Sports have long been considered a way to escape the socioeconomic barriers that face the underprivileged in America. We've seen countless African Americans and Latinos take advantage of the opportunity, but where are the Native Americans?
There are almost 2,000,000 Native Americans in the US mostly living in poverty on reservations yet I've never heard of a dominant Native American athlete (except Jim Thorpe) in any sport. Not boxing, hockey, lacrosse, archery, tennis, soccer, cross country running, or even ping pong. Is it because Natives have no desire to compete in sports on a high level? Is it because no one reports on their successes? Is it because they have no desire to become independently wealthy for the rest of their lives?
I think the problem is much more deep rooted than that. I think the problem is the lack of access to programs. The Native population is so isolated and remote that it's difficult to get proper training and exposure to them. The athletes that show promise and the ability to excel in sports simply fall through the cracks. If you couple that with self esteem issues and an apathetic American society you have a recipe for disaster.
It's quite obvious that in all walks of life the Native American has become an afterthought and the world of sports is no different. Without the resources and facilities necessary to develop athletic skills it will probably take some sort of outreach program to get Native youths involved in sports. Sports can be such a positive, fulfilling, rewarding experience that it would be a shame to let an entire race of people miss out on the benefits. Lets get to the reservation and see what we can do.
Excellent piece, Cleavie. Although they don't take the time (for whatever reason) to hone their athletic skills, some of them do find the energy to whine about the nicknames of certain teams which bear their heritage. I actually wrote a piece on it a couple of years ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://thesportscube.blogspot.com/2009/11/washington-redskins-get-victory.html
I wonder (no pun intended) what's your take on that issue?
Thanks for the read. I think that the names of professional or even college team mascots for that matter may have a negative connotation if taken out of context, but I don't believe the schools or the teams had any racial motivation when picking the names. I don't think the CLeveland Indians or the Washington Redskins were purposely trying to insult a race of people when they picked the name.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic Cleavie! The USA Today did a piece on this topic in 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-02-21-native-american-cover_x.htm
ReplyDeleteThanks for the read Big Mike. Interesting parallels between the two stories. Natives need more representation on the sports landscape.
ReplyDeleteExcellent posting Cleavon. I seriously racked my brain trying to think of any past experiences w/ native americans in P.E. class in high school and college. I could only recollect a friend I had at ASU that is native american. I would love to say he really excelled athletically but I remember him to be pretty average at soccer and skateboarding. I hope that someone responds to your blog absolutely disgusted and quotes stats that make us all look stupid, but I am dubious that is going to happen. Native americans need to be more visible in many aspects, no just sports. Someone is going to verbally massacre me for that last sentence.
ReplyDeleteGreat point Cleavie. I feel the same that's why I never understood the lawsuit, which of course the Supreme Court threw out in '09.
ReplyDeleteAs for Native American athletes, besides Jim Thorpe, Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees and Jacoby Elsbury of the Red Sox are Native American descendents.
Thanks for the read Curt. You're absolutely right about being visible in all aspects of life and having more of a presence. As far as sports is concerned, I think it will be baseball, soccer, or football (field goal kicker) that we will see our first break through.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize Jacob Elsbury or Joba were part Native. It would seem like with the lack of representation there would more of an acknowledgement of this fact. Why do you think that is?
ReplyDeleteI think it has to start with Joba and Jacoby. Quite frankly I have never heard either one talk about their Native American side. I guess it's because they aren't actively involved with that part of their heritage. They are not part of the remote and isolated Natives you mentioned in your piece. And like you said in your piece, maybe to them its also an afterthought. It seems to be a common practice. The few people I know who are Native American descendents don't talk about or do Native things. They just consider themselves regular Americans.
ReplyDeleteMan do you remember Joe Hipp. I think he was from here. Fought for the heavyweight title in the mid 90's. I also think the fought Tommy Morrison around that time. The man could take a punch. Lol, but he was actually a good boxer, think he lives in Yakima now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do remember that guy now that you mention it. He was like a human punching bag that wouldn't go down. I think our list is up to 5 now.
ReplyDeleteKareem Abdul Jabbar was quarter or half Native American (Cherokee). In his prime he had off the charts athletism.
ReplyDeleteSam Bradford is 1/16 Cherokee.
Wahoo MacDaneil was a monster linebacker for the Broncos and Jets.
What is comes down to is that 2 million is a pretty small pool to choose athletes from. I'm sure if the pool was 30 million or 100 million you would see more Native Americans in sports.
The best rate is with Samoans. 30 NFL players and 200 NCAA D1 players out of a population pool of 70,000.
@Anonymous: Thanks for the read. I had no idea Kareem was 1/4 native. Those stats are good to know. It's true the pool from which to chose from is not that plentiful.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Brett Farve?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the read. I wasn't aware Bret Favre was Native. If so, he is an exception to the rule.
ReplyDeleteScottie Pippen is also supposedly part native American.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the read. I didn't know Scottie was part Native. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteCarey Price Montreal Canadians, hockey.
ReplyDeletehmm yal bring up great points but again problems that need fixing? how bout giving ideas for solutions...
ReplyDeleteso how do we get more Native Americans (American Indians) to be looked at in any genre?
Thanks for the read. We implement programs that get Native Americans involved in sports at an early age so we can identify strengths and weaknesses while developing the skills they will need to be successful in the future.
ReplyDeleteVirgil "Quicksilver" Hill was a great boxer, won silver in the 1984 olympics. Battled 12 rounds with Tommy Hearns.
ReplyDeleteI am native american myself and grew up in northern wisconsin, I was a pretty good baseball player and went to a school in a town off the reservation, the coaches would never play me only electing to play the coaches kids, the "names" of the towns, kids if you had the right last name they would play you. I was better than most of them and phsycially superior to all of them strength wise, finally went to the reservation and started, we beat that team everytime we met and I made 3 consectutive all-star teams, the kids from the town's response to that..its because the rez team had no one else to play, they had to play you..unfortunately my career came to an end when I started hanging out with the run crowds and partying my days away. The best part about that is the guys from the orginal town played all their lives and I still could walk into a pick up game of baseball, basketball, footbals and perform just as well if not better than them. Same story for my father as well. My dad could beat all the town's stars in any game, throw farther, jump higher, run faster, but because he wasnt the right color or had the right name, they wouldnt play him. My father was 5'8 and could dunk on a ten foot room, drain NBA three's like nobody's business, he beat the fastest track star at that school in a foot race and was clocked at a 4.7 40 yard time, not blazing fast, not deion sanders fast, but for an "non-athlete" pretty damn impressive.
There have also been a few pro boxers that have come off the rez where I grew up, one guy that just retired last year had a record of 46-20 or something like that and there is a young guy that just went pro recently and he is currently 2-1, another guy is markus oliviera part menomonee indian was born on the rez and moved, he is a pro boxer with a great record. the problem with boxing is, northern wisconsin is not visible enough to get mainstream attention for one, and there are so many professional boxers and it is so unorganized that it is hard to come up from a rural area like wisconsin and it make it mainstream.
ReplyDeleteUs indians live in rural areas and the towns outside of reservations arent welcoming, they discourage us and tell us we are not good enough. When we are told these things from day 1, how can we think any different about ourselves? Other schools and areas they mold athletes, they encourage them, they play them, they dont deny them because they are the wrong color or have the wrong name. We also have battles, with suicides, domestic abuses, alchohol and drug abuses, which is a by-product of the cultural genocide that government was responsible for..if anybody wants to say oh thats just an excuse..bs pick up a history book, the us government used that tactic because they knew our strength was our culture, they systematically broke us down and made us dependent upon the government so they could control us..from culture to food sources, killing of the buffalo was said to be due to westward expansion of railroad, it was not..it was the primary food source of the sioux indians..so when that source was gone the government could say oh you have no food, well tell you what give us that land and we will provide food..they never did and if they did was rotted and spoiled..then the dawes act came about which separated grandparents, from grandchilren, father's from children, this allowed for our culture to be lost because it passed down from elders to youth. etc. then forced into boarding schools, where we were further stripped of our culture and forced to adapt to way of living, including parenting techniques did not fit our values and way of lives...lost identity, lost culture, leads to alcohol abuse, mental illness, self-esteem issues.
In response to "whining about indian mascots" we are a people we are not mascots, we are not characters or clowns..if it was so acceptable..how come there isn't a team called the Alabama Porch Monkeys with a bunch of white guys in black face cheering the team on? Extreme yes, but you get my point.
Redskins is a derogatory term...having non-indians dressed in head dresses and dancing around is making a mockery of our cultural traditions.
We are slowly revitalizing our cultures and our languages as that continues to happen and we clean our communities of the way of life that was forced upon us and broke our people down. When we start teaching spirtual traditions and values that fits our world view and makes us who we are, it is then that we will start to become more visible, until then we are still broken.
The boxer i mentioned before, marcus oliviera from keshena wisconsin, who is part menominee indian is currently undefeated i believe like 25-0..brett favre is choctaw indian, a couple of hockey players are also indian, gerald brisco former wwf wrestler is part indian, as well as tatanka. sam bradford is part cherokee, joe louis is part cherokee, Notah begay golfer is native american, billy mills 1964 olympic gold medalist was lakota i believe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the read. I don't know how I missed this in depth thought provoking comment to this story earlier. It's amazing how this blog continues to draw attention so many years later. My grandfather was half Native so I have a special place in my heart for the culture and the struggles that Native Americans go through. I see other cultures use sports as a way out of tough circimstnaces and wish Natives had the opportunities to use sports to their advantage as well.
DeleteAlthough I can't find anything on it, Barry Sanders has strong Native American facial features. Geographically, he's from a region Kansas/Oklahoma where there are alot of Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that's where he got his incredible explosiveness and off the charts athleticism from.
Jim Thorpe was half native american and was the best athelete in the world.
You have to understand that during the 18th and 19th century that the plains Native American were the tallest and most athletic people in the world. Look it up.
Thanks for the read. The recent success of the Lousville women's basketball team should go a long way to helping with this as well.
DeleteBrad Daughrety. Like Kareem he was half Native American. His mom was Native American.
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=jb-daugherty101508
Russell Wilson is part native American.
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