Bob Burns Dakota Bowl XLII

Bob Burns dreamed up the idea of opening the 1978 football season with a festive day-long event centered around one thing – a football game against North Dakota’s Fargo Shanley High School. The event, he hoped, would provide family entertainment while drawing in enough corporate support to fund the entire O’Gorman Athletic Department for a year. It was to be held at Howard Wood Field to accommodate the almost certain huge crowd.

Currently, the Bob Burns Dakota Bowl is the largest high school bowl game in South Dakota, raising more than $140,000 annually for all eight of Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools! Many other high schools and communities across the state have tried to duplicate the Dakota Bowl, but ours is the ORIGINAL. It brings together the Sioux Falls community to showcase our talented high school athletes and to celebrate football. Families enjoy all-day tailgates, football and cheerleading camps for kids, fireworks, airplane flyovers and even skydivers landing on the football field.