It’s been 40 years since a major shift in South Dakota high school basketball. 

In the 1985-86 basketball season, boys and girls basketball shifted from two classes to a three-class format, a move that split the 204 member schools into AA, A and B. 

Under the new plan, the 16 largest high schools played Class AA, the 64 next-largest schools played Class A and the rest were Class B. Prior to the switch, the 32 largest schools were Class A, and the rest of the schools were Class B. The two-class system was in effect from 1936-85. 

At the time, the change was made because smaller schools felt they were unfairly being pitted against bigger schools in postseason play. 

“It was time to separate because you could start to see where the population of schools started to get different and there was some domination going on,” longtime Mitchell radio personality Tim Smith said. “It was a good thing at the time.” 

On Feb. 28, 1984, the South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Control voted to approve the three-class format, by a 4-3 vote. Hitchcock’s Dale Schneider, Gregory’s Dave Gellerman, Clark’s Q.C. Miles and Mobridge’s Iro Mogen voted in favor of the change. Douglas’ Mary Olson, Britton’s Jackie Jarrett and Mitchell’s Bob Brooks voted against it. 

Three months prior, two-thirds of the member schools voted for the change. There were 123 schools in favor of repealing the two-class system, 61 in favor of retaining it, two schools abstained and 18 did not vote. 

Former South Dakota High School Activities Association executive director Wayne Carney — then the Hamlin boys basketball coach — said the move was driven by the enrollment disparity between the schools. 

While public reaction was mixed, Carney said the positives outweighed the negatives and the switch opened the door for more teams to reach state. 

“It definitely created a new excitement for all those schools that were in Class B,” Carney said. 

Hanson and De Smet were impacted the most by the change. Each school’s enrollment sat at 120 students, the exact dividing line separating Class A and Class B. 

It all came down to a coin flip — De Smet won and moved to Class B, while Hanson was slotted into Class A.
“I remember we were shocked and how they were going to settle it, nobody knew,” former Hanson boys basketball coach Bill Marquardt said. “One day my superintendent called me in and said ‘We lost a coin flip. We are going to Class A.’ ” 

The three-class system debuted with girls basketball in fall 1985, and boys basketball followed suit in winter 1986.
In Class AA, the 16 schools were broken into four districts of four teams each and into two regions. In Class A, the 64 schools were split into 16 districts of four teams each and into eight regions. In Class B, the remaining schools were split into 16 districts of seven or eight teams each. 

The Armour girls won five titles from 1983-87, including the first Class B state championship under the three-class system in 1985. Jefferson (Class A) and Brookings (Class AA) also won inaugural girls state championships under the new format.

In Class B, Dakota Christian won the inaugural boys state championship under the three-class system. The Cadets clipped Jones County, 54-52, on a Greg Schipper 10-foot jumper with four seconds left at the Huron Arena. 

In Class A, Hanson, losers of the infamous coin flip one year prior, qualified for the state tournament in Sioux Falls. Hanson, which was the smallest of the 64 Class A schools, was in a tournament with Pine Ridge, Platte, Beresford, Spearfish, Tri-Valley, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte and Redfield. 

“All we knew was the two classes,” Marquardt said. “So just getting to the state tournament was an amazing accomplishment, and we were excited. We didn’t care if it was A or B or C-minus. We were excited to go to the state tournament.”

The Beavers topped Tri-Valley (62-50) and edged Cheyenne-Eagle Butte (50-45) in the first two rounds. After beginning their run on the wrong side of a coin toss, the Beavers finished it with a 48-43 win over Beresford for the unlikely state championship.

“I would guess that just won’t happen again,” Marquardt said. “There’s such a disparity between the biggest A schools now and the smallest. There’s so many really elite, outstanding Class A programs — most of them in the Sioux Falls footprint.” 

In Class AA, the Gary Munsen-led Mitchell Kernels continued their dynastic run in 1986, winning their third straight state championship in Rapid City. After winning Class A titles in 1984 and ’85, the 1986 Class AA championship capped a remarkable 66-3 run over three seasons.

That three-year run defined a golden era for Mitchell Kernel basketball.
“Basketball back then in general was a little different,” Smith said. “You had to get to the gym by the sophomore game or you wouldn’t get in at a lot of those games. But it was special going on that run. There is no doubt about it.”

In the past 40 years, the three-class format has become popular with fans and small schools qualifying for state tournaments are still immortalized each year. 

“I think that’s part of the allure of the B in Aberdeen is a lot of small schools make it,” Marquardt said. “You still once in a while hear of schools that it’s their first tournament, and they probably wouldn’t be making it if West Central was B and schools like that.” 

Prior to the shift in the 1985-86 season, Class A and Class B boys basketball alternated their state tournaments between Rapid City and Sioux Falls. The Class B state tournament was the state’s crown jewel — nicknamed “The Big B” — drawing thousands of fans to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City and the Sioux Falls Arena in Sioux Falls.

“The history people said ‘Well you are going to lose all the history and the excitement of the Big B,’ ” Carney said. “Well, I don’t know, you talk to the people of Aberdeen every year, I would say it’s still there.”

The Huron Arena later became a popular spot for Class B state tournaments, and Aberdeen’s Wachs Arena hosted its first boys state tournament in 1990. It’s been held in Aberdeen since 1995, and continues to be the state’s most popular tournament. 

“When I got here it was two classes — the B and the A,” Smith said. “The B outshadowed the A every year and it was jam packed. It’s still something about small schools and the entire community. The way they support that’s different about it, and they look forward to it every year. No question, it’s a special tournament.”