by By Dale Pine, Jr
(Kyle, SD) – Dallas Tobacco is not your average sophomore college student. For him, overcoming challenging obstacles to become a sophomore star on the Oglala Lakota College men’s basketball team is nothing short of spectacular.
As an involved high school student at Red Cloud Indian School, Dallas was part of the football team where he earned All-Nations All-Conference honors, participated in cross country, track, and also took part in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at school. He played basketball during all four of his seasons and finally got the call to suit up for varsity during his junior season.
Throughout his years, he played in summer and fall leagues and tournaments with Red Cloud and was able to play in a Denver Nuggets halftime scrimmage with his team at the Pepsi Center. During his senior season of playing high school basketball, he earned a starting spot for the Crusaders as a combo guard. He had a career high 18 points in a win over Lead-Deadwood and set a new one with 19 points in a win over Hot Springs.
In late February, his mother, Angelina Red Cloud, had passed away. With the support of his teammates and coaches, he finished the season and scored 12 points in the district championship game where the Crusaders defeated their rivals from Custer High School. He averaged 13.5 points per game in district tournament play, 4 above his average, and the team’s season ended with a regional championship game loss to eventual state champion St. Thomas More. He was later named to the West River All-Conference team after his team finished as the regular season conference runner-up.
“He’s a real respectful kid and always joking around. He stilll calls me ‘Mama Darc’. He had a rough year when his mom passed away and he still played ball and went on to graduate,” said Darcie Desersa, a former paraprofessional and teacher at Wolf Creek School who worked with Dallas throughout his middle school days. “I’m very proud of him. He’s all heart on and off the court.”
He attended Haskell Indian Nations University in the fall of 2012 and was a Horatio Alger Scholarship recipient, one of 25 students statewide to earn the scholarship. He attended school there for a year before moving home and enrolling at Oglala Lakota College during the 2014-15 school year. It wasn’t until the fall of 2015 when he decided to suit up for OLC’s men’s basketball team.
It was in December of 2015 when his father, Sylvester Tobacco, passed away. Dallas took a few weeks off from basketball to regroup and was determined to finish out the season. He ended up averaging 11.2 points per game on the season and helped the team to a nine game win streak and one of the program’s best finishes with 14 wins.
“He was able to come in and help facilitate our offense as a freshman. He had the assignment of guarding the other team’s best players and he took it personally to try and shut them down. In one close game, we were up 1 and had to play defense for four seconds and the guy he guarded never got a shot up,” said Dale Pine Jr., the OLC men’s coach that year. “He has a signature spin move that helps him get to the basket and he plays smart. The sky is the limit for him.”
In the summer of 2016, his brother Michael and two close cousins passed away within days of each other. Prior to the start of the 2016-17 season, Dallas put a self-imposed halt on his basketball participation to focus on his grades, even though he was athletically and academically eligible to compete right away in the first semester of the season.
At times, making the two mile round trip to the Pine Ridge College Center by foot and making the 90 mile round trip to practices during the season, Dallas has made it work the past three years. After passing all of his courses and satisfactorily meeting his own set standards, he rejoined the program in early January.
This past weekend, he helped guide the Bravehearts to a 3-0 finish at the Fort Peck Invitational, including a win over the Stone Child College Bearpaws. Stone Child was last years AIHEC runner-up and preseason favorite to make another strong run again. He broke his own career high of 25 points with 26 points on Saturday and bettered that with 32 in a win over Stone Child on Sunday. Dallas averaged 22 points on the weekend and is averaging 17 points per game on the season, second best on the team. Along with former Red Cloud all-stater Carl Swallow, the Bravehearts backcourt is averaging 40 points per game for OLC’s high octane offense.
OLC will host the 2017 AIHEC Championships from March 15-19 in the Rapid City area and looks to be a contender for the men’s squad despite a 3-9 record. “Dallas is a fast, smart, naturally gifted player with high basketball IQ. A lot of players with potential do not get a chance uncover it in high school so its great to watch him excel at a very competitive collegiate level,” said his aunt Mary Tobacco, current Athletic Director at OLC who helped raise him.
For now, Dallas looks forward to maintaining his status as role model and big brother for his younger siblings. At a recent game attended by his younger sister, Essence (fourth grader at Red Cloud), she proclaimed to be ‘Dally Jr.’ while doing a between the legs dribble followed by a behind the back crossover. “I can’t do a spin move yet, but I’m practicing,” she stated. “We’ve been breaking 90+ points games against these (Tribal) colleges. It felt good to get these wins this weekend,” said Dallas after returning from OLC’s weekend trip in Wolf Point, Montana.
“Through everything God throws your way, he knows its nothing you can’t handle. That’s why he gives you the challenge to overcome. He knows how strong you are. Through all the struggles I still remain thankful. Every test has a lesson before it. Tunkashila wopila!”
Outstanding young man, defying adversity to be a role model and inspiration.