ONIDA – When Sully Buttes hosts Wolsey-Wessington in a basketball doubleheader tonight, it will mark the beginning of a new era in the Sully Buttes gymnasium.
The court within the gym will officially be renamed Mark Senftner Court during a dedication ceremony to honor the former Sully Buttes girls’ basketball coach who passed away in October 2022 after an almost two-year battle with a brain tumor.
The process to rename the court began when the school discussed a project which consisted of renovating the high school gym and giving it an updated look. The idea to rename the court in Senftner’s name was brought up during the planning process.
“One of the things that was brought up is Coach Senftner’s done a lot for our community, for our athletics in general, whether it’s football or basketball,” Sully Buttes athletic director Brian White said. “It was appropriate for us to honor him by naming the court after Coach Senftner, and after the committee talked about it, they decided that they felt that it was in the best interest of the community and school to honor Coach Senftner by naming the court after him.”
In addition to the new gym floor which bears Senftner’s name and signature, the renovation project included giving the entire gym a fresh coat of paint, repairing ceiling panels, updating the scoreboards, and placing Agar Hi-Pointers, Blunt Monarchs, and Onida Warriors logos on the wall, along with the Sully Buttes Chargers logo.
“We just added some things to our gym to make it a little more 2023 and to just make a better atmosphere, hopefully, for our kids,” White said.
The community has rallied around the effort to make the renovations a reality, which has the three small towns northeast of Pierre buzzing over their new gym.
“I think the community has been excited that we get to honor Coach Senftner, and I think, overall, for the most part, the changes to the gym have people excited,” White said. “When they first walked in a couple of months ago and got to see it for the first time, there were a lot of oohs and aahs and it was so much brighter and some excitement around the facility. Our kids, I believe, are pretty excited to play on the court as well.”
The community has also seen support from people all across the state, including media, coaches, and referees.
“We’ve had a ton of support throughout the state,” White said. “Almost every sports outlet in the state is doing a story on the floor. Coaches and refs and everybody that’s come into the gym, they really like the gym, but then everybody feels like it’s a pretty special thing to have Coach Senftner’s signature and for it to be named after him.”
The Senftner family has not been involved extensively with the project as the community and school “wanted this to be for them, not done by them,” however there was one key piece that Mark’s wife Lynn provided for the project to be completed.
“Lynn did get Mark’s signature for me, and the signature on the floor is actually Mark’s signature, so we thought that was a really cool touch that we were able to add,” White said.
White said he was able to show Lynn and Mark’s son Scott the floor in advance, which he said was a great honor.
“That was actually a great honor for me to be able to bring Scott and Lynn in and take a look at the floor and just know that it’s going there and that it’ll be there for a long time,” White said.
White, who is also the head boys’ basketball coach at Sully Buttes in addition to his duties as athletic director, says he learned many things from Senftner about coaching during the eight years White worked under him as an assistant football coach, as well as learning from him when Senftner was coaching girls’ basketball.
“I got to be there for all three of his trips to the Dome as his offensive coordinator,” White said. “On the basketball side of things, he’s just been somebody that I can bounce things off anytime I needed. He was just a great mentor for me and even inspirational in the run that my groups have been able to make in our state championship (in 2018). I’d be naïve to think that Coach Senftner didn’t have a part in that as well.”
White is thankful to everyone who has helped make the court project and dedication a reality and is excited to be able to dedicate it in Senftner’s name.
“We’re really thankful for all of the support and how the community has embraced us honoring Coach Senftner in this way,” White said. “Really excited for us to be able to put his name on the court and have it dedicated to him.”
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