A redesign in 1963 embedded the state seal inside the original flag's sun motif.

This claim might have originated from a 1948 edition of The Wi-Iyohi, a monthly bulletin published by the South Dakota State Historical Society.

[3] This first flag was made from silk upon which McNeil first placed the sun's appliqué and then embroidered its rays.

The phrases "south dakota" and "the sunshine state" were embroidered in arcs surrounding the sun.

Secretary of State Shantel Krebs, within whose office the flag had been on display, and department employee Theresa Bray initially noted the disappearance on January 2.

In October 2015, the flag was recovered in Washington, D.C. from a former state employee,[8] who had removed it from storage in 2013 while repairs were being done to the display.

The two-sided design was difficult and costly to reproduce—about $75 for materials in 1963 (equivalent to $746 in 2023)[10]—and McNeil recreated the flags upon request for various state organizations.

Centered on such field shall be the great seal of South Dakota made in conformity with the terms of the Constitution, which shall be four-ninths, the width of the flag in diameter.

[15][16] Like South Dakota’s, over half of US state flags have a seal on a blue background, which makes them indistinguishable from each other at a distance.

[21] Moreover, South Dakota’s flag has both a seal and lettering, in which the name of the state appears twice in what should be a graphic symbol.

[15] In January 2012, Representative Bernie Hunhoff sponsored a bill to adopt a new design for the state flag based on artwork by Dick Termes of Spearfish, South Dakota.

In January 2024, another bill that would have created a South Dakota state flag design commission was killed in the same manner to the 2012 proposal.