NCAA has bigger issues at hand than PC nicknames
Just about everyone who is charged with the responsibility of writing a sports column has taken a shot at the National Collegiate Athletic Association during the last two or three weeks regarding the committee’s recent action over nicknames and mascots. I thought that before the issue gets too cold in everyone’s minds, I might ought to give my own slant on the issue from a high school point of view.
Personally, I think the people who work at the NCAA offices in Indianapolis must not have much on their agenda. If a ban on the presence of Indian mascots at championship events is the only thing that governing body had to deal with, things must be a little bit slow. I wonder if the NCAA board members have given any thought to changing the name of “Indian”apolis. How does “Native Americanapolis 500” sound?
I feel like I can speak with authority on this whole Indian issue. After all, I attended both junior high and senior high school on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona where Indians made up more than 80 percent of the student enrollment.
Student athletes at one of the high schools I attended were known as the Scouts. Several other schools on the Navajo Indian Reservation also used Indian heritage names, as did schools we competed against from the Hopi and Apache Reservations. One of our biggest rivals used the name Warriors to identify their athletic teams.
The athletes on these teams were obviously proud of their Indian heritage and would have been insulted at being called anything else on the football field or basketball court. Just whispering thoughts of changing the nickname at our school would probably have caused an Indian uprising, something akin to the Battle of Little Bighorn.
I doubt seriously that administrators of high school athletics in any state are ready to address such an issue. Ronnie Carter, director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, told me last month that his organization has plenty to do without telling a high school principal what he or she can or can’t call their athletic teams.
Directors of the Arizona Interscholastic Association apparently subscribe to the same philosophy. Yuma, Arizona is the home to one of Arizona’s state prisons. Yuma High School proudly competes on the athletic field with the nickname, “the Criminals.” A study of nicknames is probably a moot point in the Grand Canyon State.
If administrators of the Idaho High School Activities Association are not bothered with Orofino High School’s choice of “the Maniacs” for the nickname of its athletic teams, why should we? This handle is proudly displayed on the uniforms of Orofino athletes, despite the fact that one of Idaho’s state mental hospitals is in Orofino.
I really do understand that as a nation of multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds, we must always be sensitive to the feelings of others. I try my best to put myself in the place of others before making decisions on a daily basis.
But this entire issue seems to have gotten out of control. I saw a bumper sticker just last week touting the praises of Delta State University and its Fighting Okra football team. I couldn’t help but wonder if they should consider changing their nickname so as not to offend those people who subscribe to a vegetarian life style.
Murphy Fair publishes the annual Tennessee High School Football magazine. His website (www.murphyfair.com) gives prep fans further insight into the prep football scene.