Sitting Bull Trophy

Last updated

Sitting Bull Trophy
Sport Football
First meetingNovember 7, 1903
North Dakota 6, South Dakota 0
Latest meetingNovember 16, 2024
South Dakota 42, North Dakota 36
Next meetingNovember 1, 2025
TrophyNone (formerly the Sitting Bull Trophy)
Statistics
Meetings total102
All-time seriesNorth Dakota leads, 64–33–5 [1] [2]
Largest victoryNorth Dakota, 55–0 (1963)
Longest win streakNorth Dakota, 12 (1928–1941)
Current win streakSouth Dakota, 2 (2023–present)
Sitting Bull Trophy
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200km
124miles
Red pog.svg
South Dakota
Green pog.svg
North Dakota
Locations of North Dakota and South Dakota

The Sitting Bull Trophy is the name of the rivalry trophy that was awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks (formerly the North Dakota Fighting Sioux) and the University of South Dakota Coyotes. The rivalry stems from the time the two teams spent competing together in the North Central Conference (1922–2007) [3] and later in the Great West Conference (2008–2011).

Contents

The Trophy

The oak bust, displaying a picture of Sitting Bull, designed in 1953 after a suggestion by newspaperman Al Neuharth. [4] The inspiration for the trophy was a minor 1953 dispute over which state was home to the final resting place of the famed chief, after it revealed that Sitting Bull's family members had exhumed and reinterred what they believed to be his remains, moving them from Fort Yates, North Dakota to Mobridge, South Dakota. [4] In 2000, the Sitting Bull Trophy retired, amid the ongoing NCAA controversy over the use of Native American names and symbols by its member institutions. [5]

Future

Previously, the two teams were not currently competing in the same conference, with North Dakota joining the Big Sky Conference and South Dakota joining the Missouri Valley Football Conference following the demise of Great West Conference football in 2011. 2012 marked the first year the two teams did not play each other since the 1940s, when World War II interrupted the rivalry; however, they both played each other in 2016 and 2017 in non-conference play. The two teams have met 101 times on the football field, with North Dakota currently holding a 64–33–5 edge in the all-time series. North Dakota joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020, renewing the annual rivalry.

Game results

North Dakota victoriesSouth Dakota victoriesTie games

See also

Notes

  1. Played in the 2020–21 school year. Due to COVID-19, the MVFC moved its conference season from fall 2020 to spring 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 2025 UND Football Media Guide (PDF). University of North Dakota Athletics. p. 140.
  2. 1 2 2025 South Dakota Football Media Guide (PDF). University of South Dakota Athletics. p. 97.
  3. "The Little Big Horn with pads". Sports Illustrated . November 4, 1974. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "This week's feature football game involving a trophy..." Chicago Tribune . September 19, 1986. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  5. "Sitting Bull Trophy will be retired; North Dakota, South Dakota go to battle today in Grand Rapids". Star Tribune . September 16, 2000. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2013.