Quote from Class B Rating Board on March 7, 2026, 11:26 am

Hello SD wrestling fans,

It's been awhile.  Kevin Vellek, from Tyndall, has done the ratings for about 20 years.  The SD High School Wrestling Coaches Association recently recognized him for a lifetime achievement award in the gym in Bon Homme at a dual with Parkston.  Thank you for that, he was very happy.

Starting about 5 am every Sunday morning he sat down and went through all the tournaments, listing the weights 1-13, giving us an extra wrestler to work with in case of a mistake.  The old Class B Ratings board then TRIED to read his writing and put them together on our document here and put them on the Grappler, this was a 3-6 hr. event every Sunday night or Monday morning to get them posted.  He used to drive to Chamberlain, a 2 hr. drive one way every week to get a newspaper that would have results from west river.  Even today he cannot run a computer, I would make a printed copy of every dual during the week and tournament every Friday-Saturday and he would rate them from that.

He is definitely one of a kind, many of you have heard of him, been involved with him or seen him around.  He helped many high schools get their records and information correct.  He kept a journal of every match for every kid since the day he started.  He has had a lot of medical issues of late and just couldn't do the ratings anymore.  He, of course, still wants to, and thinks he can, but just couldn't handle it so we had to have others take over and that's where we are today.

We want to thank everyone for the kind words and comments about our old ratings.  We did try and get them on here in a timely manner, tried to get all the names and grades right.  Tried to make it easy to read, have the regions correct and do a good job.  Kevin only would put 4 from each region since that was all that could make it out of regions.  We do know that some regions are totally deserving of having more than 4 wrestlers rated but that was "his" rules.  If you have suggestions on the new ratings, reach out to Dakota Grappler, we are not involved anymore.

Kevin wanted to do the preseason one last time!  He then asked me to print off the ratings after the 2nd week next season to compare how he did.  He told me the other day, that not having to do the ratings has drastically changed his life.  He isn't married, has no kids, and wrestling was a huge part of his life, like family.   Wrestling has that effect on people, it definitely changes your life.  We were happy to be a part of that experience and thank you for letting us be involved with you and your wrestling family.

God Bless!!