Hayfield’s Chris Pack named to NSIC Hall of Fame

Hayfield Activities Director Chris Pack is used to winning.
In recent years, Pack cut down nets two straight years, as the head basketball coach for Hayfield High School, winning two straight state championships in 2021 and 2022.
In 2009, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Southern Minnesota State University.
Now add Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame inductee to his list of accomplishments.
“It means a lot and is quite humbling. It was an honor to go into the SMSU HOF, but this is even a higher honor and one I didn’t expect,” Pack said. “To be included with all the top athletes from all the schools in the conference is really special. The other members of this year’s class were all so deserving and it was a really fun night hearing all of their stories. I must give a ton of credit to all of my teammates and coaches that helped me be as successful as I was, as well as my family for everything they did to help me.”
According to his alma mater Pack was a “dominant force” on the mound while in college pitching for the team from 1995-1998, winning a NSIC championship in 1996, and finishing his career with 274.1 innings pitched, winning 28 games, striking out 224 hitters, and completing 27 games by himself.
But Pack is humble, and says those around him helped him win.
“I was fortunate to play for two head coaches (Jim Denevan and Paul Blanchard) that account for 944 wins in a combined 48 seasons at SMSU,” Pack wrote in an email. “The program has only been around for 55 seasons and has 1048 wins. My father got to play for Coach Denevan in the 1970’s and my youngest brother Colby, who is also in the SMSU HOF, played for Coach Blanchard in the early 2000’s. I played two years for each of them. I was fortunate to play for the two most winningest teams in school history, with 31 in 1997 and 33 in 1998. We also won the regular season conference title in 1996 and conference tournament championship in 1996 and 1997. It was a great group of guys to play with and we made so many great memories. “
Pack who has been around a lot of winning teams over the course of his career, coached four teams to state tournaments in basketball.
In 2021 and 2022 he did it with his son Ethan, a standout player for Hayfield.
“These all hold special places in my heart and it is really tough to compare them,” Pack wrote in an email. “The state championships as a coach were even more special since my son Ethan was a starter and key player on both teams.”
But as a competitor, Pack knows how special it is to be a hall of famer.
“The Halls of Fame are really special because it didn’t include just baseball, but all sports at SMSU and the NSIC,” Pack wrote. “I have been so fortunate to have been surrounded by great people in all of these (head and assistant coaches, players, teammates, family, fans) and value all of the relationships I was able to have with these people. That is my biggest takeaway from all of these accomplishments and something I mentioned during my speech last month. The relationships formed mean more than the championships earned.”