by Rich Wandschneider | May 30, 2022 | Abe Streep, apartheid, Arlee Warriors, Lapwai, Mandela, rez ball, Steve Kerr
“Sports is a refuge but not a hiding place from the world of violence.” Golden State Warriors basketball coach Steve Kerr said that in an impassioned press conference right after the Uvalde shootings. Or someone retrieved an old quote to go along with his new press...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 10, 2022 | Abe Streep, basketball, Lapwai, Larry Colton
A year ago, I wrote a blog post I called “Rez Ball.” I gave a little Indian sports background, then a nod to Larry Colton’s book about a Native basketball player he’d followed through the 1992-93 season in Montana, Counting Coup, and I celebrated the 2021 Lapwai Boys...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 8, 2022 | Abe Streep, Arlee Warriors, basketball, Lapwai, rez ball
I don’t know when I first heard the term “rez ball,” but I’ve been watching Nixyaawii School on the Umatilla Reservation play basketball for years, and that’s where I got my idea of what it is. It’s more passes than dribbles, move the ball, and offense coming off...
by Rich Wandschneider | Aug 9, 2021 | 1855 treaty, 1863 treaty, Chief Joseph, Chief Joseph Cemetery, Colville Reservation, Lapwai, Nez Perce, Nez Perce War, umatilla reservation
The recent Nez Perce reacquisition of 148 acres near the town of Joseph was a big event. Scores of walkers and riders with their horses gathered at the school on the hill on one side of Joseph, and made the journey through town and onto the airport road to the place...
by Rich Wandschneider | Mar 13, 2021 | Jim Thorpe, Lapwai, Nez Perce, Nixyaawii
There was a time in America—a century ago—when Indian athletes were courted and celebrated. The most well-known of those early twentieth century athletes was, of course, Jim Thorpe, the Carlisle football and track star who won Olympic medals, played professional...
by Rich Wandschneider | Nov 12, 2018 | Bear’s Paw, Colville Reservation, Indian Territory, Lapwai, Nespelem, Nez Perce, oral tradition, Wallowa Land Trust
Veronica “Ronnie” and Albert Redstar (w me)Sometime this summer, Kathleen Ackley, director of the Wallowa Land Trust, asked me to put together a class about Nez Perce history for local agency and non-profit workers who work with tribes. She wanted me to recruit...
