By Rich Winter

605 Sports

One day before the Custer Invitational track meet on May 2, Belle Fourche jumps coach Joshua Schleusner was watching junior Logan Tyndall messing around and experimenting with the triple jump.

Schluesner watched the youngster smooth out his hop, skip and jump. 

“I told him whoa, ‘You look like your brother (Jackson),’ ” Schluesner told Tyndall. “He went out the next day and he jumped 30-something. He’s that kind of kid and he’s got that kind of grit.”

The kid can do it all! @logantyndall #JumpZquad #appropriatepost #SDPreps #TrackNation #TripleJump pic.twitter.com/5UtMXTHaWY

— BroncTrack&Field (@BroncTrack_BF) May 4, 2023

Tyndall was born without a foot, with a condition called fibular hemimelia. Born without a fibula in his left leg and with a narrow fibula on his right leg, Logan’s parents Mike and Michelle Tyndall, hoped the doctors could cure what ailed their son.

“As parents you always look at something like this and think they can fix it,” Mike Tyndall said.

Instead of a solution, the famiily was given options. 

“Basically his options were he could be on crutches or in a wheelchair for the rest of his life,” Mike Tyndall said. “His other option was to have part of his left leg amputated at around 11-months and then start wearing a prosthetic leg.” 

Logan followed his older brother just about everywhere and soon developed a love for sports. 

“I started playing soccer, baseball, football, flag football and basketball at a really young age,” Tyndall said. 

Tyndalls’s exploits of competing in sports are almost commonplace in Belle Fourche and some of the surrounding Black Hills Conference Schools, but every so often he turns a few heads with people that see him compete for the first time.

Tyndall plays football for Belle Fourche and despite his lack of size and mobility he holds his own playing linebacker and fullback. 

This winter Tyndall qualified for the Class A state wrestling tournament where he won one match and lost two in the 106-pound division. 

Belle Fourche's Logan Tyndall, who was born without a fibula, competes in the triple jump. (Courtesy photo)

Tyndall went out for track his freshman year and right away he started pole vaulting. There were some challenges.

“He’s much shorter than most kids and he wears the prosthetic leg so it is hard for him to run fast like other vaulters,” Schluesner said. “Speed is such a huge factor and without the one leg, we sacrifice speed on the runway.” 

Tyndall’s best mark his freshman season was 9-0 but he upped that mark to 11-0 after some technique changes during his sophomore year.

“Basically the coach is just having me hold on to my form a little longer and make sure everything is in sync,” Logan Tyndall said.

Tyndall qualified for the Class A state pole vault last spring. Schluesner said there was some controversy about the opening height for last year’s Class A vaulting that started at 11-0. 

“A bunch of coaches asked them to lower the height because it would knock out over half the field of kids who had never cleared that height,” he said 

The bar stayed at 11-0 and on his first attempt Logan Tyndall cleared with a lifetime best. 

“I just remember a lot of clapping and my teammates patting me on the back,” he said. “When you have a good jump it kinda feels like you are flying or floating and then going back down and seeing the bar stay up.”

On his next attempt Tyndall clipped the bar and on his way down he landed on the mat and broke his forearm and as he called it ‘dislocated his elbow.’

That injury cost Tyndall his junior season of football as he was not cleared to resume activities until December. 

This spring Tyndall’s best in the pole vault is 10-10 and he is currently prequalified to go to the state track meet again. 

Tyndall doesn’t see himself as someone special or even someone that does amazing things. Schluesner said Logan has had a far greater impact on the Belle Fourche student body and the surrounding community than he could possibly imagine. 

“I told him in front of everybody that ‘You are not a cripple,’ ” Schluesner said. “ ‘You are much more and you prove it every time you step on the field.’ ”