The school's enrollment was 81.2% White, 4.1% Black, 10.2% Hispanic, 4.4% Asian and 0.1% American Indian / Alaska Native.

[9] Bobby Hansen who later played at the University of Iowa and nine years in the NBA, was on the 1979 state championship team.

In 2019, they became the first school in Iowa history to win seven straight Class 4A state championships.

Dowling won 64 consecutive Metro conference games, a streak lasting from 1968 to 1977.

WDM, Valley is Dowling's primary rival since 1968 when the schools joined the Des Moines Metro Conference.