Burdell Coplan

Born Jan. 13, 1928 in Watertown. 1946 Watertown HS grad. 1952 USD grad. Coplan was the football coach at Canton High School for 35 years (1955-89), compiling a 228-82-9 record. Seven times his teams were undefeated (1959, '61, '63, '70, '71, '75, '86) and five times the C-Hawks were ranked No. 1. In the 24 years that Canton was in a conference, the C-Hawks were conference champs 15 times. Coplan was named national coach of the year in 1990 and he was named to the National High School Coaches Hall of Fame in 1999.

At Watertown, Coplan lettered three years each in football, basketball and track. At USD, he lettered two years in football, helping the Coyotes to the 1952 North Central Conference title. He was named as a defensive back to USD's all-1950s team.