The Boot Hill Bowl was a

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played in

Dodge City, Kansas Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge (US Army Post), Fort Dodge. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. The c ...

from 1970 to 1980.

Game results

Historical highlights

1971 game

On December 4, 1971, the

Dakota State College Dakota State University (DSU) is a public university in Madison, South Dakota. The school was founded in 1881 as a normal school, or teacher training school. Education is still the university's heritage mission, but a signature mission of tech ...

football Trojans helped make history as they were the first college football team from South Dakota to win a post-season bowl game. The Boot Hill Bowl Champion Trojans posted a record of nine wins and two losses that season and were ranked as high as number seven in the national rankings. In just his second season with the Trojans, Head Coach

Lee Moran Lee Moran (June 23, 1888 – April 24, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Moran was active in vaudeville before he began performing in films at Nestor Studios in 1909. He transcended the silent film era of mot ...

was named NAIA Football Coach of the Year.

1973 game

The 1973 game between

William Penn University William Penn University is a private university in Oskaloosa, Iowa. It was founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1873 as Penn College. In 1933, the name was changed to William Penn College, and finally to William P ...

and

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...

will be remembered for the weather change during game time. The temperatures at kickoff were hovering around 70 °F, by game's end the outside air temperatures had plummeted to the lower 40 °F to upper 30 °F. The players and fans were caught completely off guard at the drastic drop in temperatures.

1974 game

The 1974 game between

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

and

Millikin University Millikin University is a private university in Decatur, Illinois. It was founded in 1901 by prominent Decatur businessman James Millikin and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Media Decaturian The ''Decaturian'', also known as ...

is remembered most not for its game but for its temperature and playing conditions. The temperature was recorded at with a north wind of gusts of up to . A few Washburn players spread an analgesic ointment cream on their bodies, attempting to provide an extra layer of protection from the cold—reportedly, this did not work.

References