In ‘The Great Burns,’ longtime journalist chronicles life story of S.D. coaching legend

As Stu Whitney understood it, he had just written one of the longest stories ever to appear in the Argus Leader newspaper.

The longtime sports editor reported the profile of Coach Bob Burns in 1996, covering pages of newsprint with the story of a man who had become perhaps the state’s most legendary football coach.

Then Burns read the piece — and said it wasn’t long enough.

“It was a good story, but you should write a book about me,” Whitney recalls him saying. “It was typical Burns. He always wanted more.”

Go bigger.

It was the same mentality the war hero turned football coach demonstrated throughout his 80 years.

Take the Bob Burns Dakota Bowl, an annual fundraiser/football game now named in his honor at O’Gorman High School. Burns birthed the idea after coaching the team in the 1976 Bicentennial Bowl.

“It wasn’t big enough, so he started the Dakota Bowl,” Whitney said. “More pageantry, flyovers, fireworks, game ball delivered by helicopter. Everything was adding elements to make it more spectacular. And he felt the same about my writing. Let’s go bigger. I’d like to say he was being facetious, but I’m sure he was dead serious.”

It took a few decades, but Burns prevailed. Whitney has authored his life story in a book that took the former sports journalist across an ocean and onto World War II battlefields where Burns built the leadership and grit that later translated to the gridiron.

“We’re thrust into certain circumstances and opportunities, and how we react to those molds us as human beings,” Whitney said. “I thought it was time to look into the motivation and him as a man. … I didn’t just tell the greatest hits with all these Bob Burns stories.”

Even the book’s title is a nod to that vision.

“The Great Burns” references a somewhat sarcastic reference Burns’ future wife, LaVerne Drabek, made to agreeing to go on a date with the “big man on campus” at USD.

As a senior quarterback for the University of South Dakota in 1941, Bob Burns called plays at the line of scrimmage and led the Coyotes to a 6-2 record, earning all-conference honors. (Courtesy of Burns family)

Whitney founded North 61 publishing company with Patrick Burns, Bob Burns’ grandson and a Twin Cities attorney, to publish the biography.

“It’s incredible — nobody else could have written this book like Stu did,” Patrick Burns said. “He was the right guy for the project. His writing is amazing, and he really weaves a lot of humor and great storytelling, and his research was remarkable.”

Weaving a narrative 

Born in Sioux City in 1920 to a large Irish family with financial struggles, Bob Burns became a champion boxer and standout quarterback at USD while his scholarship required automatic enrollment in the ROTC.

He fought in World War II, becoming an officer of the 101st Airborne Division, 502 Parachute Infantry Regiment, ultimately being awarded a Silver Star, three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.

This photo of Bob Burns was taken at the Sioux City Journal newspaper offices after he returned home from the war in September of 1945. Ribbon bars on his chest revealed the Silver Star he was awarded for gallantry in action. (Sioux City Journal)

The book ultimately was birthed when Patrick Burns reached out to Whitney from Normandy in France as he researched his grandfather’s war service.

“He basically said the timing is amazing because he … was looking for a next opportunity and had the time, and that’s kind of how it came about,” Patrick Burns said.

The two then went to Europe last fall, retracing steps and driving onto battlefields where Bob Burns had fought and also finding locals who still remembered and revered the 101st Airborne.

Bob Burns (top row, second from right) poses with the crew of the C-47 transport plane that dropped him and fellow paratroopers into German-occupied Holland as part of Operation Market Garden in September 1944. (Courtesy of Hans Brok)

They visited a church in France where Burns had gathered with other paratroopers preparing to attack German defenses in the D-Day operation.

They walked in a forest in the Netherlands where Burns’ commander was killed and on a road where he led an ambush of German forces during Operation Market Garden.

They went to Belgium where Burns and his comrades held off Nazi tanks in the Battle of the Bulge.

“You hear how people are born leaders, and I don’t necessarily believe that,” Whitney said. “He had to learn how to lead. He was thrust into these situations where, if you make a mistake, you could die. He saw a lot of things … that really shook him, and he was honest about the fear.”

In chronicling Burns’ military service, “you see the maturation of him as a soldier and paratrooper and officer,” Whitney said. “People are leaning on him, and he’s being more forceful in his direction. He’s confident, and it sounds cliche, but he did carry some of that over to being a football coach.”

Bob Burns took the reins at Washington High School in 1949 and built a Midwest dynasty with a 37-game unbeaten streak. This photo shows him being carried off the field by his 1953 squad, which finished 9-0 (Washington High School yearbook)

Burns’ football coaching career included leading a 37-game win streak at Washington High School in the 1950s, coaching Augustana College to an NCC title in 1959 and coming out of retirement to eventually lead O’Gorman to its inaugural Class 11AA state title in 1981.

As a coach, Burns was less of a technician and more of a motivator, Whitney added.

“He liked to empower his players, put them in a right position … and making players want to give their all for him, for the team and really care about what happened on the field,” he said. “There’s a skill to walking in a room and getting players ready to run through a wall for you.”

Jim Luce, who played quarterback for Bob Burns at Washington High School and Augustana College, shows off a shirt honoring the hard-driving coach and his relationship with his players. (Photo by Stu Whitney)

Through nearly 100 interviews, Whitney crafts a narrative of colorful characters who give context to Burns’ life story.

“Family members and I are just amazed at the things he dug up from old history accounts and interviews,” Patrick Burns said. “He got stories out we hadn’t heard. It’s amazing you can fill a 25-chapter book and there’s enough interesting to read about. It’s a story not just of Bob Burns the coach but his wife, his kids, his family, his community, his players and the teams he coached.”

Bob Burns ended his retirement from coaching in 1976 when returned to Sioux Falls to take over a struggling program at O’Gorman High School. Here, he talks to his senior quarterback, Tim Donohue, on the sidelines. (Courtesy of Burns family)

Sioux Falls history is woven throughout the book, with multiple references to people, places and events of bygone eras.

“That was important to me,” Whitney said. “There’s a lot of historical perspective, and I think even people who did not know Bob Burns will appreciate the history.”

Ultimately, “I’m really pleased with how it turned out,” he continued. “It was a challenge to weave all this together … and I think I pulled that off.”

Book launch

“The Great Burns” will be sold at Zandbroz Variety in downtown Sioux Falls, Barnes & Noble in Sioux Falls and on Amazon in paperback, as well as through stuwhitney.com and thegreatburns.com.

A launch event and book signing will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25, at the Washington Pavilion, including on-stage interviews with former players.