Integrated Basketball at the Little Big Horn: A 1957 Success Story

Basketball at the Little Big Horn: A 1957 Success Story tells the incredible story of Larry Pretty Weasel’s accomplishments on the basketball court and the expanding integration of a Montanan school system inspired by his athletic achievements. It is also, in part, the story of Steven E. Dyche, whose athletic career spiraled downward as Larry’s whizzed upwards.

The Hardin Bulldog basketball team of 1956-1957 was the first Hardin team to start three Native Americans and two whites. Lead by Larry Pretty Weasel, the basketball team’s astounding success united Native Americans and whites both on the court and off. Hardin basketball fans still measure upcoming roundball phenoms against Larry’s accomplishments. He was the greatest, and there will never be another like him.

Basketball at the Little Big Horn recounts the shifting attitudes in Big Horn County in 1957 and the Native American boy who helped inspire their change.