Big Game, Big Crowd

Nov 7, 2023

On Saturday, 19,431 fans — the largest crowd to ever witness a sporting event in North or South Dakota — packed Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings to watch the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits defeat the North Dakota State University Bison 33-16. It was the 115th meeting between the two football teams, an annual contest that has come to be called the Dakota Marker game. The winning team goes home with a trophy that resembles the quartzite markers that surveyor Charles Bates used to mark the border between North and South Dakota in 1891, just two years after they became the 39th and 40th states. Photographer Christian Begeman traveled to Brookings to capture all of the afternoon’s festivities.