TRUE SOUTH
NCAA'S WOUNDED KNEE
BY KEN WARD

We're all Florida Seminoles now. Florida State Seminoles. Under a politically correct assault by the NCAA, the university - along with 17 other colleges - is being ordered to rub out its "hostile and abusive" Native American iconography.

To which Max Osceola of the Florida Seminole tribal council charges that the NCAA is "repeating history." "Non-Indians are telling Indians what is good for them," he told the Miami Herald.

Just as FSU's legendary "Chief Osceola" hurls a flaming spear into the turf at Bobby Bowden Field before each football game, FSU President (and former Seminole receiver) T.K. Wetherell vows to take on the NCAA.

Unfortunately, such defiance appears limited to Tallahassee.

The so-called Fighting Illini of Illinois have been severing their Indian roots for years. Chief Illiniwek hasn't performed at any postseason tournament since 1989, and no team uniform carries any tribal depictions or logos.

The Runnin' Utes of Utah also are scrambling for cover. Noting that NCAA tournament cash is in play, associate athletic director Liz Abel told the Salt Lake Tribune, "We're going to need to look into maybe changing (the name), because we do like to host those events."

The NCAA's executive committee says it will control what nicknames, mascots or images are publicly displayed during its 88 championship events. But while the NCAA cartel likes to throw its weight around (it's simultaneously trying to exterminate the National Invitation Tournament), this schoolyard bully isn't infallible.

Acknowledging that the Florida Seminole tribal council unanimously supports the continued use of its name by FSU, the collegiate association weakly explains that Oklahoma Seminoles object. To which state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, says, so what?

"They're the ones that gave up and went to the reservation," King told the Herald.

Prior to the new policy's unveiling, NCAA subcommittee insiders assured FSU it had "nothing to worry about." Then the executive committee flipped and the tomahawk came down.

It was a most selective thumping. The North Carolina-Pembroke Braves got to keep their moniker because 20 percent of the school's student body are Native Americans (apparently, they are unoffended). San Diego State University can continue to call itself the Aztecs, ostensibly because they hail from Mexico.

"In making its decision, the (NCAA) executive committee has been swayed by a strident minority of activists who claim to speak for all Native Americans," Wetherell said.

The association's spasm of misplaced sensitivity is just another skirmish in an ongoing culture war, of course. Predictably, sports pundits had a field day musing about the fate of the Fighting Irish, Ragin' Cajuns, Battling Bishops and a handful of unreconstructed Rebels. Perhaps UNLV could re-brand itself the "Insurgents."

Yet as colleges go, so could hundreds of high schools and even professional teams. Based on NCAA standards, Washington's Redskins would seem more "abusive" than Seminoles, Choctaws or Chippewas.

Stanford University got the ball rolling in the early 1970s when it abandoned "Indians" for a color, cardinal. Taken to its extreme, the NCAA may end up sounding like the WNBA, where disembodied names reign: Spark, Shock, Fever, etc. So much for tradition.

Compounding the absurdity, our high-minded collegiate clique continues to give Ward Churchill, a University of Colorado professor with disputed claims of Indian lineage, a paid platform to deride 9/11 victims as "little (Nazi Adolf) Eichmanns" while dismissing Native Americans from Florida to Arizona.

Among them: Navajo Nation president Joe Shirley Jr., who says he has no problem with native-themed mascots. As leader of North America's largest tribe, Shirley recognizes that use of tribal names today is more a matter of historical honor than cheap caricature.

Honor is definitely the point at Florida State, where Chief Osceola rides as an unbowed and unflinching warrior, a term that's still OK - for now.

Ivory-tower bigwigs like NCAA President Myles Brand obviously don't appreciate such multicultural displays, and FSU is right to fight. It would be nice if other schools lived up to their names, too. Rebels, y'all could be next. LW


Editor's Note: After this column was written, the NCAA reversed field and removed Florida State University from its "hostile and abusive" list. With Seminole tribes supporting FSU, the NCAA relented and announced it will take the remaining schools on a "case-by-case basis."