Doug Vlasman

You name the sports venue — football gridiron, basketball court or track oval — and Doug Vlasman excelled there in the early 1980s for Madison High School. On the gridiron, Vlasman was a prime target for quarterback Todd Koster in leading Madison to a third-place, 4-3 finish in the Eastern South Dakota Conference in 1981, qualifying Madison for the first football playoffs. Playing the post, Vlasman and his fellow Bulldogs, ranked as high as second in the regular-season polls, capped Madison's best cage season since 1945 in 1982 with a 20-3 record. The Dogs finished in third place at the State A Basketball Tournament, defeating Watertown 65-59. With Vlasman's help, Madison produced back-to-back State A Tournament appearances for the first time since 1944-45. Vlasman completed his senior year at Madison High School with a record-setting flourish in track. He set five school records and led his team to an ESD championship and a third-place finish in the State AA Track Meet. His records came in the 100-meter sprint with a 10.9-second display, 200 (22.1), 400 (48.7), long jump (22-feet, 1-inch) and high jump (6-8). Two records were State AA benchmarks at the time they were set — the long jump and 200-meter dash. At the '82 State AA Track Meet, Vlasman was voted most valuable athlete. He was Madison's most valuable athlete in track in both 1981 and '82. Vlasman was an honorable-mention National High' School Track All-American, and in 1981, was selected the most valuable athlete at MHS. When he completed his high school track career, Vlasman was a four-events champion at the State AA Track Meet and a runner-up in two other events.