Dawson Community College athletics will be inducting its next class into the Athletics Hall of Fame on January 31st - February 1st. This will be the seventh class to be inducted. The inductees are:

Women’s basketball star Janniqua Thomas
Baseball record holder Ben Wingerter
Rodeo legend Chuck Simonson
Softball Coach Bill LaFond
Buccaneer men’s basketball teams from 1977-1978 and 1978-1979

This class will be honored at a banquet at the DCC Toepke Center on January 31st and during a men’s and women’s home basketball doubleheader against Miles Community College on February 1st. The Hall of Fame is part of DCC’s mission to foster a culture of excellence, and the college is excited to honor the individuals and teams who have achieved excellence in athletics over the past 65 years. Montana Broadcasting legend, Casey Conlan, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the weekend.

Athletic Director Joe Peterson shared, “We are incredibly proud to honor this year's Hall of Fame class — a group of individuals whose commitment, talent, and leadership have left a lasting impact on our school and our community. Each inductee has set a standard of excellence that should be inspirational to everyone. Janniqua is one of only two NJCAA All-American’s ever for our women’s basketball program. Ben still holds many of our baseball career and single game records twenty years after he’s been gone. Chuck won national championships as an individual and with his team and is an all-time rodeo legend. Coach LaFond put the Lady Bucs on the map and set the standard for all of the success that is still imprinted on the team DNA up to today. And the men’s basketball teams from the late 70’s won 84% of their games and numerous championships. It’s a privilege to welcome all of these individuals and teams into our Hall of Fame."

Anyone interested in purchasing tickets for the Hall of Fame Banquet on the evening of January 31st can do so online here.

Tickets are $50 each. The banquet will be held at the Toepke Center on the campus of Dawson Community College. Bravera Bank is a partial sponsor of the Buccaneer Athletics Hall of Fame.

Inductees

Janniqua Thomas

Janniqua Thomas was a 5’11 forward who played women’s basketball for Coach Tracey Clingingsmith at Dawson from 2012-2014. In a historic sophomore season, she led the Lady Bucs to their most wins in program history and their deepest ever run in the Region IX tournament. They went 25-7 and reached the semifinals at the Region IX Tournament before losing to host Western Wyoming College by one point. They had an impressive 12-4 record in conference play and 15-5 region record. Thomas averaged 21.5 points and 9.1 rebounds while shooting 58% from the field during her sophomore year. That is the highest field goal percentage in a season ever in DCC history. She scored over 30 points five times that year and went on a run at the Region Tournament by scoring 21, 31 and 29 in their three games.

In her 58 game career at Dawson, Thomas scored 1,025 points (17.7 ppg) and collected 527 rebounds (9.1 rpg). She currently stands as the 3rd all-time leading scorer, 2nd in rebounds, 2nd in field goals made, 4th in field goal percentage, and 2nd in free throws made. She also has 5 of the top 20 scoring games in Lady Bucs history, 4 of the top 15 rebounding games, 4 of the top 10 free throws made in a game, the most field goals made in a game, the top 2 free throw percentage games and 4 of the top 6 field goal percentage games. Her name is literally all over the record books for Dawson Women’s Basketball.

Thomas was on the All-Region IX team both years and was named the first NJCAA All-American in program history.

After Dawson, Thomas went on to play Division I basketball at the University of Northern Colorado and then finished at Dickinson State University. Thomas was born in Great Falls, Montana, and now lives in Colorado Springs with her husband and three children.

Bill LaFond

In the 1999-2000 school year, Bill LaFond took over the two year old Lady Buccaneer Softball program. Over the next five years, LaFond and the Lady Bucs put together the most impressive run in program history. They won four straight district championships and made it to the NJCAA Division III World Series for four consecutive seasons, finishing in 5th place once, 4th place twice and in 3rd place in 2001. The 3rd place finish is still the highest finish of any DCC ball team in the athletic department’s history. They won 109 games in that span out of the 207 they played for a 52% winning percentage. Many of those games were against four-year schools and higher level NJCAA teams (DI and DII). In his career, his teams went 47-16 (75%) against NJCAA DIII teams. Lafond has the 2nd most wins in program history.

Bill LaFond was named the Louisville Slugger / NFCA - Western United States 2001 NJCAA Coach of the Year, and the entire DCC softball coaching staff was recognized as the 2001 NJCAA Coaching Staff of the Year. LaFond coached 13 NJCAA All-Americans during his time at Dawson.

LaFond was also instrumental in the acquisition, construction, and completion of both the DCC baseball and softball field facilities. In 2001, LaFond proposed a plan to the DCC Board of Trustees to build new baseball and softball fields on the DCC campus. LaFond also helped to secure land donations from multiple landowners as well as the financial help of local businesses, individuals, and government grants. LaFond, assistant coach Dan Harrison, and local contractor Greg Nichols donated well over 1,000 hours of their personal time to complete this endeavor in the fall of 2003.

LaFond is celebrating 55 years of marriage to his high school sweetheart Kathy and has 3 adult children, 11 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

Ben Wingerter

Wingerter joined Dawson Community College at the turn of the century and made an immediate impact on the baseball field. In his freshman year, he helped Coach Brent Diegel and the Bucs to their best season ever, going 37-17. They won the Mon-Dak Conference Championship, Region XIII Championship and represented Dawson at the NJCAA DIII World Series, finishing in 7th place. That season he smacked 11 home runs with 44 RBI. Wingerter was named the Mon-Dak Conference Player of the Year as well as All-Region.

The following season, they went 26-15 and won the conference championship again. He hit 11 home runs for the second straight year and had a slugging percentage of 0.721. He batted 0.425 with 72 RBI and 63 runs scored. He also drew 30 walks and had a 0.551 On Base Percentage. Wingerter was again named All-Conference and All-Region and was selected as an NJCAA 1st Team All-American.

Wingerter still holds Dawson single season records for games played, home runs, at bats, runs scored, and RBI's; and appears in the top 10 all-time in nine other categories. He is also the Dawson career leader for hits, home runs, runs scored and RBI; and 3rd in doubles and 4th in walks.

After leaving Dawson, Wingerter helped Louisiana State University - Shreveport to the NAIA World Series, where they finished third place in the country.

Wingerter currently lives in Butte, MT with his beautiful wife Adrienne and children McKinley, Ainzleigh, and Barrett.

Chuck Simonson

In his first year at Dawson, Chuck Simonson won the NIRA Big Sky Region Rookie of the Year Award in 1978-1979 and helped the Bucs finish 4th in the nation as a team. He finished 3rd overall in the bareback and 5th overall in the men’s all-around. In the 1979-1980 season he won the bull riding national championship. His third year was a year that the DCC community will never forget. Simonson helped make history as a member of Coach Tom Ree’s 1981 National Champion Men’s Rodeo Team—the only national championship team Dawson Community College has ever produced. The team scored 1,077 points at Nationals – over 300 more than the 2nd place finisher. They won that title before a crowd of 5,400 people at Montana State University and ended Southeastern Oklahoma’s five consecutive national championship streak. Individually, he won the bull-riding title for the second straight year and finished second in the Men’s All-Around.

After leaving Dawson. Simonson had an outstanding professional career. A true cowboy, Chuck made three trips to the National Finals Rodeo and claimed victories at some of the biggest rodeos in the country, including Calgary, Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo, Tucson, El Paso, Pueblo, Albuquerque, and Walla Walla. Simonson was known as one of Montana’s best roughstock riders, excelling in bull riding, saddle bronc riding, and bareback riding. His career was tragically cut short when he was paralyzed with a spinal injury while competing, but his accomplishments are undisputed.

Simonson now lives in Oklahoma and braids rawhide.

1977-1979 Men’s Basketball Teams

In his final two years at Dawson, Coach Dennis Perryman had two of the best seasons in school history. In 1977-1978 they finished 26-6 and won the Mon-Dak Conference Championship and the Empire Conference Championship. Rocco Morro, a 6’0 point guard from Ohio was All-Region and All-Conference and was the first Buccaneer to be nominated for the NJCAA All-Star game. He averaged 16.4 points while shooting 52% from the field and a region leading 85% from the free throw line. Jeff Anderson, Keith Heingartner, and Tim Slabach were also All-Conference. In addition to those four players, the team included Allen Davis, Steve Clear, Paul Godecke, Bob Genesee, Kirt Heingartner, Gordon Jackson, Dan O’Connell, Terry Soule, Kevin Stosich, Paul Tatarka and Mike Traphagen.

In 1978-1979 they went 31-5 while again winning the Mon-Dak Conference and finished 2nd in the Empire Conference. They also won the North Sub Region Championship that year and made a great run in the Region IX Tournament and reached the Championship Game before losing by two points on the road to Western Nebraska Community College. They climbed into the national rankings for the first time since the early 1960’s when they were ranked #18 on January 23, 1979. A pair of Indiana natives led the way for Dawson. The 6’3 inside outside threat of Doug Frederick and 5’11 smooth shooting guard, Tim Slabach, were named all-conference and all-region. After Frederick averaged over 30 points a game in the Region IX Tournament run, he was also named as an NJCAA All-American. He became the second Buccaneer to ever achieve that honor. Davis, Genesee, Godecke and Slabach were returning sophomores that year and were joined by newcomers Frederick, Bob Knapp, Brent Johnson, Chad Babcock, Daryl Weber, David Ruckman, Dean Petrosewicz, Joe Dykman, Kyle Bradford, Terry Eichelberger, Terry Thompson and Tom Payne; along with managers Jeff Savage and Deb Witowski and trainer Dale Diede.

For both seasons, Dennis Perryman was the head coach and was assisted by Mike Wilondek. Those two seasons were a great cap to Coach Perryman’s 13 years as the Dawson coach. His overall basketball record at Dawson was 230-142, leading the Bucs to five Mon-Dak Conference Championships, three Empire Conference Championships, three Sub-Region Championships, and two Region Championships.