Sport Football Trophy Sitting Bull Trophy | Next meeting 2017 Meetings total 95 | |
 | ||
First meeting November 7, 1903
North Dakota 6, South Dakota 0 Latest meeting September 17, 2016
North Dakota 47, South Dakota 44 | ||
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) and later in the Great West Conference (2008–2011).
Contents
The Trophy
The oak bust, displaying a picture of Sitting Bull, was created in 1953 after a suggestion by newspaperman Al Neuharth. 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 was 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. In 2000, the Sitting Bull Trophy was retired, amid the ongoing NCAA controversy over the use of Native American names and symbols by its member institutions.
Future
As of 2016, the two teams are currently not 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 also marked the first year the two teams did not play each other since the 1940s, when World War II interrupted the rivalry, however they are scheduled to play each other in 2016 and 2017. The two teams have met 95 times on the football field, with North Dakota currently holding a 61–29–5 edge in the all-time series. North Dakota will join the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020 which will renew the annual rivalry.