In a year when the State of South Dakota dominated the scores in the Daisy Nationals, it’s appropriate that a longtime youth shooting coach from the Mount Rushmore State was inducted into the Daisy Hall of Fame. Harlan Hilleson is the newest member of this exclusive club.
The 2025 Daisy Hall of Fame inductee was born and raised on a small farm outside Veblen, SD and married the love of his life, Rosetta Ahlers in 1967. He graduated from South Dakota State University in 1969. He was a Charter member and first president of the Veblen Area Jaycees, which turned out to be the organization that united his passion for hunting and guns with the community youth. He started teaching and coaching with the Jaycees Shooter Education Program, as he tells the story, “for one year only.” That was 1982. He brought his first team to what then was the International Daisy Match in 1991 and placed 7th. Two of his daughters, Tanya and Misty, were on that team and Misty won a silver medal in the prone position with a score of 100 with three bullseyes.
In 1999, Harlan Hilleson’s team merged with Britton to form the county team known today as the Marshall County 4-H Sharpshooters. Since then, he has coached 12 teams that competed at the Daisy Nationals and won back-to-back National Championships in 2009 and 2010 (the 2010 championship was an all-girl team). His teams never finished worse than 8th. And, his teams were perfect on the test in 2012, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
With the support and encouragement of his wife of more than 57 years, Harlan has accomplished much in and out of the youth shooting arena, all while ranching and raising a family of five daughters. In 1990 he became Director of Plant Operations at Marshall County Healthcare as well as becoming an EMT. He is the recipient of the Heart of Dakota award for his work with the Marshall County BB program and in 2018 was inducted into the South Dakota 4H Shooting Sports Fall of Fame.
Harlan always worked under the philosophy that youth learn more from praise than criticism. He often repeats that “There is nothing more satisfying than the excitement of an 8-year-old wanting to learn gun safety and how to properly use a gun.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2025 Daisy Hall of Fame inductee, Harlan Hilleson.