Dawson Community College has announced its 4th class for the Buccaneer Athletics Hall of Fame. 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. Longtime sports anchor and sports director from KULR-8 in Billings, Chris Byers, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the weekend.
A committee of six members, made up of former DCC coaches, student-athletes, supporters and administrators, reviewed and deliberated over the nominations and came to the final consensus. DCC Athletic Director Joe Peterson shared his perspective on this class, “We have such an outstanding class this year! The names Don Mast and Brent Diegel are synonymous with the DCC Buccaneers. They sacrificed their time, money and energy to build our athletic programs and impacted thousands of young people’s lives. Larry Peabody has already been inducted into several Hall of Fames at the state and national level and is arguably the best rodeo athlete to come through Dawson. The 2001 softball team made it further at Nationals than any other ball team in school history. All of these individuals are very deserving recipients.”
Anyone interested in purchasing tickets for the Hall of Fame Banquet on the evening of January 14th 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. Tickets are $40 each. The banquet will be held at Gunners Ridge Bar and Grill in Glendive, MT. Bravera Bank is a partial sponsor of the Buccaneer Athletics Hall of Fame.
You can be a part of honoring these great Buccaneer Legends. 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
2023 DCC Buccaneer Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees
Larry Peabody
Larry Peabody was born in Hardin, Montana and raised in Bozeman. In 1981, Peabody won the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Bareback Championship 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. Later that year, Peabody qualified for his first National Finals Rodeo. At that NFR, Peabody set a high score record of 89. This NFR record
score stood for fourteen years before it was broken. That was also the first of five consecutive years he went to the National Finals Rodeo. He won the National Finals Average Championship in 1983 and went on to capture the world title in bareback riding in 1984.
He won the Montana Circuit Bareback Championship four times (1980-82 and 1984). Peabody was the Montana All-Around Champion in 1982. He was also the RAM Circuit Year-End Champion in 1983.
Peabody was a champion at many rodeos including Buffalo Bill Rodeo, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Cody Stampede, Deadwood Days of ’76 Rodeo, Ellensburg Rodeo, Greeley Stampede, Red Bluff Round-Up, Redding Rodeo, San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo World’s Oldest Rodeo Prescott Frontier Days.
This rodeo legend was inducted with his 1981 team into the DCC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019 and the National Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame later that year. He was also inducted into the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame.
After all of his rodeo success, Peabody gradually retired from rodeo to run a cattle ranch in Montana where he lives with his wife Mary.
Brent Diegel
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 when he came back to fill in as the interim coach for one season after being away for five years. They finished as runners up in the Region XIII tournament three times (1999, 2000, and 2004). Diegel was named American Baseball Coaches Association NJCAA Division III Regional Coach of the Year five times. In the Buccaneers most memorable season of all time, the 2001 team won the Mon-Dak Conference Tournament, the Region XIII Tournament and then finished in 7th place at the NJCAA Division III World Series.
While at DCC, Diegel coached 5 All-Americans and 4 Mon-Dak Conference Players of the Year. He also coached the USA team to a 1st place finish in the European International Tournament in 2001.
Diegel graduated from Mesa State College in 1991 and has also coached the Glendive Blue Devils Legion team for many years and continues to umpire for DCC Athletics. Coach Diegel and his wife Kortney reside in Glendive, MT
Don Mast
Don Mast coached basketball for 35 years, including coaching 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. Coach Mast won four Coach of the Year awards while at Dawson and coached 40 All-Conference players, 4 All-Region players and numerous Academic All-Conference student-athletes at DCC. He also taught psychology and communications at Dawson.
Mast received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history and political science with a minor in psychology from Rocky Mountain College in 1979, where he participated on the basketball team. In 1991, he earned a Master’s of Educational Guidance from Montana State University.
Mast’s first teaching and coaching job was at Winifred High School, where he taught grades 7-12 history and senior government and coached basketball, football, and track, while he also served as the athletic director. During his second stop, Mast taught Montana history and was the guidance counselor and coached basketball and football at White Sulphur Springs High School.
The Rocky Mountain College Athletic Hall of Fame inducted Mast in 2015. In 35 years and over 1,000 games, his career coaching record was 598-412.
Mast and his wife Brenda reside in Glendive.
2001 Softball Team
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. The 2001 softball team finished the season 14-5 vs. NJCAA competition and 22-23 vs. all competition, which included many four year schools. They won the District Championship and then made a great run at the World Series. They had 12 players on the team that year and were led by Coach Bill LaFond. Team members included Josi Carlson, Holly Eissinger, Trish Halvorsen, Abbey Kochel, Paula Meyer, Amber Moore, Tawnya Vernon, Autumn Waddell, Tiffany Nash, Fallon LaSalle, Jaclyn Premo and manager Lindsay Flom. The assistant coaches were Dean Svenvold, Ray Glueckert and Dan Harrison.
Their freshman MVP was pitcher Tawnya Vernon and the Sophomore MVP was catcher Trish Halvorsen. The DCC Golden Glove award was given to first baseman Josi Carlson. Halvorsen won the Battling Title with a .400 batting average and .715 slugging percentage. Glendive native Holly Eissinger was honored as Most Improved.
Vernon, Halvorsen, Carlson and Amber Moore were selected to the NJCAA District C All-Tournament Team. Vernon, Halvorsen, Abbey Kochel, and Paula Meyer were selected to the NJCAA National All-Tournament Team. Vernon and Halversen were both selected to the All-Region IX team with Vernon also earning 2nd team NJCAA All-American status.
This team was also excellent in the classroom. They received an award for being an NFCA Top Ten Academic Team. Carlson, Meyer, Moore and Premo also received distinction for having over a 3.5 GPA and were named NFCA All-American Scholar Athletes.
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.