SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — When legendary University of Nebraska
Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne began college coaching in 1962,
he says very few kids lived in one-parent homes. Most of them had their
biological father and mother under the same roof. Today, as he points out,
over half of the kids in the country only have one of their biological parents
living with them. As society changed, Osborne saw a deep need to mentor
kids. In 1991, Tom and his wife Nancy founded the TeamMates mentoring
program. What started out as 22 Nebraska football players mentoring a
small number of kids in Lincoln…has blossomed into a 5-state mentoring
endeavor that partners with over 170 school districts, in every state that
borders Nebraska, except Colorado. Over 10,000 students per year are
now mentored in the TeamMates program. South Dakota has TeamMates
chapters in Rapid City, Custer-Hermosa, and Spearfish. And now the
Sioux Falls School District has just added its own chapter, with the help of
businessman and philanthropist Tom Walsh and Sioux Falls School
Superintendent Brian Maher, who was involved with the TeamMates
program in Kearney, Nebraska. Coach Osborne was in town Friday
to kick off the mentorship program in Sioux Falls. Osborne spoke at
the Instructional Learning Center. The Sioux Falls School District says
hundreds of its kids need adult role models to spend time with them.
TeamMates Sioux Falls Executive Director Lora Hayes says having a
mentor gives kids hope for the future. And she says mentored kids do
better in school, and have better behavior. Hayes says mentors do not
need experience. The program will train them. For more information
about the Sioux Falls TeamMates program, go to:
https://chapters.teammates.org/chapters/sioux-falls/
(Colin Strombeck of KELO Radio News contributed this article.)
