Alumni Spotlight - Bruce Bad Moccasin (CE 72)

Leaving a mark

Bruce Bad Moccasin left his mark on Mines, and then on South Dakota

One of Bruce Bad Moccasin’s (CE 72) memories from growing up in Pierre is of watching his dad work.

“My dad worked a lot. He worked outside. I watched him all the time. He was a strong man.”

Seeing his dad work with his hands, Bruce decided at a young age that he wanted to be an engineer. Higher education was a priority to his parents, both of whom had an eighth grade education. They made it known that Bruce was expected to attend college.

“My mom said it didn’t matter what I did as long as I went. Dad always said, ‘Get your degree first, then make a family.’” 

Since he’d decided on engineering, the only part left to figure out was which college he’d attend. 

“I knew a lot of students were going over there to [South Dakota State University]. I went up there to check it out, but it was too big. I wanted a smaller place.” 

Not too long after, at one of his high school track meets, he met Coach Jim Kampen from South Dakota Mines. Kampen was a coach for basketball and cross country. 

“He came up to me and said, ‘Someone said you want to be an engineer. Well, you can do that here, and we’ll also let you run and play basketball.’ So that’s what I did.”

Bruce was on the basketball and track teams all four years at Mines. He also ran cross country in his first year. Eventually, he got involved with ROTC, too. 

“It was practice, supper, study,” he said. “We had no time for anything else, with the studies and the games. We had no time to fool around.” 

Being the first person in his family to attend college, some back home didn’t understand why he couldn’t come visit more often. 
“Where I was from, many people didn’t really know what Mines was, and they didn’t understand why I was so busy. I just said, ‘I know I’m gone a lot but I’m doing it for me, for our family.”  

While Bruce was at Mines, he made a big impression on his teammates and coaches. He was one of the most prolific scorers at Mines, sixth on the all-time scoring list at the time of his induction into the Hardrocker Hall of Fame in 2012.  

He may not have known it at the time, but he was also about to leave a big impression through his 30-year in public service – one that would land him in the South Dakota Hall of Fame. 

After graduation, Bruce commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army, but that was short-lived since the Vietnam War was slowing down. He soon transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Aberdeen, SD and started work as a roads engineer and facilities management officer for the Aberdeen office and the Winnebago, NE office. 

Bruce then joined the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps as a design engineer for the Indian Health Service (IHS) Sanitary Facilities Construction Program in Oklahoma City. IHS then brought him back to South Dakota to work on water and wastewater construction projects for the Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux reservations. He eventually returned to Aberdeen as the Director of Facilities Management for all tribes in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. He was responsible for the maintenance and renovations of several hospitals, health centers and clinics during his tenure.

Bruce was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1999

“I was with government, so at first the tribes didn’t trust me. I had to convince them I was one of them. I told them, ‘I will never promise you anything unless I know I can do it.’” 

If it doesn’t sound like he was busy enough, he went back to South Dakota Mines and got his master’s degree in civil engineering in 1986. 

“I knew I wanted to move up and get my master’s degree, and I also knew where I wanted to get it. I said, ‘I want to go back to the School of Mines, I like that place.’”

His second round at Mines was made even sweeter with the opportunity to coach basketball alongside his former coach, Jim Kampen.  

“When I came back to Mines, I had a family here,” he said. “I had many friends from the basketball team, track, fraternity brothers, ROTC. They were all good people to me.” 

Bruce was promoted to Captain in 1991 before being transferred to the IHS Phoenix office to be Deputy Director of the Office of Environmental Health. He would again have to prove his allegiance to the tribes he served. 

“This one tribe lived in the Grand Canyon, and it’s a long way to get down there. You have to walk through the Grand Canyon. And they meet at night, so that’s when you have to go. When I got there, the chairman said, ‘Mr. Bad Moccasin, you’re the first person who walked all the way here at night to see me.’ So that showed him that I was on his side.”

In 1994 he once again returned to Aberdeen, this time as IHS Aberdeen Area Director, operating the management of healthcare services for South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. The system served 112,000+ American Indians in 17 tribes and 2,200 IHS. He also became a member of the IHS Executive Leadership Group. He was promoted to Assistant Surgeon General in 1995.

Bruce at his desk at the Indian Health Services Aberdeen Area Office in 1998.

Bruce is now retired and living in Rapid City. He will be inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame this month for his work building communities and serving as a leader within IHS. According to the nominating committee, he brought “many changes to funding processes for projects important to improving the lives of Native Americans living on reservations.” 

Bruce recognizes how his going to college paved the way for others in his family, fulfilling the hopes of his parents. And it’s not lost on him that South Dakota Mines is the school that helped him get there.

“Everyone at Mines was the best – the coaches, professors, administrators. Everyone cared about me and wanted to know I was okay. At the end of the day, if I had it to do over again, I would still go to Mines and become an engineer.”  

Thanks for all you’ve done for South Dakota, Bruce. And thanks for letting us be a part of your story.