Terry Tople
- 2015 Hall of Fame |
Terry Tople’s dedication to Stanley
County athletics has been displayed nightly at every Buffalo home
contest for almost 40 years. Terry played basketball and ran track
at Blunt High School before graduating in 1967. He served in the
U.S. Army in 1968-69 then returned home to central South Dakota. In
the early 1970s, he agreed to be the timekeeper for City League
basketball. That led to a permanent gig as the clock keeper for
Stanley County High School, beginning with the 1972-73 season.
Initially, Terry did football and boy’s basketball but eventually
kept the clock for girl’s basketball and other sports. Terry worked
every girl’s basketball game except one during his long career. He
also kept the clock for wrestling, track, gymnastics, volleyball,
shooting contests or anything else that needed timing and scoring.
In boy’s basketball alone, Terry has kept the clock for over 3000
boys varsity basketball games. Triple that figure if you include
elementary, junior high, and junior varsity games. And that’s only
boys basketball. All told, Terry has worked more basketball games
than anyone in the history of FPHS/SCHS. |