SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Former longtime Washington High School track coach and National Guard brigadier general, Dean Mann, died Wednesday, leaving behind a rich legacy of leadership.
For more than 70 years, Mann was involved in track and field in South Dakota. He coached Dave Bakke at Washington High School in the 1970s and helped him win numerous state championships.
“What can I say about a guy who’s literally been the biggest influence in my life? He taught me how to be a gentleman, taught me how to live my life, taught me how to be a teammate and a good sport. I think that anybody who knew Coach Mann respected Coach Mann. You had to. He was just that kind of a person,” Bakke said.
Mann worked alongside former longtime Sioux Falls School District athletic director Mark Meile at the Howard Wood Relays.
“Dean, being the track aficionado that he was, he stayed quite active and quite involved in it, and I got to work quite closely with Dean for many, many years. It was really fantastic and was great to see how dedicated he was to the Howard Wood Dakota Relays,” Meile said.
Mann was also a Brigadier General who devoted 33 years of his life to the National Guard. This readiness center, which bears his name, will open on August 7.
“I knew him as a coach, but I also know he was in the military, and we knew him as Colonel Mann is what we called him sometimes. He was a colonel at the time. But, that part of his personality is what helped earn him that respect, and we all respected him for that,” Bakke said.
Mann will be remembered as a great leader and an even better person.
“He was able to get people to follow him for whatever cause it might be,” Meile said.
“I will always love and respect Coach Mann until my last days,” Bakke said.
Mann is also an inductee in the Washington High and South Dakota High School Coaches Association Halls of Fame.
