The Year in Sports for Indigenous Athletes

By Kolby KickingWoman.

The 2022 sports year closed with one of the greatest World Cup finals in history when Argentina beat Brazil on penalty kicks to win one of the most coveted trophies in sports.

Indigenous athletes put their skills on display across Indian Country, as well on the world stage during the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.

The year started with the National Football League's Washington franchise revealing a new team name, the Commanders, after a decades long fight by Native advocates and organizations to get the team to move on from its former name that was a racial slur.

"Today we celebrate a pivotal moment decades in the making but also recognize the costs that came with this victory. The Washington Football Team, now known as The Commanders, are the latest example that teams can make the decision to end a racist practice that has plagued professional sports," Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative said at the time.

Washington's NFL team: The Commanders

Three Indigenous women battled for the gold medal in women's hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Abby Roque, Ojibway from Wahnapitae First Nation, became a star for the U.S. team and Jocelyne Larocque and Jamie Lee Rattray, both of the Métis Nation, laced up their skates for Canada.

Winter Olympics feature three Indigenous women

Canada's Jamie Lee Rattray (47), Métis Nation, reacts after defeating the United States in the women's gold medal hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

18-year-old snowboarder Liam Gill of the Liidlii Kue First Nation in the Northwest Territories was a late addition to the Canadian snowboarding team as well.

Flying High: Dene snowboarder added to Canada's Olympics roster

Snowboarder Liam Gill of the Liidlii Kue First Nation in the Northwest Territories learned at the last minute he will be competing in the halfpipe for Team Canada in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Speaking of the Olympics, over the summer the International Olympic Committee corrected its record books and reinstated gold medals won by Jim Thorpe during the 1912 games in Stockholm.

Thorpe, Sac and Fox and Potawatomi, is among the discussion for greatest athlete of all time, regardless of sport. His gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon were stripped from him after the Olympic committee found out that he had been paid to play professional baseball.

Jim Thorpe's Olympic record reinstated

At least 10 Indigenous athletes took home "Gatorade Player of the Year" honors in their home states, with Hawaii leading the way naming six in basketball, football, softball, soccer, track and volleyball.

Indigenous athletes win state Gatorade Player of the Year honors

Devin Kahahawai, a Native Hawaian athlete who was Hawai'i's Gatorade Player of the Year for volleyball for the 2021-2022 season, cheers on the team at the 2021 Girls U18 World Championship. The team won a bronze medal. She was one of at least 10 Indigenous students to win State Player of the Year awards this year. (Photo courtesy of Volleyball World)

Devin Kahahawai, a Native Hawaian athlete who was Hawai'i's Gatorade Player of the Year for volleyball for the 2021-2022 season, cheers on the team at the 2021 Girls U18 World Championship. The team won a bronze medal. She was one of at least 10 Indigenous students to win State Player of the Year awards this year. (Photo courtesy of Volleyball World)

More recently, the Phoenix Suns unveiled slick new uniforms inspired by the 22 tribes in Arizona.

"I think it's the best looking City Jersey within the NBA, there's no other, there's nothing like it," Suns fan Troy Lomavaya, Hopi, said.

Native jerseys: Slam dunk for Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns posing with young representatives from Arizona's 22 tribes. The NBA team members are wearing a new jersey that honors the state's tribes. Photo courtesy Phoenix Suns.

The Phoenix Suns posing with young representatives from Arizona's 22 tribes. The NBA team members are wearing a new jersey that honors the state's tribes. Photo courtesy Phoenix Suns.

Haudenosaunee Nationals' quest for Olympic glory continues

Rex Lyons can already imagine it. The Haudenosaunee Nationals lacrosse teams, in their traditional regalia, carrying their own flag, representing their own nation as well as the first peoples of this land, lighting the Olympic torch at the 2028 games hosted by the city of Los Angeles.

It's a long road to the Olympics but Lyons remains hopeful. In the next six months, the International Olympic Committee will decide if lacrosse, a sport gifted to the world by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, is in or out of the 2028 summer Olympics. - Pauly Denetclaw, ICT

Indigenous Olympian gets new look for Canada Hall of Fame

Canada's Forgotten Olympian is forgotten no more. Kenneth Moore, Peepeekisis Cree Nation, is being considered for induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame after a 90-year drought for recognition, hall of fame officials confirmed Thursday to Indian Country Today.

Moore, who played for the Canadian gold-medal hockey team in the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, is believed to be the first Indigenous person to have won gold for Canada at a Winter Olympics. (Miles Morrisseau, Special to Indian Country Today).

Tribally owned Connecticut Sun seek WNBA Finals win

The Connecticut Sun of the WNBA made it to the league's championship round last season. While they didn't secure winning the team's first WNBA title, it already has a historic first under its belt.

In the late '90s, the Mohegan Tribe bought the then Orlando Miracle and became the first tribe to own a professional sports team. The team was later renamed the Connecticut Sun and relocated to Connecticut.

Mohegan Chairman James Gessner said the tribe is very proud to be the first to own a professional sports team. (Kolby KickingWoman, ICT)

While the University of Houston is no longer the No. 1 men's college basketball team in the country, the Cougars are lead by an Indigenous coach.

Kelvin Sampson, Lumbee, is in his ninth season at the helm for the Cougars, who were ranked first by The Associated Press for the NCAA Division I men's team earlier this season and are currently ranked in the top-5.

Houston is now 11-1 on the year and continue to build on success from recent seasons, including a run to the Elite 8 in last seasons NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness.

The team's multi-week run ranked as the no. 1 team in men's college basketball was the first time it had done so since the program's "Phi Slama Jama" days in the 1980s led by player Hakeem Olajuwan, AP reported. - Dan Ninham, Special to ICT

Indigenous woman wins silver medal at World Games

A Crow Creek Sioux woman has become the first U.S. athlete to medal in the sport of pétanque, bringing home silver earlier this month with record-breaking points in the 2022 World Games competition.

Rebekah "Bekah" Howe, of Port Townsend, Washington, powered her way to the finals in the Precision Shooting women singles competitions at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, but fell to Cambodian athlete Ouk Sreymom, who also won gold in women's doubles.

Howe notched the highest number of points ever recorded in competition by a U.S. pétanque athlete to claim her first medal on a worldwide stage. - Dan Ninham, Special to ICT

Ku Stevens runs to remember

Ku Stevens, Yerington Paiute Tribe, honored his great-grandfather once again in his second annual remembrance run.

His great grandfather Frank Quinn attended the Stewart Indian School in 1913. Quinn ran away three times.

The run is to honor the children who survived boarding schools, as well as the children who never returned home. (Sierra Alvarez, ICT)