From the Clark County Courier and staff reports
The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame Banquet was held Saturday, November 5 in Tabor, where former Garretson High School teacher Geof Furness was inducted into the 2022 S.D. Umpire Association Hall of Fame.
Furness, a popular GHS science teacher who retired a few years ago, can often still be found at many GHS sporting events.
Furness gives much credit to his dad Gene, who was inducted into the S.D. Umpire Hall of Fame, in 1991 for generating interest and knowledge in umpiring baseball.
Geof is the son of Joan and the late Gene Furness of Clark, SD. His brothers, Greg and Brad (Marsha), still live in Clark.
During Furness’ acceptance response Saturday he said, “I first started umpiring when I was in high school with my dad, Gene Furness, who also is a member of the Umpires Hall of Fame, and I really enjoyed it. I did some games during my college summers and eventually became a certified umpire for 32 years. That was the same number of years as my dad, and I always told myself that I wouldn’t umpire longer than him. I umpired 5-12 region. We currently live in Sioux Falls.
“My family, who I am very grateful for as I was gone quite a bit when umpiring, is my wife Misty, who I am extremely thankful for as she ran the show while I was umpiring, our daughter Kenlie, son Chris and his wife Chassidy and their two girls, Serenity and Kelli, our daughter Cierra and her husband Andrew and their daughter Ava and son Cohen, our daughter Kelcie and her husband Lane and their son Christian and another baby on the way.
I am very humbled and grateful for this honor. I am very thankful for the people who got me started in umpiring and for the coaches and managers who asked me to umpire games for them. Maybe I was their last option. I had a lot of fun. It was a great ride.”
At the 2022 South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame Banquet, Chris Brown, Ron Baker, Jay Kusler, Gary Kortan, Don Greenfield, and the late Warren Scherschligt were also inducted.
