Every fall in Des Moines a battle rages between health care and the law, but we’re not talking in court. The annual Malpractice Bowl lets DMU students and Drake University law students take it out on the gridiron.
DMU got the ball rolling in 1998, inviting the Drake students to play a game in conjunction with DMU’s centennial celebration. Since then, the event has grown to include women’s and men’s games, trophies and a post-Bowl barbecue. Both DMU teams won this year’s Bowl, held Oct. 29.
“Sports in general brings a sense of camaraderie outside the classroom,” says Raquel “Rocky” Sugino, D.P.M.’14, student senator for her podiatric class and one of this year’s Malpractice Bowl organizers.
That doesn’t mean it’s buddy-buddy between the rivals. “The students are very competitive,” says Jeff Olson, D.P.M.’14, who helped coach and played on the DMU men’s team. “It can get pretty intense.”
Approximately 80 DMU students played this year, with many more students and other fans cheering from the sidelines. They included Des Moines physician and attorney Mark Ravreby, shown with the DMU women’s team in the photo above. Ravreby paid for the original Bowl trophy in 1998 but learned just a few weeks before this fall’s game that it had become an annual event. Pleased, he came to toss the coin for the women’s game.
“I’m just delighted that the students have kept it going,” he says.
