It’s hard to sum up who exactly Harold Thune was... He was a high school basketball star, one of the first division one athletes to come out of South Dakota, and a military hero – and this was just the first half of his 100-year life.
Harold Thune passed away on August 15, 2020, but his legacy is one that will live on in the Mt. Rushmore State forever.
“When you get 100-years, it’s hard to complain, but nevertheless, he leaves a big void and he was such a big presence in my family’s life,” said US Senator John Thune, Harold’s son. “It’s a great South Dakota story and a great American story really.”
Harold Thune was born in Mitchell in 1920 and moved to Murdo in 1930.
In an interview with SDPB in 2011, Harold said “Practically all of my sports stuff was in Murdo, although I did start in Mitchell. At that time they didn’t have the complete run of sports like they do today. We had basketball and football, one year we had baseball and although they’d had track before, we didn’t have track when I was in school.”
When Harold arrived in Murdo, around the age of 10-years old, his passion for basketball took off.
“He said that in any place there was a barn, or they could put up a hoop, they put up a hoop and everybody played,” said Senator Thune. “And Lord knows during the depression, they needed a lot of distractions, so he became a very established player.”
In 1937, Harold led Murdo to the ‘B’ state tournament where they finished runner-up to Doland in the state title game. Harold was named the captain of the all-tourney team that year as he led all players with 35-points scored for the tournament.
In that era of basketball, much different than the basketball that everybody knows today, 35-points for a tournament was a big deal.
“And back at that time, they went to the state tournament [his senior year], which was played up in Aberdeen, and they (jump balled at center court) after every basket,” Senator Thune explained. “And my dad was kind of a fast break sort of guy.”
After high school, Harold Thune went to Hibbing, Minnesota to play junior college basketball. From there he was recruited by the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, making him the first division one athlete to come out of South Dakota. Even though he wasn’t known as being a prolific scorer for the Gophers, he was the leading scorer on his birthday in 1940 when the Gophers played a game at Madison Square Garden.
“He always talked about playing in 'The Garden,'” stated Senator Thune. “It was a double header at the garden. And he said ‘we came off for the second game. You couldn’t even see the upper deck, the upper deck seats, because there was so much smoke.” And you don’t think about that, but back at that time, everybody smoked, and he said you literally couldn’t see up there.”
After college, Harold Thune enlisted in the Navy, which led to an impressive military career as a pilot. During that time he flew around 66 missions, which included landing on aircraft carriers. One mission over modern day Taiwan resulted in Harold, and fellow South Dakotan Cecil Harris, shooting down four enemy aircraft. Thune was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which Senator John Thune mentioned was made by John McCain’s grandfather, Admiral John McCain, who was the commander of the carrier group that Harold Thune served on in the Pacific.
“I think some of the same skill sets that helped him excel on the basketball floor were also skills that served him well when he became a fighter pilot,” Senator Thune, Harold’s son said. “And he just felt like there was a sense of duty about the country is at war and he had to do his part.”
After the war, Harold moved back to Murdo to help work at his father’s hardware store. He would eventually get into a career in teaching and coaching.
“I knew Harold from the day I arrived until he passed away,” said longtime Jones County basketball coach Jerald Applebee. “He was a head girls’ basketball coach, and that’s when the girls played in the fall and boys played in the winter. Right away I was (boys basketball) head coach and Harold was my assistant coach.”
For those who worked with him, like Applebee, Harold Thune was a great person to work with.
“We got along really well. He was very mild, and he was a good Christian. And so consequently, he didn’t do a lot of talking about himself,” said Applebee.
Harold Thune and Jerald Applebee were instrumental in getting the Jones County Invitational basketball event going – a basketball extravaganza, which celebrated its 50th anniversary back in 2018.
In an interview with SDPB at the 50-year anniversary event, Harold Thune said “We started the tournament to give west river teams experience.”
“We got it started, and it’s the longest running invitational basketball (event) in the state of South Dakota,” Applebee stated. “We felt that a lot of teams out (west) needed games and were interested in a tournament, so [Harold, Maurice Haugland, and I] got it started. Harold was the athletic director at the time, and he kept it going. And then I took over as athletic director when Harold retired, and we just kept it going. It’s great for the schools that we have coming and it’s great for the Jones County community, and we get real good crowds [every year].