University of South Dakota Athletics

Cliff Hillen and 13 teammates on the 1957-58 University of South Dakota national small college championship basketball team, was inducted into the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame in a special ceremony in 1980. Hillen, director of ammunition manufacturing at the Olin Corporation in the Winchester-Western Division at East Alton, IL, was a 6-foot-8inch reserve forward during his junior campaign and earned a starting berth the following season. Hillen helped South Dakota win its last 20 games, including a 75-53 triumph past St. Michaels of Vermont in the MNA small college championship at Evansville, IN, to finish the 1957-58 campagin with a 22-5 mark. In doing so, South Dakota became the first and still just one of the two teams to go through a 12-game North Central Conference schedule undefeated.