Jason Olson

                                               By Brad Green

Andre Agassi, eight-time Grand Slam winner, once said this quote, “Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love: the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence because every match is a life in miniature.”

 Jason Olson of Rapid City has had quite the tennis life so far and would likely agree with Agassi’s words.

 Olson, the longtime Rapid City Stevens boys and girls tennis coach, has earned induction to the South Dakota Tennis Hall of Fame as a part of the Class of 2025.

 He recalls getting the call from Don (HOF Class of 2001) and Kate Barnes, retired tennis coaches from O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls, who informed him of his induction.

 “You know it was special,” Olson said. “It was humbling. I’ve been going to McKennan (Park) since I was a player so seeing all those names on that monument right by the shed has always been cool to see. I never imagined as a Park and Rec player that my name would ever be up there. Having them give me the call was special because I consider them tennis legends in the State of South Dakota and in the country.”

 Jason was born in Rapid City in 1968 to Robert and Judy Olson and is one of six children.

 Olson looked back at growing up in South Dakota’s second-largest city and would watch fellow Rapid City natives who would later make their mark in the professional and international sports ranks.

 “I was lucky when we built our house in the Stevens (High School) neighborhood,” Olson said. As a young kid, I would walk to Stevens. It was up a hill and down a hill from our house. As a four and five-year old, we’d go to the game and I would stay. I was always into sports watching the Torve family and watching some of the legends. Dave Collins lived down the street from me. Randy Lewis was a patient of my Dad’s since Dad was a dentist. I had a Major League Baseball player, Jeff Andrews, live across the street from me. I was always intertwined with Stevens’s sports from the get-go.”

 While Olson is getting inducted into the hall for his work as a tennis coach, he enjoyed other sports as a youngster before getting bit by the tennis bug thanks in part to two greats of the game.

 “Honestly, tennis was never on my mind,” Olson said. “I was a baseball, football, basketball guy. Those are what I really played until I saw John McEnroe on TV. The next day, I saw Chris Evert playing. Those two people got me playing. I was 10 years old.”

 Arrowhead Country Club and the original Sioux Park became tennis haunts for Jason. He fondly remembers breaking his mom’s Chris Evert racket in his first tournament at Arrowhead. Olson continued playing baseball to help with his footwork and his swing motion for tennis. He was also a fan of the athletes that performed in the Summer Olympics and even remembers listening to the United States hockey team beat Russia in the 1980 Winter Olympics on the radio while traveling to his family’s cabin at Terry Peak.

 Olson graduated from Rapid City Stevens High School in 1987 after going to the school that his older siblings had attended.

 “I had an older sister there,” he said. “We all had gone through Stevens. I loved all the sports. We had such great track, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics was dominant back in that era. We won a lot of state titles as a team.”

 Olson played Flight 3 singles for the Raiders and Coach Daryl Parker during his high school career. He recalls O’Gorman, Brookings, Pierre, and Sioux Falls Lincoln as tennis rivals for Stevens. Olson remembers getting to know the Barnes and Moran families from O’Gorman when they would come out to play and wouldn’t stay at hotels but with families in Rapid City. He spoke fondly about watching Brookings’ Ripper Hatch and Pierre’s Paul Williams (HOF Class of 2022 and 2024, respectively) play.

 Olson headed south to Lincoln, Neb. after graduation to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He had family ties to UNL as had an older brother that had attended the school and one that was attending at the time. Olson said that he became a Husker fan while one brother was in the Nebraska marching band where he even attended the 1984 Orange Bowl where the Huskers played Miami in the National Championship game.

 Upon his graduation from UNL, Olson had plans to teach in Arizona but changed course and headed back home to Rapid City. He served as a substitute teacher and then spent 26 years at North Middle School teaching and coaching before moving onto Southwest Middle School. He and Paul Hendry, current Stevens track and field coach, started a Screaming Eagles youth basketball program and later started the Junior Raider youth basketball program.

 Olson recalled how he got back involved with Stevens tennis, a program that meant a lot to him.

“I was still running the Park and Rec program,” he said. “I was running the program at Sioux Park when I was 19. I coached all these kids. The year I was subbing, the coach, Jerry Jessen, knew I knew about tennis since I was teaching these kids all summer. I would be teaching a boys group during the girls’ season and a girls group during the boys’ season. So he asked if I wanted to be a volunteer assistant. I volunteered for a couple years then he retired from the girls. I applied (for the girls job) after Jerry recommended me. I helped with the boys one more year then Jerry retired completely. After that, I took over the boys and girls.”

 Olson took over the girls’ squad for the 1997 season and in the spring of 1998, became the head coach for the boys’ team. Stevens earned their first state girls championship in 2002 and their first boys’ state title in 2006.

 The early 2000s belonged to the Raiders as the girls claimed the state crown in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. It was during this run that Stevens won 105 straight matches from 2002-2005. The end of the decade belonged to the Raider boys as they won titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008. During this time, he coached many kids including the likes of Jack Hamburg, Fiorina Oddo, Billy Paluch, Corey Paluch, Morgan Paluch and Whitney Paluch.

Don and Kate Barnes spoke fondly about Jason and added that they appreciate Olson’s love for the game.

 “We have a lot of respect for Jason,” they said. “He’s a worker and he keeps it fun.”

 Last fall, the Stevens girls won their Class AA tournament for the third time in four years (2021 and 2022) and seventh overall under Olson’s guidance.

 Today, Jason is still teaching at Southwest Middle School and still coaching the Raiders’ boys and girls’ teams. His career coaching record stands at 1,173 dual wins (506-boys, 667-girls) versus just 161 dual losses (97-boys, 64-girls). He has coached a total of 10 state championship teams (three-boys and seven-girls) and 22 state runner-ups (10-boys and 12-girls).

 The Barneses also shared about the rivalry that O’Gorman and Stevens throughout the years while both schools would be battling it out for state championships.

 “They (Stevens) always had good teams,” Don and Kate said. “They were competitive and came prepared to play.

 In addition to tennis, Jason also coaches boys’ basketball for the Raiders. He remains the Director of Tennis for the Rapid City Recreation Department having done this for the past 38 years. He runs the Parks and Recreation tennis program every summer and had nearly 1,000 kids went through his program in the summer of 2024 alone.

 Jason is the second member of the Olson family to be inducted into a South Dakota Hall of Fame. He joins his Mom, Judy (Olson) Duhamel, who was selected for the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2014 for her work that she did in the state for education and politics.

 Jason has been married to Teresa for 30 years and they are the proud parents of Tyler, Trae, Tatum and Taron. All four Olson kids played tennis for the Stevens and their dad when they were in high school.

While his personal four-pack are probably his favorite players he’s ever coached, Jason looks back on the countless other boys and girls that he’s had the opportunity to coach over the years with admiration.

“They weren’t just my players,” he said with a smile. “They were my kids. I’ve tried to have that my entire coaching career.”

On behalf of the South Dakota Tennis Hall of Fame selection committee, we proudly welcome Jason Olson into our ranks as a member of the Class of 2025. Congratulations to Jason!