By Rich Winter

The first time Belle Fourche football coach Scott Slotten noticed, now sophomore Logan Tyndall, was at a youth football camp. The drill allowed participants to run a play, score a touchdown and celebrate that touchdown. Slotten watched as Tyndall scored, undid his prosthetic leg before twirling it around as his celebration.

“I figured I would do that because no one else on the field can do that celebration,” Tyndall said.

Tyndall was born with a condition, Fibular Hemimelia, a congenital longitudinal limb deficiency characterized by complete or partial absence of the fibula bone.

Folks in Belle Fourche are well aware of Tyndall. The 5-foot-3, 128 lb. sophomore plays football, wrestles in the winter, pole-vaults in the spring and plays baseball in the summer.

“I just love being with my friends and playing team sports where we can all be together,” he said.

Coming out of middle school Tyndall wasn't sure he was big enough to compete at the high school level. Once again the draw of being with friends helped him continue his football journey.

“I just showed up because my friends were going,” he said. “I didn't want to miss out on a whole season where I had to sit home and not play.”

Tyndall found the weight room in sixth grade when we took a recreation weight lifting class.

“He can bench 200 lbs. and can squat 275 lbs.,” Coach Slotten said. “He's a strong kid that loves the weight room.”

Logan Tyndall with the good block to spring teammate, Kyren Nulle, for a big gain.

(Photo by Doug Cole)

Slotten shares a story of Logan and his older brother Jackson, an All-State, Honorable mention selection a few years back.

“Jackson told Logan he needed to quit lifting because Logan would try to eat at the dinner table shirtless to show his muscles,” he said.

Having an older brother comes with some benefits.

“He's four years older and we've never been in the same school but I always looked up to him during his high school career,” Tyndall said. “At the house he would push me and try to toughen me up. He's been a big role model and I've always looked up to him.”

Tyndall is the starting fullback and gets a lot of defensive snaps from a linebacker position for the 2-5 Belle Fourche Broncs.