This year’s girls Hanson Classic T-shirts are paying tribute to Mark Senftner. 

The long-time Sully Buttes High School basketball and football coach died in Oct. 2022 after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in Dec. 2020. The T-shirts have a purple color scheme (a nod to the Sully Buttes Chargers) and have “In Memory Of Mark Senftner” across the top, along with this year’s participants at the bottom. 

With a blessing from Senftner’s wife Lynn and son Scott, Hanson High School girls basketball coach and athletic director Jim Bridge chose to honor Senftner with this year’s T-shirts. 

“He's been around the Classic a lot of years and that was just a way to somehow recognize him,” Bridge said. 

This year’s girls Hanson Classic T-shirts are paying tribute to former Sully Buttes coach Mark Senftner. (Courtesy Photo)

The Chargers are not in this year’s Classic. But Bridge plans to send the Senftner-themed T-shirts to the Sully Buttes girls basketball team and will again have an abundance of them to hand out at the Classic. 

Senftner and Bridge, who are among the state’s all-time winningest girls basketball coaches, developed a relationship through hoops. Senftner and Bridge’s girls basketball teams often played each other at the Hanson Classic and at Class B girls basketball tournaments. They worked basketball camps together, but Bridge's favorite Senftner moments were away from the court. 

“I have a lot of great memories of just little tidbits of time where we’d get to hang out together and realize we are friends,” said Bridge, who was an honorary casket bearer at Senftner’s funeral. “I am so thankful for that friendship and to have had him in my life.”

The long-time coaches shared many phone chats about life and hoops. Bridge called Senftner a “sounding board” and became a trusted friend. 

“I am just proud to be in the same profession as the guy and he was always there when you needed to talk to somebody,” Bridge said. “He still has a huge impact on my life and he always will.”

Bridge recalled Senftner’s phone conversation when he broke the news about his brain tumor. Senftner spent the first 20 minutes asking about Bridge’s team and then he informed his friend about the brain tumor. 

“That meant a lot to me for him to take the time to tell me what he’s going through,” Bridge said. “That’s why I needed to recognize this guy. He had an impact on a lot of people and he still is.”

Sully Buttes coach Mark Senftner amassed more than 500 girls basketball coaching wins and multiple state tournament appearances. (Courtesy Photo)

During his 17-year tenure at Sully Buttes, Senftner led the girls basketball and football teams to state-wide prominence. He guided the girls basketball teams to 11 state tournament appearances, winning state championships in 2007, ‘08, ‘16 and ‘17. The Chargers also finished as state runner-ups in 2012 and ‘15. 

Before coaching at Sully Buttes, Senftner led Timber Lake to three girls basketball state tournament appearances and he compiled more than 500 girls basketball coaching wins. 

On the gridiron, Senftner guided the Chargers to state championship appearances in 2015, ‘17 and ‘18. He accumulated a 101-42 record in 14 seasons. 

A McLaughlin High School and Northern State University graduate, Senftner also had coaching and teaching stints at Roscoe and Gregory. 

Last season, Senftner was inducted into the Onida/Sully Buttes Hall of Fame and South Dakota Basketball Coaches Hall of Shrine.