Donald Dee "Jake" Jacobsen Sr 1939 - 2019

JACOBSEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/5/2019 at 21:13:12

Sioux City Journal
20 February 2019

Sioux City

Donald Dee "Jake" Jacobsen Sr., 79, of Sioux City, passed away on Feb. 11, 2019, at his home at Northern Hills assisted living facility in Sioux City.

Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel. Visitation with the family will be 1 p.m. until service time Saturday at the funeral home.

Don was born on April 2, 1939, in Lake Norden, S.D., the son of Melvin and Elma Jacobsen. He was raised in Lake Norden along with his five brothers and two sisters. After graduation, he attended South Dakota State University in Brookings, where he was a stand-out basketball player.

Don married and had three sons with his first wife. After a brief coaching stint at SDSU, Don coached and was athletic director at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, where he guided the basketball team to it's first playoff appearance. Don left coaching in 1981 and spent the next several years as an insurance executive for Lutheran Brotherhood, New York Life and Prudential. On Feb. 28, 1996, Don married his wife, Jan, who was with him until his death. Don retired in 2001.

Don was named the South Dakota Athlete of the Decade for the 1960s by the Rapid City Journal. He held the South Dakota High School basketball scoring record for more than 50 years. Don was named the most valuable player of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 1961, the same year he earned first team Little All America honors for South Dakota State. When he graduated from college he held seven school scoring records, then spent six weeks with the Syracuse Nets before returning to SDSU for his masters degree in 1962. He earned a doctorate degree in 1975. Don was inducted in to the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame on April 1, 2000. He was also inducted in to the South Dakota State University Jackrabbit Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Don was also named as the 26th greatest athlete from South Dakota by Sports Illustrated.

Don loved basketball, enjoyed golf, and teasing his grandchildren who loved to tease him back. He was a loving and kind father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He enjoyed playing cards with his brothers, children and grandchildren and appreciated watching a good western.

Survivors include his wife, Jan; three sons, Donald Jr., Scott and his wife, Pam, and Jon and his wife, Becky; two stepchildren, Kevin, and Kerri and her partner, Shannon; nine grandchildren, Amber, Sadie, Beau, Austin, Chanc, Madi, Tyler, Nolan and Jessica; six step-grandchildren, Cassandra, Cole, Caylee, Gage, Lukas, and Payton; 13 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Neil and his partner, Judy, and Farrel and his wife, Linda; two sisters, Marion and her husband, Robert, and Erma and her husband, Alan; and many other relatives and friends.

Don was preceded in death by his parents; one grandchild, Dakota; and four brothers, Floyd, Dale, Arrol and Darrel.