Dave Dedrick, Sioux Falls' "Captain 11," hosted nation's longest-running childrens' TV show
Scott Brady
Peter Harriman • Argus Leader • January 23, 2010
An icon from the early days of South Dakota television whose legacy
still binds generations has died.
Dave Dedrick, who signed KELO on the air in 1953 and starred for 41
years as Captain 11 and worked as a weatherman on the nightly news
died in Sanford Health hospice care. He was 81.
Dedrick was the blue-and-yellow-clad Captain 11 from 1955 until 1996.
“I grew up in Waubay. As a little kid you would run home from school
to watch Captain 11,” recalls John Mogen. “It was a ritual in South
Dakota and northwest Iowa.”
Dedrick had a signature sign-on for Captain 11 that began “one man in
each century is given the power to control time.” Mogen’s band,
Mogen’s heroes was playing at a crowded Skellys’ Pub on Phillips Ave.
last year. Mogen, who became friends with Dedrick through a mutual
love for jazz when Mogan was a student at the University of South
Dakota, recognized Dedrick in the audience at Skelly’s and introduced
him.
Dedrick easily slid into his former identity.
“How’s my crew today?” he called out.
“We all saluted and yelled ‘fine,’ Mogen recalls. Then in unison the
crowd began to recite “there is one man in each century … "
“The whole place gets up and starts shouting,” Mogen said.
Jay Huizenga, KELO general manager, says Dedrick’s Captain 11 “was
part of his persona, no matter where he went.
“He was well recognized all over the state. He was an ambassador for
KELO, no matter where he went.”
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100123/UPDATES/100123001/-1/PrepSports06
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Scott Brady
Dave Dedrick: A Broadcast Pioneer
Dave Dedrick died Friday after a lengthy illness that had him
hospitalized for the past few months. He was not only KELO-TV's
longtime weatherman, he also hosted the longest-running children's
show in America as Captain 11.
On May 19, 1953, Dedrick's became the first voice heard over KELO-TV
and knew at that time he was breaking new ground.
"I sure was. I was so puffed up and said, 'Serving the mighty Sioux
Empire, this is KELO-TV Channel 11 Sioux Falls.' I knew I was the
one. I had done it. It was like being the first guy to step on the
moon," Dedrick said.
There were lots of people new to the game of television back then. But
Dedrick quickly made a name for himself when he was selected to be the
host of the Captain 11 show.
It was patterned after a similar one in Minneapolis ...
... Hosted by none other than Jim Lange.