Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame
A rangy athlete, Diercks lettered in all three sports that Chadron State offered in his era. A graduate of Hay Springs High, he enrolled at Chadron State in the fall of 1942. World War II was heating up and the Eagles played five football games and two basketball games that year before nearly all the men on campus were drafted or enlisted in the military and all athletics ceased until 1945. CSC records show that Diercks also played football in 1946, 1949 and ’50, was on the basketball team in 1946-47 and 1949-50 and earned a letter throwing the shot in 1950.
After graduating at CSC, Diercks taught and coached at Sargent, Neb., for a couple of years, but spent most his career in schools in northern Wyoming. He started the football program at Manderson High School in 1956 and later was the principal there several years and the superintendent for 15 years. During that period, Manderson merged with Hyatteville to form Riverside High School. He retired in 1981 and died in 1991.
He was one of at least four Eagles who thought so much of their coach at CSC, Ross Armstrong, that they named a son after him. The others included Gene Alcorn, Bob Burden and Bill Stephenson.
