RAPID CITY — South Dakota is a hotbed for sports, Becky Hammon will assure you.

The Rapid City Stevens High School legend enjoyed a successful professional basketball career and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. 

She has traveled all over the globe playing basketball, and is among a select group of South Dakotans to play professional sports. 

But Hammon knows how much sports means to South Dakota and its passionate fans.  

“What people don’t know is South Dakota is kind of a hotbed for sports,” Hammon said. “That’s what we do around here, you play sports or you do outdoorsy things.”

Becky Hammon speaks to the media while attending the LNI tournament on Thursday at Summit Arena at The Monument. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

The current Las Vegas Aces head coach spoke to media members at the Lakota Nation Invitational and spoke highly of her home state and its many talented athletes. Hammon rattled off other famous South Dakota sports figures like fellow Rapid City Stevens graduates Mark Ellis, Eric Piatkowski and Mitchell’s Mike Miller. 

“I know just in my class myself and Mark Ellis, for him to go on and have the career that he had is impressive and kind of unheard of in a town this small,” Hammon said. “So this town. This state is doing something right in regards to kicking out and producing professional athletes.”

A 5-foot-6 lightning-quick point guard, Hammon averaged 26 points per game her senior year. The Stevens team posted a 17-6 record. Becky scored 29 of Stevens’ 35 points in an overtime loss to Mitchell in the state tournament that season. 

The Raiders lost the game on an Erin Olson buzzer-beater, just before Hammon missed bonus free throws that would have extended their lead. 

Hammon said the loss still stings to this day. 

“I have played in thousands of games and I can’t name most of them or what happened,” Hammon said. “That night I can tell you what happened.”

Hammon is the career scoring leader at Stevens where she tallied 1,417 points. She scored 41 of those points in a single game against Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

The 1994 South Dakota Miss Basketball later starred at Colorado State, followed by stints with the New York Liberty and San Antonio Silver Stars. 

For Hammon, her basketball path started with her coaching and that laid the foundation for her 16-year WNBA career.

“At a very early age I had good coaching,” Hammon said. “I had good teaching and that solid framework in your foundation really serves you well in life down the road. To have an early head start with good teaching is really important. So I would say I definitely got that, whether that was just South Dakota or just the people in it, I dont know. I was surrounded by people that cared about getting the best out of me and for me.”

Becky Hammon speaks to the media while attending the LNI tournament on Thursday at Summit Arena at The Monument. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

It served her well along her coaching career. Hammon made history by becoming the first full-time female coach in the history of the NBA when she joined the staff of the San Antonio Spurs. 

So she’s considered one of the pioneers for helping evolve women’s basketball, and that role is not lost on her. 

“It’s always about laying the foundation for the next group to have not just those same opportunities,” Hammon said. “But better opportunities and now you are seeing a lot of women with great opportunities make a lot of money.”

But her South Dakota playing days still hold a special place in her heart, and she would tell current high schoolers to seize their own opportunities. 

“Do your best every day, take advantage of your opportunities, stay coachable,” Hammon said about her advice to high school athletes. “Not everybody is going to have a professional career, but man high school is a really special time to be a part of a team.”