Williams was popular among fans and players. Terl noted in his story that Redskins owner Dan Snyder purchased a motorized scooter to help Williams get around; Williams had his left big toe amputated in Williams traveled to Dallas games primarily because of that friendship; he attended a pregame ceremony honoring Jones before the Cowboys' season opener, which caused him to miss a Redskins game. Williams was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of an exhibit honoring each team's biggest fan.
It's hard to think of many Redskins home games in which he wasn't shown on TV. Williams' once told Mike Wise of the Washington Post that " my job is to entertain people. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Choose Blog After taunting the fans, he was attacked by Eagles fans angry at their team's point loss to the Redskins - the fans broke his leg, tore off his original costume, and left him hospitalized.
The altercation hasn't kept Chief Zee from attending Redskins games in Philadelphia. On August 9, , the Chief set down his signature prop, a toy tomahawk, while he was signing autographs at the Redskins' preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
When he turned to retrieve it, it was gone. The inch tomahawk has a slender wooden handle with a rubber blade, and appears in many photos of Williams since he started attending Redskins games over 30 years ago. By August 28, , Chief Zee's tomahawk has been returned to him with the help of Redskins tight end Chris Cooley who got a call from someone that said they had it. There has been an outpouring of support for him after his death.
No doubt some of those people will be incensed by this writing. But they will overlook how many others truly despised what Williams represented. To a significant number of Native American people and activists, Williams was a disgrace who for decades did damage to Native Americans by perpetuating ugly stereotypes.
More important, and I've heard Native Americans say this, Williams should have understood the pain stereotypes can cause because he was an African-American man.
That latter point is something that has been a topic in the Native American media and blogosphere. Some will say I'm assailing the character of a dead man. I'm not.
Or that I'm playing the race card. Don't play cards. More of a gamer. Williams' death is a chance for everyone to take a step back, particularly the Washington team, and maybe start to try to get this thing right. Use this moment to finally eradicate the worst nickname in all of sports.
Or, at the very least, start a civilized conversation about it. There's my Injun. When it comes to obliterating the nickname, I'm writing about hope, not reality. The truth is there's little chance owner Dan Snyder will change.
He's going to keep the mascot not because he believes in the nickname, but because he's a stubborn man. And he will keep that moniker as long as possible because so many people tell him to dump it.
I grew up a fan of the team like he did. Followed all of its Super Bowls as a kid like he did. Wore the gear like he did.
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