By Rich Winter

605 Sports

Forty two years ago Cheyenne-Eagle Butte’s Jeff Turning Heart had his first, and only, experience at the Howard Wood Dakota Relays. Turning Heart won state cross-country titles in 1978 and 1979, but he had never seen Howard Wood Field. 

“We got to Sioux Falls the night before and had no chance to go to the track,” Turning Heart said. “My coach Ed Wegner told me to put on those ‘tiny’ spikes and get ready for the rubber track.” 

In his mind, Turning Heart was wondering exactly what a rubber track was like. 

“What is it like on a golf course,” Turning Heart asked his coach. 

“No, it’s stiffer than that,” Wegner replied.

The next morning, after a five-mile jog, Turning Heart ventured to see the track. 

“I got to the fence and peeked in,” he said. “I looked at the track and saw this rust color and wondered what it was like.”

Turning Heart’s home track was an old cinder track, the type with the black dirt that gets packed down. When he got to the Sioux Falls track he walked around the track, stepped on it, felt it and thought to himself it was like running on hard carpet. 

As he toed the line, Turning Heart’s mind raced because he knew it was going to be quick. 

Turning Heart took the lead early, ran unchallenged for the majority of the race and crossed the line in a time of 9:10.5. As the race progressed fans in the crowd had to be wondering exactly who this young man from Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe was. 

“I think the crowd was kind of in shock because they had no idea who I was,” Turning Heart said. “The crowd might have been surprised but I wasn’t because I knew I had put in the work.” 

After unremarkable freshman and sophomore seasons, Turning Heart decided to get serious about his training. From his community of Bear Creek to high school in Eagle Butte, Turning Heart ran for nearly two hours every morning. 

“My last two years of high school I ran 18 miles to school every day,” he said. 

With that work came state titles. 

As noted, Turning Heart won state cross-country titles in 1978 and 1979 and once won the National Indian Cross-Country race during a blizzard in Lawrence, Kansas. 

“I won that race because we lived in a blizzard state and I had the advantage,” he said. 

Turning Heart would go on to win Class A titles at the state meet in the 1,600 meter run (4:11) and the 3,200 meter run (9:14). 

Forty two years ago Turning Heart’s 9:10.9 in the 3,200-meter run was the second-fastest time in South Dakota history, trailing only Jim Reinhart’s 9:06.50 state record. Over the years Turning Heart has been passed on that all-time list by some of the greatest prep runners in South Dakota history. In 2015 Sioux Falls Lincoln’s Will Lauer ran an 8:58.49 (No. 3 all time) and that dropped Turning Heart’s time to No. 10 all time in South Dakota history. 

At the 97th annual Howard Wood Dakota Relays on May 6, Rapid City Stevens junior Simeon Birnbaum electrified the crowd, breaking the state record in the 3,200 meter run (8:55.22). 

Forty two years after that 1980 performance Turning Heart was finally displaced from the top-10 in South Dakota history.

Reached by telephone Friday, the 11th fastest 3,200 meter runner in South Dakota boys history said he was excited to watch Birnbaum’s race and was hoping for a fast time. 

Turning Heart would go on to run collegiately at Adams State (Colorado). He lives in Hermosa, works in Rapid City, referees high school basketball and keeps one eye on the young athletes that are making their way through high school. 

“Running was a God-given talent and to give offerings back took me to a different level,” he said. “It made me sacrifice and suffer all the hard work to become a better individual and Christian.” 

Turning Heart would go on to run collegiately at Adams State.
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