By Rich Winter 

605 Sports

AVON — As the Avon Pirates embark on their short, but familiar trip to the DakotaDome Thursday they do so with all the knowledge, all the tradition and all the heart of anyone who has played football for the small town in southeastern South Dakota. 

With nine previous trips to the DakotaDome, the Pirates players and coaches are oozing with family connections ready to write their own legacy.

“In some of our early trips to the Dome the players complained about dry mouth so my wife brought lemon drops to get rid of that,” said Tom Culver, Avon’s former coach and current superintendent. “The current coaching staff has been there and they know these kinds of things.” 

Justin Lukkes is in his first season as head coach for the Avon Pirates.

That current coaching staff includes Justin Lukkes and Brad Bierema who were all-state football players that are part of the Pirates early history at the DakotaDome. 

Lukkes was a senior and Bierema a junior on the Avon team that won a state title in 2002. Bierema was a senior on the 2003 team that lost to De Smet. 

Assistant coach Danny Fathke was an all-stater in 2004-05. Devin Tolsma, who was a three-time all-stater from 2012-14, is also an assistant coach. Tolsma was named the Joe Robbie MVP of the Class 9B state championship, a 24-22 win over Hamlin. 

From the moment he could walk and talk, Lukkes’ father Lenny was pumping him full of Avon football stories. Lenny Lukkes was an all-state football player himself. 

“Lenny’s a big guy and after Thanksgiving he puts on his Saint Nicholas hat and goes around town,” Culver said. “It can get pretty cool in the fall and Lenny has always got a short sleeve or sleeveless shirt on.” 

And Lenny Lukkes’ connection to Avon football runs deep as he drives the bus to away football games. 

The current coaches Lukkes and Bierema have been great friends their entire lives. After high school Lukkes joined the Army. One year later he convinced his buddy to do the same. 

And so, as they were both attending Mitchell Tech several years later, their paths back to Avon football came in much the same way. Lukkes got the call to ask if he would coach the junior high football program and Bierema went back to volunteer.

Together, they drove back from Mitchell every day for practice and have been part of the Avon coaching staff for over 15 years.

Culver noted that prior to him coming to Avon that the town was considered a basketball town. He recalls a switch in community thinking when kids started playing football instead of basketball while at recess.

Three-time All-State football player Devin Tolsma is an assistant coach for Avon

If you look at the school grounds the football tradition is now imprinted on the students at a very young age thanks to another former all-state player Gregg Voigt.

“Several years ago our maintenance guy Gregg Voigt painted a mini football field where our tennis courts were,” Culver said. “That is a reference point for all of our kids.”

When the scoreboard and crow’s nest were lost to a straight-line wind event in May 2022, it was the ex-football players leading the charge to get repairs done. 

“We had Terry Schultz and his boys Nate and Nathan help out a lot,” Culver said. “Nathan played for me and was an all-state player in 2004.”