Then & Now: Sioux Falls Arena

In the 1960s and 1970s, when both the State A and B boys basketball tournaments were played in Sioux Falls, the city would blossom with the different colors of students’ high school letter jackets.

It was more than the eight high schools whose ball-playing expertise had brought them into the tournament. The stands included visitors from rival teams whose seasons had been ended by earlier losses.

Historic photos courtesy TSP Inc.

Students from the smaller towns that played in the State Bs had another tradition: appearing on the Captain 11 show on KELO-TV. Captain 11 himself — also known as Dave Dedrick, the TV station’s weatherman, would ask teens from towns such as Avon, De Smet, Highmore, Murdo, Webster, Parkston and Leola where they lived, and they would answer with pride.

Then, they would return to the Arena where they would stand shoulder to shoulder for the games. Crowds were so large fans would sit on both ends of the playing floor because the building would be packed with people.

For many, the Arena was one of the stars of the show. It had been dedicated Dec. 10, 1961, with an address by Judge George T. Mickelson, a former South Dakota governor, and musical presentations by the Washington High School band and chorus, the Augustana College band and the Sioux Falls College choir, as both universities were then known.

The Sioux Falls Municipal Band, the O’Gorman High School chorus, the Shrine Chanters and the Sioux Falls American Legion Men’s Choir also performed.

The parking lot held 2,500 cars, and the dedication program noted “Streets adjoining the Arena are paved.” The building’s dimensions were listed as 280 feet by 256 feet by 68 feet high. Constructing it required 720 tons of structural steel.

Excitement was high for the opening of Sioux Falls’ major sports and entertainment center. It was designed by architects and engineers with the firm now known as TSP Inc. Architect Harold Spitznagel founded the firm as a one-man practice in 1930.

TSP had received the commission for the proposed Sioux Falls Arena and Convention Center, which was to include a fine art theater, in 1958. The concept began as a circular building with a master plan that proposed a $2.5 million structure. However, voters narrowly defeated the initial bond issue, and the project was scaled back to $1.5 million.

Spitznagel had previous experience in designing a similar structure when the Huron Arena was built. At its dedication in 1952, the Huron Arena was South Dakota’s largest such facility. For Sioux Falls, the firm designed a building with an arched roof and octagonal arena. Final specs and bidder drawings were completed in August 1959, and construction began.

For several years, all A and B tournament games were played at the Arena. In 1975, the girls tournament was started. But as the tournaments expanded to add a third class, AA, and other cities developed larger facilities, the championship games were dispersed among other communities.

The Arena itself now is dwarfed by its neighbor, the Denny Sanford Premier Center. High schools and colleges in Sioux Falls now have gyms large enough to hold their own basketball games, and the Arena’s future is in doubt.