University of South Dakota Athletics

Jim Thom from Lincoln, NE, 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. He was the biggest player on the squad at 6-9 and joined the Coyotes in 1957-58 after transferring from the University of Nebraska. He was part of the South Dakota team that won 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 campaign 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. Thom has been in the sporting goods business since 1963 and is the sporting goods manager for the Coast-to-Coast Store in Sioux City, IA.