29 Years Ago April 19, 1993: A Tragic Day In South Dakota History
It's a day that South Dakotans will never forget. April 19, 1993.
It some ways it's hard to believe it happened 29 years ago.
South Dakota Governor George Mickelson and seven others were killed in an airplane crash near Dubuque, Iowa shortly before 4:00 P.M.
I had first met the Governor before he was Governor. In the early 1980's I was living in Brookings and was doing play-by-play for Sioux Valley High School, South Dakota State University, and Brookings High School.
George's daughter played on the Brookings High School girls basketball team, and often after games we would visit, while I was packing up my radio equipment and he was waiting for his daughter. I wouldn't say we became good friends, but we did become well acquainted.
Later, in the last half of the 1980s when I was working on the air in radio in Rapid City, Governor Mickelson would come on the air on our Morning Show whenever he was in Rapid City. It was pretty cool when he'd walk in and say "Hi, Randy" and I'd give him a "Hi, George" back.
The Governor and the others were on a business trip to Ohio and returning when the accident happened. The Governor along with David Birkeland, Angus Anson, Roger Hainje, Roland Dolly, Ron Reed, and the two state pilots Ron Becker and David Hanson were killed.
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