North Dakota coaches Sandy, Wallstrum selected for NHSACA Hall of Fame

Larry Sandy of Velva and Timothy Merle Wallstrum of Kenmare were selected for the 2026 National High School Athletic Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame, with the banquet held Tuesday, June 30, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center in Coralville, Iowa. The ceremony opened with a 5:00 p.m. CT social, followed by a 6:00 p.m. banquet in the Coral CDE Room.

For North Dakota high school sports, the honor put two long-running programs into a national spotlight that reaches far beyond the state line. The North Dakota High School Coaches Association said the selections represented the state with national distinction, and the NHSACA said its membership base exceeds 122,000 coaches.

Sandy’s career in Velva anchored one of the state’s most successful football dynasties. He coached the Aggies for 33 years, won 10 state titles and guided six perfect seasons, a run that made Velva a standard-bearer for small-school football in North Dakota. His first year of coaching was 1989, and the program’s results under his direction turned the Aggies into a fixture in state championship conversation.

Wallstrum built his legacy in Kenmare by starting the volleyball program in the late 1980s and developing it from the ground up. He has served as the head coach there for decades, shaping a program that grew from its earliest seasons into one strong enough to earn a place among the state’s most respected coaching stories.

The North Dakota High School Coaches Association highlighted the pair in its spring 2026 newsletter as coaches selected to represent the state at the NHSACA convention. For Velva and Kenmare, the recognition places two hometown names in the same national class and reflects the sustained work that built those programs, season by season, in North Dakota gymnasiums and on football fields.