Happy Hour with John Gaskins
Stu Whitney, Vol. 2 - "The Great Burns," a deep dive into his new book about the life & legacy of legendary local coach & war hero Bob Burns
Description
Parachute from an airplane onto the beaches of Normandy and into trenches of World War II, where bullets and grenades are flying and men are dying all around you as you ambush German soliders while trying to figure out both how to surive and help save the world from Nazi persecution. Enter the ring to exchange haymakers during Golden Gloves state championships and national tournaments. Witness the plights, desperate measures, and perseverance of families trampled by the Great Depression, including bootlegging, illegal gambling, and gangster behavior. Saddle up to the downtown Minneapolis bar to hear a brazen if not ridiculous sales pitch to bring the first Minnesota Vikings football game in team history to Sioux Falls. Take a seat in the locker room and on team buses to hear the speeches — or at a Quarterback Club luncheon to laugh uncontrollably at the one-liners — of arguably the greatest football coach at any level in the history of South Dakota. Discover how, time and again, one man ruffles feathers, moves mountains, tickles the funny bone, and inspires ordinary people to do extraordinary things. You can't go back in time, but you can immerse yourself in the incredible life of Bob Burns by reading the biography "The Great Burns," penned by Stu Whitney. The former daily news and sports writer/editor and investigative news and political journalist has spent his entire 36-year post-college career in Sioux Falls. Roughly the first 25 of those were spent covering local sports and describing them in a unique, free-flowing, sometimes caustic, and often whimsiocal fashion. After arriving in Sioux Falls in 1990, the Michigan native quickly discovered the indelible mark Burns made on the city and the region — both on the gridiron and in the community as a coach who won 68 percent of his games and a litany of conference and state championships at three different high schools. Burns turned Sioux Falls Washington into a dominating regional titan and transformed both Augustana College and O'Gorman from doormats to powerhouses. He was the marketing mastermind behind the Dakota Bowl and creation of the South Dakota high school football playoffs. His life's adventures and accomplishments alone are a solid launching pad for a book. But the stories of Burns' bravado, bluster, biting humor, and bigger-than-life personality make for a rollicking page turner, especially after you get past the part where his life could have easily ended in World War II combat. By conducting over 90 interviews with people who knew Burns best, viewing videotapes of interviews with Burns, pouring through heaps of Burns family letters and library newspaper archives, and taking a trip overseas to the battlefields in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Whitney immersed himself into Burns' life and legacy. While the 300-plus pages of storytelling are worth the time and money, an hour-long conversation about the book at Gibs Sports Bar with the Happy Hour host also makes for an enjoyable investment of the ear. Whitney dives into some of his favorite stories of a man whom one of Burns' former players and closest friends describes as "a guy who comes around once in a lifetime, or maybe more rarely than that." Enjoy the chat. Then, buy the book. Or do it the other way around. Either way, you'll likely laugh, possibly cry, and be glad you did.
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