If you’re like me, you’ve spent a good part of February watching the 2018 Olympics. I rooted for every American athlete who graced the screen, and when our country’s best weren’t in contention for the podium I cheered for whomever was competing. Throughout the games, I was struck by how diverse the United States’ team was in comparison to others. We fielded a group of athletes from many races and orientations, and united them under a flag that represents us all. As an educator, I try to build rapport with my students through small talk during class breaks, and this month we’ve been swapping stories about Pyeongchang’s memorable moments. Since the best classroom small talk transitions into course discussions, I’ve invested a fair amount of time pointing out the proud history of Native people competing in the Olympics. North America’s first citizens have made invaluable contributions to sporting history and sharing their stories can help affirm our students’ intrinsic pride in Native athletics.

We all know that lacrosse is an Iroquois medicine game, but what about the history of other sports? In the documentary, Playing Pastime: American Indian Fast-Pitch Softball, and Survival, Choctaw writer and producer LeAnne Howe discusses how her people play “stickball” on the lands of their ancestors. The film asserts that Choctaws past may have created baseball and notes that the first film about the sport, shot in 1909, has the Choctaws as one of the teams.  Moreover, it purports that Lewis and Clark’s infamous expedition witnessed Native people playing a game that some believe to be the precursor to the sport we now call “The National Pastime.” 

Once again, more people watched the National Football League’s culminating contest than any other televised event this year. February’s Super Bowl Sunday is practically an American holiday, with millions cheering on the year’s top two gridiron teams. Most fans have come to know the NFL’s long-serving eighth executive, Rodger Goodell, but when the league was founded in 1920, it had Sac and Fox tribal member Jim Thorpe at its helm. Beginning in the pre-league year of 1915 until the 1928 season, the man known as “The Legend” on the All-Time NFL Team was a mainstay. His previously earned star power gave the then-fledgling sport legitimacy, and his contributions led him to be enshrined in the league’s Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. 

Of course Thorpe is more widely remembered for his unbelievable performance in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. There, he earned gold medals in both the decathlon and the pentathlon—both of which totaled the points earned in a series of events that included competitive running, jumping, and throwing. Thorpe won eight of the fifteen individual events that were comprised in the competitions and thereby cemented his status as the greatest athlete in the world. When he returned home, he was honored with a parade on Broadway, but he was just getting started. The Olympics predated both his NFL stint and also his six seasons playing on various Major League Baseball teams.

Oglala Lakota runner Billy Mills pulled off the greatest upset in Olympic history. In the 1964 games in Tokyo, Japan, the orphaned Marine stunned the 10,000 meter faithful. He was running alongside the race’s decorated leaders, and was nearly two minutes faster than his best personal time heading into the race’s final stretch. Australia’s Ron Clarke, the event’s world record-holder, was heavily favored to win it all. In the final 100 meters, Mills somehow pulled off the unthinkable as he stormed his way past Clarke and the other contenders to earn both the gold medal and Olympic immorality.

Other Natives to North America have also represented their countries well. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Northern Cheyenne) was elected captain of the U.S. Olympic judo team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Navajo golfer Rickie Fowler played for his country in the 2016 Rio games, where Lumbee gymnast Ashton Locklear served as an alternate. Onondaga Tom Longboat represented Canada in the 1908 Olympics, but he is perhaps better remembered as one of only two Natives to win the Boston Marathon. Longboat did so in 1907 and Narragansett tribal member Ellison “Tarzan” Brown did so in 1936. Brown also represented America in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. 

While no Natives competed for the United States in the 2018 Olympic Games, Canada’s team had four representatives from its First Nations’ communities. They were men’s skier Jesse Cockney (Inuvialuk), women’s snowboarder Spencer O’Brien (Kwakwaka’wakw), and Brigette Lacquette (Métis) and René Bourque (Métis) who represented the women’s and men’s hockey teams, respectively. While all competed admirably, both hockey teams earned a place on the podium. The men brought home a bronze medal, while the women earned a silver medal in a match for the ages.

Every tribal community has an athletic tradition and chances are, our students follow one or more sports. Tribal colleges have an unwritten mission to celebrate Native accomplishments both within and beyond their classrooms. We should talk about the achievements of these and so many locally known Native athletes whose inspiration can help to make the road easier for our student athletes. Or, in the aforementioned cases—to run, bat, kick, throw, shoot, swing, and shred.          

Ryan Winn teaches English, theater, and communication at College of Menominee Nation, where he has been recognized as the American Indian College Fund’s Faculty Member of the Year.

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the Inquisitive Academic or any other opinion columns published by the Tribal College Journal (TCJ) do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TCJ or the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.