Sheri Keck - Inducted 2012
One of the most successful high school gymnastics coaches in state history, the 1979 South Dakota State grad guided Rapid City Stevens to six state titles and two runner-up finishes in 13 seasons.
A Stevens grad, she coached the Raiders from 1991-2001 and 2005-06. The Raiders won state titles in 1994, ’95, ’97, ’98, ’99 and ’01 and had runner-up finishes in 1996 and 2000. Keck was an assistant at Stevens for another four seasons (1990; 2007-09).
She also was the Spearfish gymnastics coach for six seasons (1983-88) and an assistant cross country and track coach at Spearfish as well.
She was named the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Special Sports (Gymnastics) Coach of the Year in 2006. She was inducted into the S.D. Gymnastics Coaches Hall of Fame in 2000.
Keck is a past president of the S.D. High School Gymnastics Coaches Association and was a National High School Coaches Association board member representing special sports. In 2006, she received the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports’ Pathfinder Award. In 2007, she was named SDSU’s Ralph Ginn Award winner.
At Stevens, she competed in gymnastics, track and cross country and was team captain in all three sports. She competed in the first sanctioned state gymnastics meet in 1974. In 1976, she was Stevens’ Girls Athlete of the Year. At SDSU, Keck competed in gymnastics and track.
She has been an assistant middle school track coach in Rapid City since 1995. She’s also taught physical education since 1998 and is currently the head sideline cheer coach and the competitive cheer coach, all at Stevens. She coached the 2011 Class AA state cheer champs in small group stunting/tumbling.
Said Keck, “I was blessed to be coached by a strong woman (Joanne Sterner) who gave me the courage to keep on doing what she started, and to have peers, male and female, who refused to accept anything but the best for girls.”
A quote that sums up Keck’s feelings about coaching is “Excellence is … caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, expecting more than others think is possible.”
