Lone Wolf a pioneer for Coyote athletics

On Saturday at the second annual Native American Heritage basketball game at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center, the University of South Dakota athletic department took time to honor past and present Native American athletes who have competed at USD. 

The current Coyote men’s team has prominent representation on that count with senior starting guard Mason Archambault, a former Rapid City Stevens standout who is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

During a break in the South Dakota vs. North Dakota men’s game, former women’s players Devona Lone Wolf and Vanessa (Yanez) Iverson were recognized for their contributions to the school. 

Both have interesting histories. Iverson is a member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate who played at USD from 2002-06. She is now a high school counselor in Wagner, S.D., where she grew up. 

Lone Wolf, then known as Devona Curry, was a multi-sport athlete for the Coyotes beginning in 1973-74. She was a pioneer as a Native American athlete at USD and also as a female athlete. College sports were new territory for women at the time and Lone Wolf was there for the start of this transformation. 

Imagine being encouraged at the college level to go out for volleyball and basketball to stay in condition for track and field.

It was a different time to be sure, but one Lone Wolf cherished nevertheless. 

“At the time all I was thinking was that I was playing basketball and I was having fun,” Lone Wolf said. “When you look back on it you see that being given the opportunity and then taking advantage of that opportunity are very important things.  If you have an opportunity, you have to take it, even though it might take you out of your comfort zone.”

Lone Wolf is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and was the first-ever Native American woman to play sports at USD. Now a resident of Kyle, S.D., she is a teacher at Oglala Dakota College. 

Her long career in education and athletics got its official beginning at USD. To hear Lone Wolf tell of the experience is to go back to a bygone era where sports for women at universities were a novelty. 

“I could run and I could shoot – I mean I could make a layup – but I had no skills as a player,” Lone Wolf said. “I’d played one game of basketball in my life so I was on the bench that first year.” 

The next 40 years would confirm a unique passion for the game, however. She just had to catch up.

“After that first season I lived and breathed basketball,” Lone Wolf said. “I carried the basketball with me on campus, constantly doing drills and dribbling, and the next year I made the starting five.”

She was the only Native American on the team, something that created a learning experience for her and her teammates.

“I don’t think many of the players had ever been around Native Americans before,” she said. “It was interesting because in pictures you could see us with our arms around each other – we were building a team where we relied on each other on the court and off it. I never thought about being the first Native American or anything like that. I think something like basketball can level the playing field in those situations because it’s all about the team.”

Over the years, Lone Wolf has garnered a series of recognitions for her contributions to Native American education and athletics. Her work with sports – she has coordinated a series of high school basketball tournaments over the years – has always been closely connected to life lessons. 

“When I look back on what sports has done for me what I see is the enjoyment,” she said. “When I see young people now competing there is great satisfaction when you’re watching players play well. There is a discipline there – it can be strict but it teaches you. You learn to tap into your inner strength. Every single person has that strength within them but you have to learn how to tap into it.”

Lone Wolf has a large and rich collection of stories about growing up and becoming who she is now. She’s been all over the place in a geographic sense but also in life experiences. 

How so? Well, she worked on the set of the TV show “Welcome Back Kotter” and can tell you John Travolta – a young actor at the time who played the part of Vinny Barbarino, one of the show’s “Sweat Hogs” – was sort of a nerd in real life. She also just missed out on getting a part in an episode of “The Six Million Dollar Man” she said, because she was too tall.

It’s been quite a life, in other words. One you couldn’t put a price on.  At the core of it has been an appreciation for the values that come with competing, whether it’s playing basketball or volleyball or running, where Lone Wolf turned in 57-second 440-yard dashes on cinder tracks. In both words and in actions, she has been an inspirational force.

“When you’re running a distance and you hit that first wall, the gravity of Mother Earth is holding you tight,” Lone Wolf said. “Then your pace settles in and you no longer feel the Earth. There can be so many thoughts when you’re tired but you learn to shut them down and get back in your rhythm and you get your second wind and you’re going again.”