The 1972 University of South Dakota (USD) Champion Coyote Football Team

The year 1972 marked the 83rd year of football at USD and the 50th anniversary of the North Central conference (NCC). The last time USD football won the NCC championship was in 1951. A combination of an impressive and talented football team and excellent coaching under head coach Joe Salem, winner the District Six Coach of the Year award in 1972, propelled the team to become co-champions with an overall score of 9 wins and one loss to the University of North Dakota.  

Senior co-captains were Joe Trudeau (82) and John Devine (61), (Volante August 29, 1972). In 1972 Joe went on to win the first “Harry Gamage Award” named after Harry Gamage who at that time was the winningest USD football coach. Trudeau  and Devine were inducted into the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.  The entire team was inducted into the Coyote Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. The year 1972 represented a triumphal time for football at USD that would continue for the next two years.

Archives and Special Collections. USD Archives, Athletics, Football, Box 4, 1972 Coyote Football guide.

The picture of the 1972 football team. The caption were found in the January 1973 South Dakotan alumni publication includes the names of individual players. USD Photograph Collection, Series 10,  11054.29.

Joe Trudeau. USD Photograph Collection, Series 10,  10921.6.

Football coaches in 1972. Front row: Al Johnson, Jim Nixon, Joe Salem and Chuck Koch. Back row: Jim Leto, Gene Macken, Dan Runkle, Marv Mortenson and Tim McGovern. USD Photograph Collection,  Series 10, 1054.24.