The Dawson Community College Athletic Department will be honoring its forth Hall of Fame Class on January 14-15. Seven time Rodeo World Champion, Dan Mortensen, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the weekend. Local coaching legends Don Mast (Men’s Basketball) and Brent Diegel (Baseball); Rodeo icon Larry Peabody; and the 2001 Softball Team will be honored at a banquet on January 14th and again during a home basketball game on January 15th. The Hall of Fame is part of DCC’s mission to foster a culture of excellence, and the college is excited to honor the individuals and teams who have achieved excellence in athletics over the past 65 years.
There are limited tickets still available for the banquet at Gunners Ridge on January 14th. Tickets are $40 each. Anyone interested in purchasing a ticket can do so online at: https://dawsonbucs.com/sports/hof/2022-23/Hall_of_Fame_Banquet_Tickets_2022 or contact Peyton Koivu at 406-377-4559 or pkoivu@dawson.edu.
You can be a part of honoring these great Buccaneer Legends. Partial sponsors include Bravera Bank, Gust Hauf, Bob’s Body Shop, Alan Mapes and Astoria Hotel. Your tax-deductible financial contribution will help to offset the costs of the banquet, travel and other costs associated with our Hall of Fame Weekend. To donate, you can click here: https://dawsonbucs.com/sports/hof/donate
On Sunday, January 15, the Lady Bucs will be taking on the Wildcats from North Dakota State College of Science at 2:00 pm and the Bucs will play NDSCS around 4:00 pm at the Toepke Center on the campus of DCC. The special ceremony to honor the new Hall of Fame inductees will take place between games.
Larry Peabody won the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Bareback Championship in 1981 while helping the Dawson Community College Men’s Rodeo team win the National Championship. That is still the only National Championship team Dawson Community College has ever produced. In that magical year, the men’s team first won a Big Sky Region Championship and then the NIRA Championship. He has also been inducted into the National Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame.
Brent Diegel helped get baseball started at Dawson Community College in 1997. He was the first coach and recruited their first team. He served as the head coach for 14 years (1997-2006; 2007-2011; and 2016), winning the Mon-Dak Conference in their first 3 seasons (1998, 1999, and 2000) and two other times (2002 and 2004). They won the Mon-Dak Conference Tournament three times which included 1999, 2001 and then again in 2016
Don Mast coached the Buccaneers basketball team for a quarter century from 1990-2015. He finished at DCC with a career record of 439-330, averaging 17 wins a season. Mast held the distinction of being the longest tenured men’s college basketball coach in Montana at the time of his retirement. Under his leadership, the Buccaneers won the Mon-Dak Championship in 2004, the North Sub-Region Championship in 1996, 2001 and 2004, reached the Region IX quarterfinals six times, semifinals four times and finished as runners up in the Region IX Tournament twice.
The Softball team in 2001 went all the way to the NJCAA Division III World Series, finishing in 3rd place. That is still the highest finish of any DCC ball team in the athletic department’s 65 year history.
This team was also excellent in the classroom. They received an award for being an NFCA Top Ten Academic Team. Bill LaFond was named the Louisville Slugger / NFCA - Western United States 2001 NJCAA Coach of the Year, and the entire DCC softball coaching staff was recognized as the 2001 NJCAA Coaching Staff of the Year.
For more information on the Dawson Community College Athletic Hall of Fame, visit https://dawsonbucs.com/sports/hof/index or contact Joe Peterson at 406-377-9459 or jpeterson@dawson.edu.