Tickets on Sale for DCC 6th Hall of Fame Banquet on January 25th

December 18, 2024

The Dawson Community College Athletic Department will be honoring its sixth Hall of Fame Class on January 25-26. Track star John Beard, men's basketball standout Matt Preusser, softball teammates Trish Halvorsen and Tawnya Vernon, and the Lady Bucs basketball teams from 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 will be honored at a banquet at the DCC Toepke Center on January 25th and during a home basketball game on January 26th. 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. Montana Broadcasting legend, Rocky Erickson, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the weekend.

There are tickets available for the banquet on the campus at Dawson Community College on January 25th. Tickets are $50 each. Anyone interested in purchasing a ticket can do so online at: https://dawsonbucs.com/sports/hof/2022-23/Hall_of_Fame_Banquet_Tickets_2024 or contact Joe Peterson at jpeterson@dawson.edu. Bravera Bank is a partial sponsor of the Buccaneer Athletics Hall of Fame.

You can be a part of honoring these great Buccaneer Legends. Partial sponsors in the past have included 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

John Beard ran track at Dawson from 1964-1966. Through his exploits, Beard helped the Buccaneers win the Regional in 1965 against nine other teams, racking up a total of 70 points to outpace the defending champion, Worthington. Beard led all individual scorers in the Regional with a record 20 points, garnering three first place finishes and two second place finishes. In 1966, the Buccaneers won the first ever Mon-Dak Conference title by garnering 11 first place finishes and scoring in all of the other events to trounce their competition. Beard finished #1 in the 120 yard high hurdles, 180 yard low hurdles, 440 yard relay and #2 in the 100 yard dash. In that same year, they also won their 2nd straight Region XIII championship by scoring 74.5 points which was double the points the runners-up earned.

Matt Preusser was a Buccaneer legend in the early 1990's. The 6'2 do-everything guard was a triple double threat who filled up the stat sheet every game he played. As a freshman, he scored 14 points a game on 54% shooting, averaging nearly 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals a game. He also was selected to the Mon-Dak All-Conference Second team. In his sophomore year, Preusser's numbers and impact increased. He was named the Mon-Dak Conference Player of the Year. He was also named All-Region IX, the first player of Coach Mast's to receive that honor. He scored 17 points a game on 55% shooting from the field along with 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 3.8 steals per game in his sophomore year. He led all of Region IX in steals and was second in assists.

Trish Halvorsen and Tawnya Vernon were key contributors on the 2001 Lady Bucs Softball teams that won the district and finished 3rd place in the NJCAA Division III World Series, Dawson's first ever World Series team. That is still the highest finish of any DCC ball team in the athletic department's history. Halvorsen was the freshman MVP as a pitcher and third baseman in 2000 and then the sophomore MVP as a catcher in 2001. She won the batting title with a .400 average and a .715 slugging percentage. Vernon was Dawson's freshman MVP pitcher in 2001. In the first ten years of softball at DCC, she held records for lowest ERA (1.35), strikeouts (170), win-loss percentage (65%), and complete game shutouts (6). In 2002, Vernon led the Lady Bucs back to the World Series, finishing in 4th place nationally. Vernon and Halvorsen were both selected to the All-Region IX Team, NJCAA District C All-Tournament team, NJCAA All-Tournament team and as a 2nd team NJCAA All-American.

The women's basketball teams in 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 went 21-9 both years. Head Coach Joyce Ayre and assistant coach Rudy Stulc led them all the way to the Final 4 of Region IX before losing to the host team Western Nebraska in 1995. The following year they got knocked out in the quarterfinals to host team Casper College. Local standout Kamee Kunick led the way by averaging 16 points and 9 rebounds a game while shooting 50% from the field. Freshman Julie Luoma from Red Lodge contributed 11 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 52% from the field and 80% from the free throw line. Both were named All-Conference and All-Region. Cori Ringwood was named to the Region IX All-Tourney team. Along with Kunick, Ringwood and Luoma, the team included Melissa Brainard, Misa Carlson, Angie Johnston, Rachel Jablonski, Julie Lutgen, Julie Lutke, Heather Pepping, Scoti Clingingsmith and Shana Engellant. In the 1995-1996 season, Luoma had another great season averaging 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 51% from the field and 81% from the free throw line. Rocky transfer Sabrina McQuinn averaged 11.5 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 46% from the field. Luoma and McQuinn were named All-Conference. Another hometown girl, Scoti Clingingsmith led the team with 12.6 points per game. Clingingsmith was selected to the Region IX All-Tournament team. The freshmen who joined the squad that year were Devona Lambert, Jaime Grubb, Rhea Duncan, Anna Erickson, Lynell Willems and Cari Murnion.

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.