langford Lutheran Church Council and the Jaycee Board. He has also given his time teaching Sunday school and coaching elementary basketball. During college, he was a member of the NSU collegiate choir, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Kappa Delta Pi, and the "N" Club. He earned the Alumni Maroon and Gold Award, presented to NSU’s top-ranking students, and was the Gypsy Day Marshal in 1974.

Currently, Carson is a self-employed farmer in Langford and a member of the town’s sports club, as well as NSU’s Wolves club. He is a deacon on the church council and a choir member. He also sings as a soloist or with his wife Betty in the church and community.

Barry Erickson has stood the test of time at Northern State, earning three degrees in three decades. After earning his bachelors in 1967, Erickson continued on and received a master’s in school administration in 1970. In 1987, he returned to pick up another master’s in guidance and counseling. All three degrees have helped him succeed in his current position as superintendent of Tulare High School.

Erickson’s athletic achievements in track and field have also stood the test of time. He still holds the school indoor records for long jump at 23 feet, 5¼ inches, and shares records for two now-defunct events: the indoor 60-yard intermediate and high hurdles. While he competed, he broke many school, state and SDIC records. Northern garnered four SDIC track championships with Erickson’s help in 1963-64 and 1966-67. NSU was also crowned District 12 NAIA champions in 1963 and ’64.

Erickson, who also competed in football and basketball while at Northern, qualified for nationals twice in the high hurdles and made the finals both times. In 1967 he raced against Willie Davenport, who held the world record in the event at the time. Erickson also competed in the prestigious Drake Relays.

Northern State isn’t the first to award Erickson’s dedication and longevity. In 1997, he received the Tulare Mason’s Award for dedicated service to the community. Erickson is a 28-year member of the School Administrators of South Dakota organization, as well a charter member of the Tulare Lions and Tulare Sportsman’s Club.

The history of golf at Northern State University begins with Pat Fors. The emeritus professor of health and physical education at NSU guided the Wolves’ first golf team in 1975 to a perfect 6-0 record. Fors coached the team the next 21 years before retiring in 1996. But her dedication to athletics and physical education doesn’t end with being a coach and teacher.

Fors, who received her master’s from Northern in 1957, didn’t have the opportunity to participate in competitive sports while in college as women do today. At the time, women interested in sports could join the Women’s Recreation Association. Fors made the most of that organization, participating in volleyball, basketball, softball and tennis. As a teacher fresh out of college with her bachelor’s degree in 1953, she formed a modern dance group with high school students. Since then, she has presented numerous instructional aerobic or social dance programs for use in physical education classes.

Beyond coaching, Fors has promoted not only golf but also the importance of physical education since the 1950s through presenting programs, clinics and research, as well as researching and writing articles for journals and newspapers. She helped organize NSU’s first Women’s Golf Classic in 1990, a fund-raiser for women’s athletic scholarships. In 1992, she was appointed Northern State’s first NCAA Senior Women’s Athletic Administrator.

Fors was honored with the South Dakota Association for Health Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (SDAHPERD) Honor Award in 1994, the Central District AHPERD Honor Award in 1995, and was the Royal Order of the Gyps’ Coach of the Year in 1995. She has also received an American Red Cross appreciation award.

From athlete of the year to career woman of the year, Cathy (Coyle) Grubb has always found a way to rise to the top in whatever she does. She graduated from Northern in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in education and later picked up a master’s in teaching in 1988. Her success in basketball and track in college carried over into the professional world. Today, Grubb is a secondary special education teacher and head volleyball coach at Belle Fourche High School.

In college, Grubb helped the women’s basketball team to the NAIA national tournament in 1981, where the Wolves finished third. The following year, NSU repeated as District 12 champions and finished second in the region. During her four-year career, the Wolves went 98-15. Grubb is eighth on NSU’s career scoring list with 1,342 points. She is second in career free-throw percentage at 81.6 percent. During her junior and senior seasons, she made the NAIA All-District 12 team, and was an NAIA All-American honorable mention. As a junior, she would be the first female athlete at NSU to be chosen as the College Female Athlete of the Year by the South Dakota Sportswriters. As a senior, she earned NSU’s prestigious Hildred Wolfe Outstanding Athlete award. In track, Grubb won the 400-meter hurdles at the AIAW State meet in 1981 to help Northern win the team title and won the same event at the NAIA District 12 meet in 1982 to help the Wolves capture the team crown. She was also part of the 4x800 relay team that placed fifth in the NAIA national outdoor meet in 1982.

Grubb has successfully continued in athletics after college, coaching Belle Fourche’s high school volleyball team to a state tournament appearance in 1995 and racking up four Black Hills Conference championships. She was selected as an assistant for the North team for the 1997 South Dakota All Star Games. In basketball, she was named the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year in 1992, and since 1995 took to the air as girls basketball sports broadcaster for KBFS radio. She is also a lifetime participant in ASA softball, and a part of numerous state championship teams and all-state tournament teams.

Outside of athletics, she has also gained acclaim as the 1991 Business and Professional Women’s Young Career Woman of the Year (Winner chapter). In the community, she volunteered to help coordinate and coach in the South Dakota Special Olympics, is a member of the Belle Fourche Area Community Center and the St. Paul’s Catholic Church Altar Society.

Mick Wysuph successfully flipped the script from calling signals as a college quarterback to barking them from the sidelines as a high school coach. Wysuph earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern State in 1971 and later picked up his master’s in 1983. Currently, he is a physical education teacher and head football coach at Stevens High School in Rapid City.

On the field, Wysuph played football from 1965 to 1968. He earned the starting quarterback spot after the fourth game of his freshman year and never relinquished it. As a result, Northern never lost an SDIC game with Wysuph at the helm. The 1968 Wolves were ranked in the top 10 nationally and played Texas A&I in the first round of the national playoffs. Wysuph was a first team All-SDIC selection and first team All-District 12 pick that year.

Wysuph has also earned recognition in the coaching ranks. In 1983, he led Sturgis High School to an 11-1 record and state runner-up finish. In 1987, he took Stevens a step further, winning the state championship. His Stevens team returned to the state level again 1994, finishing second. Wysuph’s career coaching record is 107-76. He was selected NSU’s Alumni Coach of the Year in 1994, and a South Dakota Football Coach of the Year finalist four times. Wysuph was also the first president of the South Dakota Football Coaches Association (1989-90).

Aside from football, Wysuph has been a high school and college basketball official for the past 21 years, working nine state high school tournaments and numerous college playoff games in the SDIC and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. He was the founder, a past president of and current board member of the Black Hills Sports Officials Association. He also has a 10-year tenure on the regional board of directors for the South Dakota High School Coaches Association. Currently he is president.

Wysuph is also big in the community, serving as a volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and being a spokesperson for the Rapid City Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. He was also a member of the Rapid City Midget Football Association.