University of South Dakota Athletics

Howard Taplett, a 1939 graduate of Tyndall High School, was an outstanding student athlete that later achieved legendary status as a coach/administrator in South Dakota. Taplett played four years of basketball for coach Rube Hoy from 1939-43, starting every game his last three years at USD. In the first game of Taplett's sophomore season, 1940-41, he was part of a USD squad that upset the University of Nebraska Corn Huskers, 40-39, at Vermillion in two overtimes. Taplett earned all-North Central Conference honors as a guard in 1943, and was chosen among the top three outstanding athletes in the league that year. He graduated form USD in 1943 with a B.A. After spending three years with the First Marine Division, two of those overseas in combat, he began his coaching career in Plankinton in 1946. In 1951, he moved to Tyndall and has been there since, coaching all sports for six years and then continuing with track until 1967. He had four unbeaten football teams and during one stretch won 56 0f 60 games, had winning basketball teams and developed an excellent track program, winning 13 conference championships, a dozen Regional championships and seven state titles. He started the Tyndall Relays, annually one of the top track meets in the state. Taplett has been a full-time administrator (principal and superintendent) since 1966. He has been selected for Who's Who Among Secondary Education, Coach of the year in 1966, given the 25 year plaque for coaching, been selected to the South Dakota Coaches Hall of Fame, and the Tyndall Relays Hall of Fame.