May 2-3 marks the 100th running of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls! In his welcome on www.dakotarelays.com, Howard Wood Relays Board President Scott Fiedler states, “Yes, 100 of anything is a milestone and the work that the Board of Directors do to celebrate this very special anniversary will not disappoint.”
Fiedler continues “Coach Howard Wood, the legendary coach at Washington High School, had the foresight to start the first meet on May 4, 1923, to promote an upper Midwest track meet for the best high school track athletes. For 99 years the Howard Wood Dakota Relays has done just that!”
100 Years of Howard Wood History
One Davenport Evans lawyer has made Howard Wood history his most recent race, and his volunteer service a marathon, not a sprint.
According to Fiedler, lawyer Terry Prendergast has been an indispensable member of the Relays team, “Terry Prendergast has been on our board for well over 25 years and has done extensive research into our 100th Anniversary Program. He is a great inspiration to our young board members on what it means to have a passion in a volunteer organization that touches so many athletes.”
Serving that long, one risks predating institutional memory. Thinking back, Terry recalled that he has been on the Board for 46 years and spent 40 as chair of the special events committee!
Team Davenport: Howard Wood Memories
Since many of our lawyers are natives of this region, we asked if any had memories or photos of running at the Howard Wood Relays. Here are a few from back in the day, as they say!
Davenport Evans lawyer Lori Rensink at Howard Wood Relays in 2008
Lori Rensink
The photo at left shows Lori Rensink, in maroon and gold, running the 300 Hurdles for Freeman Academy.
Keith Gauer
“I threw the shot put at a couple of Howard Wood Relays (1987 and 1988 I think) but never came close to placing. It was a very competitive event with lots of talented athletes.”
Tom Frankman
“I still have my Howard Wood Dakota relays participant tags for 1967,68 and 69. [Photo above.] My memory could be wrong and maybe Dan Donohue could remember, but I believe at the 1967 Howard Wood Dakota Relays I as a sophomore ran 200 yards of the mile medley relay and Dan also was in the medley relay as a senior and ran the 400.”
P. Daniel Donohue
Dan Donohue provided his recollection of history between public and private school participation in the Howard Relays, prior to 1967.
As he recalled, “The SDHSAA bylaws prevented private schools from participating in the Howard Wood Relays, and any relays within or outside South Dakota where an SDHSAA school was entered, until 1967. If it would ever have happened to occur, every public high school athlete who competed against a private school athlete would have been banned from participating in the regional and state track meets conducted by SDHSSA.
This effectively kept me and my fellow O’Gorman High School athletes out of Howard Wood until SDHSSA changed its bylaws earlier in 1967 so private schools could join the Association. So back to the 1967 Howard Wood – I trained for and ran the quarter mile (440 yards) and half mile (880 yards) but I don’t believe either of those individual events were included in the high school division that year. It seems they picked one individual race that was featured for high school runners each year.
So in 1967 we entered a team in the high school two mile relay and our coach Bill Dunn asked me to run the first leg assuming the other three runners could hold the lead I was expected to provide – in a meet at Madison that Spring I anchored our two mile relay team and our sprint medley relay team running 1:57.7 and 1:58.8 half miles in those races. Coach Dunn’s strategy didn’t work at Howard Wood. The stagger at the start of the race kept the runners in their lanes until just beyond the end of the first turn. As I broke for the inside lane a runner behind me clipped the back of one of my running shoes which I then had to kick off as I started down that straightaway. So I ran the last lap and a half on cinders with only one shoe on. My times in the half mile were the best in the State that year so many were wondering why I was running a close second or third with a time around 2:00 flat that evening. No one knew I had lost a shoe during the race. Our team finished well back in the pack and I am guessing that Lincoln High School or Washington High School probably won the two mile relay that evening at the Howard Wood Relays.”
Keep rounding the track and never look back
Donohue’s time in spikes didn’t end at Howard Wood, “In college at the University of Notre Dame I anchored our winning Freshman mile relay team at the Central Collegiate Meet in South Bend and finished fourth with a 2:00 flat half mile in an indoor quadrangular meet in early 1968 at Purdue with runners from Ohio State, Northwestern and Purdue participating. As it turned out those were my last two track meets.”
Many more from Team Davenport have run, or watched their children or grandchildren compete, at Howard Wood over the years. Davenport Evans Law Firm is pleased to support this great community event and the many volunteers that make it all possible. Thanks again, Terry!
Join us May 2-3 to celebrate the 100th running of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays!