He was an all-state football player in Mobridge, and he played football at the university of South Dakota. He then coached high school football, wound up in a winner and led them to three state titles and one runner up finish. Now in the 40 years of South Dakota high school football playoffs, the winner warriors have made 17 final appearances and have won nine titles. He was the warrior coach for 17 years, he had a record of 171-56-4, and he is also in the South Dakota sports hall of fame. He's Harvey Naasz.
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Now, you were an All-state football player at Mobridge. So what success did you have at Mobridge for your football career?
When I was a junior I think we won three games. Then our senior year we won a, I think back then we went nine and O and we were good football players, big in the line, had some talent in the back field. But there was probably another reason. When I graduated I was 19, but there were six guys older than I was all between 19 and 20. And of course you're eligible until you reach the age of 20. So we're playing against the other guys 14, 15 years old and we're shaving once a day.
Who was your coach?
Oh, excellent coach Burt Det. And we would've gone to war for old Burton. He was outstanding.
Now, this would've been in the mid '50s, right?
Right. Would've been the football season of 1957.
Did you play any other sports when you were at Mobridge in high school?
Oh yeah, back in those days it was football, basketball and track. And we did all of them, played basketball and most of our offense was right around two guys and my job was to get in the corner until they shoot and then crash the boards.
After graduation though, you went on to the university of South Dakota, what moved you to play football for the Coyotes? I know your brother Howard played for the Coyotes.
We were back in the dark ages. I remember one year we had less than 40 people on our squad and we played as hard as we could and we just weren't very talented, but we always won at least one game. One of those years, I forget which one it was, we didn't win our last game until we went out to play the Colorado team and won that one or we would've lost them all. But we pulled it out at the end and our last game of career was down in Beaumont, Texas and we got down there too.
Ralph Stewart, I think, was the coach for the Coyotes until about 1960. And Bob Burns took over for a year, but it was basically about a 500 record while you were USD playing football.
Bob Burns as you know excellent coach and a great guy to be around. Unless he was picked at, and then he was not nice to be around.
What's the biggest memory you have playing home games at the old Inman field there at the university of South Dakota?
We played Drake one night and it rained and it rained, but we had an offense and wedge, we did an alignment, went foot to foot and we would just go straight ahead. And the quarterback would hand the ball off to the half back right behind us and we were up, I think, of 14-0, but we blew it at the end. And I always remember that game because of the conditions and one of those games that we should have won. And one of the games we won that year, that was North Dakota state. And the next year, of course, North Dakota state started their run and they weren't as tough as they are now, of course, but they were probably so embarrassed by losing to us that they decided to get tougher.
When did you get the idea that you wanted to coach football?
In the seventh grade, when my brother Howard was a coach and I'll always remember this, the teacher went around the room and we had to stand up and tell everybody what we wanted to do. And I stood up and said I wanted to be football coach like my brother, and I don't regret it one bit.
Yeah. Howard was at the Rapid City Central for a long time. He was a football coach there, I think he coached also at Mitchell for a while. I would assume you guys had some great coaching conversations.
Yeah. We did. And Howard was in the service and he played at camp football team. And I remember we sent our letters to scrimmage University of Royal Well and they got a little skinny kid but he could really throw the ball. It was Johnny Unitas.
Oh, nice. After USD you coached at Gettysburg, in Custer, in Gregory, what were those seven years like? Because you were at Gettysburg for what? Two, Custer for a year, Gregory for four. What was it like as a young coach and what was it like those seven years?
Nerve-racking but fun. I remember when we went to Gettysburg I had this thing in my mind, I'm going to coach here a couple years and then go here and here and so on. Well, probably should have stayed Gettysburg a bit longer because in Custer we weren't really good then went to Gregory and the gorillas liked to play football and we had a great time there and had some good athletes there. Winner was our big rivalry, but at that time Winner was struggling a little bit and we were able to win them. But the Gregory kids tough. One of the guys by name of Dave Pastian Nebraska wanted him on the worst way, but they would've red-shirted him and with him the game was a thing and he would've not liked it. And he went to Northern and was signed by the Browns as a free agent as he was the second to the last back cut by the Browns at the ball camp.
How did you find out about the Winner football job opening and what interested you in that Winner football program?
Since Gregory's 26 miles from Winner and we play them every year and our basketball coach, Lyle Rusman, he'd go over and he'd scout Winner. And he'd come home and he say, boy, they're not very good, but I think there's some talent there. So back in those days you play 10 games, blah blah we'll always be eight and two, seven and three. So still young, maybe a little foolish. Okay. Let's see if the winter job opened up and we applied and we're lucky to get it.
What was that first game that you coached Winner against Gregory? What was that like?
Oh, it was pretty intense, but our first year Winner we had a good offensive line and we handle I wouldn't say easy, but it wasn't real close. And I don't know, I did hear a few funny calls from the sidelines it was at Gregory. But the game that sticks out with the Gregory team, Okay. We were undefeated. We had one game left at Gregory, but we dressed at home only because it's only 25 miles and got on the bus and from Winner to Gregory there was not a word spoken on the team bus. You could've heard a pin drop. And our fans, they lined up behind the bus but they lined up later they all came in a group, we were out on the field, they're warming up and all of a sudden we could hear them coming and got noisy and we were able to win. We had three sons on that team, then Burt, the oldest one senior, then Brian sophomore, and Brad was a freshman. We had some good athletes. We were able to win.
Winner is pretty famous for running the football, at least smash mouth football. Did you run that type of offense before you got to Winner?
Yes, because I heard when you throw the ball, three things can happen and two of them are bad. But we do throw the ball a lot in warmups.
And that was about it, wasn't it?
Yeah. I have this philosophy I pass the ball. If you don't throw the ball, get it down field. Don't throw those little five yard passes out to the side. Because again, sometimes kids drop them or the bad pass or the defender does the job. So if you're going to throw the ball, go down field. And the past people still would come up and talk to us about was that first year of the championship game down over a million first play of the game threw the 70 yard bomb and we ran off tackle really tough. And I remember playing that Lenox when you're, this is the third quarter and we hadn't thrown the ball and I can hear their coach yelling, watch the path, watch the path. We hadn't passed yet, and we're up here and action pass and scored. And after the game that peer defensive back and new long tight end and he went up to him and said, all week, they were screaming at us don't come up, don't come up don't throw it over your head. He said, well, you were killing us with that off tackle. I came up one time and threw it over his head.
1981, the first year of the South Dakota high school football playoff. She did beat Vermilion 31 21. You mentioned the first play of the game did you decide that you were going to pass that first play?
Yeah. See, we had played Vermilion earlier in the year, we beat them six to nothing. Well, whoever scores two touch downs is going to win this championship game. So we played the semi-final game, I think out in Spearfish. And riding on the bus on the way home, we had decided that that could've happened the way it did in the first play of the game.
Vermilion and Winner had a great rivalry. You guys met four times in the finals. Of course, that very first championship game against Vermilion. I think you had two sons on your team and your wife was from Vermilion. So what was that atmosphere like that first state championship in '81?
Oh my mother-in-law, she was our scout. She worked with another lady who had son on the Vermilion team and of course Karen's mom, grandma Gerard they were telling her we're going to watch that grandson of yours. He's not going to catch any passes against us. He was a decoy. We didn't, she was right. Boy caught one pass, but he didn't catch the touchdown pass. It was a fun thing, especially since we won. It was a lot of fun to go back to visit. Would've been probably not as much fun had we lost.
Last year was the 40th anniversary of the high school football championships. And I went back and I talked to every Joe Robbie winner from every game last year. And of course, Jack Sharkey of Winner is the guy that I talked to and talked about their winter program and talked about you. And Jack of course, was the MVP in that first championship win. What do you know the most about Jack Sharkey?
Tough, really tough. There were five brothers, I think, the Sharkey boys and we ever want to go to war I'm taking those five Sharkey or those four Sharkey boys with me because they were tough. And Jack had more speed than his brothers. And the dad was, the family was great but again, tough, they were boxers and they were just the best way to describe them is tough and Jack had speed.
Your second title came in 1987. You beat Aberdeen, Ron Coley, 42-15. What do you remember about that game?
Well, we knew that they had this quick running back and a big lineman, and we thought that our kids were a little upset because they were getting all the publicity. That's one thing about out here, way out here in the sticks and we sometimes we don't think we get enough respect back east. So we were going to go in there and show Ron Coley what it's all about. And our athletes were like, nothing better than to play at Ron Coley again.
Your last title with Winner was 1989. You beat Millbank 27-14. What were your thoughts on that game?
Well, they're going to have to stop our off tackle, but that off tackle play, the right 46 power, the tailback's going to end in the tackle double team. The one back kicks the end out, the other back leads through the hole. But when that play starts, it could be one of four different plays. Sometimes people say, oh, he just runs that off tackle. Yeah. Right. Stop it and then we'll see what happens.
Harvey, I think you only had four running plays in your whole playbook and no pass plays. How big was that playbook?
Well, it was bigger than what we used it. But one year after the Dome game, and the next week I watched the film, we had six different plays that we ran in that game. But again, sometimes I think today coaches make it too complicated. Just line up and block. Run hard and keep blocking, and then tackle them. It's pretty simple when they really get down to it. And I think today, if a team, I don't care what level, would come out and double tight ends and just run the ball, block it hard because during the week everybody's all spread out all year long. And the opponents aren't used to playing that kind of a defense to stop the run with two tight ends and full house backfield. In fact, our team this year, we have the old Burdell Coplan full house team.
How early do the kids in Winner start going through those plays? They're learning these plays well before they get to high school.
They start learning the offense or knowing about the offense when they're in junior high. And some of them, if they have older brothers, they know about it before then. We play Beresford Friday. That'll be a good game, but there'll be a better game behind that game. Because up in the practice area, was our parking area and right behind that, it's our practice field and there'll be 50, 60 kids having a heck of a ball game back there.
Winner won the title in 1989, but you know what, the next six times Winner was in the Dome they lost those championship games, but you know what, they lost to some really good teams. It was Vermilion and West Central and Dell Rapids. What was it like during that time? I mean, it was like 1990 until almost 2008, that Winner didn't win a state title.
Right. I mean, it was a little upsetting, but there were some excellent teams and our son Brian, coached a couple of those games, I think. The first one was that triple overtime with West Central.
That was probably the hardest one to lose, but we just ran into some good teams and play it hard. We always tell them, okay, don't worry about the scoreboard. Just block and play as hard as you can. So when you get up the next morning and you look in the mirror, you can feel good about yourself because you played as hard as you could. And you do that and the scoreboard will take care of itself.
Well, it's 2009 and Winner moves to class B. And since then, Harvey, Winner has won six football titles, including, the last two with Bridgewater/Emery/Ethan. Doesn't matter which class, things just keep going for Winner, don't you? You just keep winning football games.
Oh, well the story is when they did this, divided and put in different classes and districts and whatnot, one of the guys that helped to divide it, after they got done, he looked at the sheet, he says, "We've created a monster." And I said, "What are you talking about?" He said, "Take a look at this." He says, "Take a look at 11 B." He says, "The monster is Winner." Because unless the wheels completely fall off, we're going to be competitive every year. Although our schedule hasn't been the best in recent years, but this year it's been toughened up. We got Beresford, we got West Central, Tri-Valley.
I think they're down a little bit and I figure there's a couple other ones that might be decent.
Well, the home field for the Warriors, you play at Frank Leahy Field, right?
No, we play about a half a block from it. Leahy Ball, that's the baseball park, isn't it? Because we built a football field. We moved the football field from out west to where it is now. And two years ago, a group of officials from Sioux Falls came and did one of our games and they talked or saw it afterwards, they said, "What a facility." Because the field was down low, and then of course there's the stadium. And then where all the football fans, all four, 500 of them, they'll park up above and you're looking down on the field. There's a lot more people there than there is in the stadium.
Frank Leahy, by the way, he graduated from Winner High. And of course then played and coached at Notre Dame. Did you ever get a chance to meet Frank Leahy? Because he passed away back in 1973, long time ago already.
No. He was never back. I think it was quite a while since he was back.
What led you to step away as the head coach of Winner, Harvey?
Oh, I had some medical issues and see, I'm my own worst enemy. I worry about the weather, I worry about kids getting sick and all that kind stuff. And we had a good young coach, Russ Harder. He was all ready to go. And so, excited to let some of the other guys have all the fun.
Yeah. Russ Harder was the coach for a while. And then your son, Brian, was the head coach for Winner. What was that like, watching your son coach the team that you had for a while?
Well, it was good. And told him when he took the job, I said, "Hey, if you need another coach, I'll coach the offensive line for you." There's no way in hell. That took care of that.
Well from Brian Naasz to even Dan Aaker and current coach Trent Olson, the Warriors just don't miss a beat, always near the top of their class in football. Why is that, Harvey?
Okay. Like one of our seniors last year, I was up there watching them practice and I heard him tell others, "Hey seniors, we don't want to be remembered as the class that broke tradition." So they're going to play hard because again, they don't want to be the one that didn't lose it. Someday it's going to happen, of course. And again, we're a long way from the river, I mean 30 miles or so. So we can't go to the river all the time. There aren't many and there's no Walmart, there's no mall. So nothing else to do, but come to Winner athletics and football is big.
Where were you in 2009, state football final, Winner six, Tri-Valley six. Winner calls a timeout with 4.3 seconds to go. It's at the Tri-Valley 43 yard line. And then the Hail Mary, Wonnenberg from midfield, throwing to Horstman who tipped it at the five yard line into the hands of Jayd Knodell, who runs into the end zone with no time left. Where were you on the Hail Mary play?
I was in the stands. And you could tell, soon as the ball is in the air, Knodell and there was another back. I forget which one was it, they were both open. And so whilst the ball is, unless it hits the ground, one of these two guys is going to get it. And then Horstman did tip it up. If that goes in overtime, we're in trouble, because they got that big bruising fullback. I don't think we can keep the end zone on four plays, and then it will be up whether we can score.
Would you have called for the Hail Mary if you were coaching?
Oh, yeah, Aaker did a good thing. He waited and let the clock run down and he knows that if we don't make it, we'll go on overtime. So probably. Yeah, probably. We did score our Hail Mary when we played Canton. Our mayor, Jody Brozik caught the pass right before halftime in the end zone.
Are you still mowing the football field in Winner?
Yep. In fact, I got to do it tomorrow morning. Oh yeah.
Do you have a specific routine on how you mow the Winner football field?
Oh yeah. There's three different ways we do it. Across the field, two different ways and up and down. And then the practice area, that's the big area, but it's so hot now that the grass isn't going very much around the area. But no, I enjoy that. I grew up in a farm, mowing hay was my favorite job and I pretend like I'm back on the farm. And we get a brand new riding mower from the school every spring. We use it all summer and then they come and get it in the fall. And then the next spring we get another brand new one.
I want to talk about your brother, Howard. He's also in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. He was a football coach for 11 years and was an athletic director at Rapid City Central. Howard was your older brother. Did he have any advice for you when you said you were going to get into coaching?
Not really. Oh, also there's a lot of flags. You have penalties. Makes you just yell out there, yell at the official. Let him know that you're around and always ask him who was on. So I did that.
Well, he was an athletic director. You were an athletic director. Coaching and administration ran in the Naasz family, even with your sons.
Yeah. And then, I have a grandson, one an assistant coach at Lincoln and the other one is coaching from Pierre, and of course they've been very successful. He parades his rings around occasionally, the one up in Pierre.
Well, you're in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. You're in the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. You're in the South Dakota High School Coaches Hall of Fame and the South Dakota Football Coaches Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you, Harvey?
Haven't really thought about it. It just means, first of all, you got a picture of our grandsons and they've all got one of my rings I gave them. And Jerry Miller organized this picture at the Hall of Fame banquet. And I think that gives me the most pleasure. It's sitting right by my easy chair. I look over and I see that, just a good feeling. And I also feel well, must have done something right. And it's also a good feeling when all the old former players come up and talk to you and reminisce. Sometimes I don't recognize them. It's just overall a good feeling and can't wait to watch Pierre and Lincoln play.
What are you most proud of when it comes to the history of Winner Warrior football.
Turning the program around. Okay, this is going to sound terrible, but they weren't worth a darn and they had the talent. Our first practice was without pads, and one of the assistant coaches said, "I had to tone down our athletes, they kept wanting to hit each other." All we had on was helmets, and one of our assistant coaches said, "We've hit harder today than we did all last year." I guess that makes me proud and it's continued on. And unless they put us in class A or class AA we're going to be contenders every year.
Harvey, what advice do you have today for the high school football coaches and the young coaches coming up and wanting to coach high school football?
Okay. The title coach comes with something. Work at it. My pet peeve is having coaches talking, "Well, we talked about that." You had better done more than talk about it. I think too many of our young coaches, truthfully, aren't putting in the time. Not all of them, but some of them like the title of coach, but they don't want to do the work. And keep it simple. The worst thing in the world, when I'd fire a coach, I'd drop him if I had if he did this. Have your kids come out of the huddle, get on the line of scrimmage and they're confused. If that happens, that's not their fault. That's your fault, and it better not happen.
