Airborne Grit

Book cover of 'The Great Burns' by Stu Whitney.

Bob Burns had the sort of life that few people seem to live anymore. Champion boxer. Star quarterback. War hero. Coaching legend. Idea man. He parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, lured the Minnesota Vikings to South Dakota for their first-ever NFL game and, as a hard-driving football coach, lifted high school and college programs to unprecedented heights. His ability to steer others toward greatness started with his own remarkable journey. Burns grew up during the Great Depression in Sioux City, Iowa, and was rushed off to war from the University of South Dakota. His combat heroics as an officer with the 101st Airborne in Europe earned him the Silver Star for valor and helped vanquish Nazi Germany. The lessons learned in war, the ways in which people can be motivated in dire circumstances, emboldened Burns in his championship coaching career and promotional pursuits. His idea to create a bowl game as a fundraiser to elevate all activities at Sioux Falls O’Gorman High School still resonates with a tradition that bears his name, the Bob Burns Dakota Bowl. The Great Burns, authored by longtime South Dakota journalist Stu Whitney, is a journey in itself. It captures the essence of Burns’ desire to win, whether courting his future wife in college, fighting off German attacks at the Battle of the Bulge or earning the lifelong loyalty of his players with memorable triumphs. It’s a story that will resonate with readers who are hungry for American heroes, especially those who inspire others to greatness by making them believe in themselves.

“A guy like Bob Burns comes around once in a lifetime. Or maybe more rarely than that.”
— Hon. John E. Simko
U.S. Army Airborne unit patch

In 1943, Lieutenant Bob Burns was serving as the Athletic Officer of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Bragg (then called “The Eagle Division”). He was also the 101st Airborne Division Heavyweight Champion and boxed as heavyweight on the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment boxing team that fought in the Carolinas Golden Gloves tournaments. He named that boxing team “THE SCREAMING EAGLES.” The name was later used by Burns for the 502nd football team that was playing other Army units in England before D-Day. The Screaming Eagles name was picked up by Stars & Stripes newspaper writers at the time, and later adopted by the entire Division as its official mascot name. Historian Mark Bando writes about this in his book 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles in World War II (p. 28).

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Stu Whitney

Stu Whitney

Stu Whitney worked for 30 years as a reporter and columnist at the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader, the state’s largest newspaper, and later as an investigative journalist at South Dakota News Watch, an independent nonprofit.

His previous book credits include a novel, “The Covid Chronicles,” in August 2021 and the nonfiction “Behind the Green Curtain: The Sacrifice of Ethics and Academics in Michigan State Football's Rise to National Prominence,” published by Masters Press in 1990.

He is a graduate of Michigan State University and lives in Sioux Falls with his wife, Lisa.