Larry Luitjens, Custer High School’s longtime boys basketball coach and the alltime wins leader in state basketball history, died recently at his residence in Sioux Falls. He was 81.
In 45 full seasons as a basketball coach (40 of which were spent in Custer), Luitjens won 767 games, had a 70 percent winning percentage, won state titles, over 30 district titles and numerous regional titles.
Luitjens is the winningest boys basketball coach in the history of the state of South Dakota. He coached one unbeaten team (Custer, 25-0, 1990) and five others that had only one loss. Seventeen times he guided his team to the state tournament. Thirteen of those times his teams have reached the finals. Seven times his teams have won state titles.
The 1960 Britton High and 1965 Northern State grad began his coaching career at De Smet. He coached De Smet for four seasons, guiding the Bulldogs to a 90-16 record and three state tourney appearances, including a runner-up finish in 1969 and Class B titles in ’70 and ’71. He coached one year at New England (N.D.) St. Mary’s, going 194. His team lost in the district tourney on a Saturday night and he was relieved of his coaching duties the following Monday.
Luitjens, who played for Coach Bob Wachs at Northern, sat out a year and never wanted to coach again, but Britton coach John Bruce got him to do some scouting during the Braves state championship year in 1972 and he was hooked again.
A pastor in Custer, Dich Bahnson, who had previously served in Britton and officiated his wedding, urged Luitjens to apply for the open position at Custer. He began coaching in Custer in 1973, leading the Wildcats to 14 state tournament appearances and five state titles in 39 seasons.
In a 16-year stretch from 1988-2003, Luitjens’ Wildcats reached the state Class A tourney 10 times, winning the championshipfivetimes(1990, ’92, ’93, ’98 and ’02) and finishing second three times (’89, ’91 and ’03). He was a finalist for national coach of the year in 1998 and a nominee for the national award in 1982, ’89 and ’90.
Luitjens was inducted into the South Dakota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988. He received Northern State’s first Jim Kretchman Award for excellence in athletics in 2002.
A celebration of life was held for Luitjens in Custer Sept. 2.
