Main Street, Wyoming; 420; Indian Basketball

Main Street Wyoming is made possible in part by grants from Kennicott energy proud to be a part of Wyoming's future in the uranium exploration mining and production industry. And by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and ridging lives of Wyoming people through the study of Wyoming history values and ideas. I think

a lot of people that's their last weekend with the boys and girls. Yard. On the Wind River Indian Reservation basketball starts early. Something you can do in the

backyard with a few friends without a lot of equipment. Kids see their parents play in independent leagues and tournaments and in a young age they start playing themselves in tiny towns. The Wyoming Indian boys teams are perpetual finalists in the state to a tournament and the girls are making their mark to give the kids a taste of glory and some possibilities beyond high school kids. We had a four year span and we played for the state championship for three years and then we played in the semifinals the fourth year and we always would practice to beat Wyoming inion because we figured if you could beat Wyoming Indian you could beat anybody else that you had to play. So we would pattern our practice is over. After playing against

Wyoming Enya. Yeah you do have for years now. The Wyoming Indian high school chiefs have been the team every other team shoots for. Their relentless fast breaking relentless defense their bottomless enthusiasm for the game that has given them an unmatched record of championships. The book The ICO. The you have to have a hill

was was a help. The was. The 1994 was supposed to be more of the same. They were defending to a Champions their best players were back for another year stronger more confident was a and was even producing championship caliber basketball teams. What's the story there is a got to do with the coach or the kids or what. Well first of all I know a lot has to do with already as a person. It takes great interest in the young people in that area to sponsors basketball camps

he hangs around a lot with the youth of our reservation and takes just plain young men and makes brilliant basketball stars out of exploiting our talent. We have many talented young boys young men in our area. They love to play basketball and basketball because it around hoops because it around basketball it sits right into our culture. Second nature to the job tell me a bit more about that I mean you're making the time between what's considered by a lot of people kind of an inner city game with a culture of reservation which is extremely rural. If you go to the reservation any time any place one thing you'll always get every home is a basketball goal. And as they played on dirt they played wherever the big thing about basketball is that a lot of these youngsters you see here today their grandfathers their dads in their own clubs have all been basketball players as well and they continue to basketball after they graduate high school.

Hopefully these young people will go on to college someplace and play basketball but the tradition you know has started I would say. At least 30 to 40 years ago. My uncle starting playing and start playing with young and going to tiny tiny young. Guys saw these guys play high school when I was younger and showing them to games you're going to always wanted to play for. The Ghailani. Was was the was the. My dad used to play in in the penitentiary. Now it's just like gold watch and.

Like to enjoy being with were there other sports as well which one of the things meaning the main one but I like playing football. When I was growing up we didn't have anything else new we had we had the in the church churches there were things themas a Michaels and they had gym and still. Barely even when we asked our people to start playing basketball which was open all weekends and. Nights because it was Legace there's nothing else to do then and then only for school bus was get together and have games all weekend and it just came at a level and you know just passed off like leggings I guess we might call it and it's like it's it's still here and there. I'd love to play and. Let someone read what they don't watch TV but then it's we see the influx of lawn down here in the last few years because they're playing there.

TV is taking over the springtime for a lot of kids and there are still kids that are still a lot of kids if they want to play ball. I read and went to high school in Lander. Back then there was no Wyoming Indian high school kids from the reservation were sent off to boarding school or into other communities. After his own schooling and time in the service Redmond went to work with the Wind River Indian Education Association. At first I was working with the Kennedy Foundation under the Robert F. Kennedy fellow and my job was to try to help the school board in getting the grants for the school again. Get on the road and it was really interesting I get to travel quite a bit because of the Kennedys. I think we were in DC being questioned three times a month trying to get funds for other schools who had the same problem. We called the coalition and we all work together and it worked pretty good. We

went into a public school system and I think a lot of it never states what the public school system. I didn't have my teacher's certificate yet so I was too busy with the administration part but I did assist a lot of the programs like I started up as head or head coach. First two or three years and then after that I've when we start joined associations. I was certified to be a coach then because I didn't have my all my requirements and so later on watching the teams watch the kids play it. I kept thinking to myself you know these kids will win you know and so that really kind of encouraged me to go back and get my. Just because then you go back to that. What right call the Spokane Washington. I went back for a semester four summers when I was taking classes that you didn't

see did he see. So after all that time I managed to get my teachers are good and their coaching certificate. Don't you have any plans for the coaching. Well just what I was used to playing high school in college and independent just like we're doing now I haven't changed my philosophy since that's been my philosophy. And a lot of people call it running guns but we don't run we score. We press a lot. We run a lot. That's what you know that's what I was used to plan and doing independent play that way and I just I like elected. So that's been my philosophy ever since. But.

Believe. Me in my life and. Many other reservations in the West have produced similarly great basketball teams and some of those teams including the Chiefs have been stepping stones to a college scholarship. More typical though is the hoops hero who couldn't cut it in college or the working world after high school glory. Oh and think Larry. I went to a job best to monitor what he he had a scholarship so he finished at CDC and now he's going to be graduating from here. New year I think. And there's another guess at. You get scholarships what they went on and they came back and some I'm working in.

And in a local school district is there any sense in some of the same articles about the reservations that some kids playing basketball in your words are the real world. We understand that we read him when we were working to try to get him into into that area to try to you know I think there's a lot of people in the United States that are doing the same thing want to get your kids in school and stay in school even though they might not be able for mass sports once they get there because once they get another hard road you know and I was talking to one recruiter and he was asking me what how come my kids never get recruited and he said well you know too much team atmosphere he said.

And that's was when bowl games were awesome and I had a room with this that's what he told me on. One of the problems we know Daryn people encounter is obviously many of our people come from lower middle and lower class of the economic scale and their adjustment into society because of the obvious knowledge you must have noticed to understand how to how to get along in a society that's not that you're not native to. They must learn quickly when they leave the reservation. Some of the cruel facts about life you know if you don't have a job you don't have an education. You're generally on the lower end of things. One of the things that we have noticed is an increase of our students wanting to excel in Africa and in academics as well as athletics. We hopefully are looking at more of our young people competing. You know maybe at the junior college level. As well as athletics the way we're looking at this new age is it's not only a college education but

being able to be technically aware of your surroundings because obviously here we are we talk on television. Hopefully someday we'd have a television station or radio station of our own on the reservation that provides communications to our people where it is that we're looking forward to the young people picking up on this area. Recruiters and in some cases on some reservations kind of shied away because there is a history of kids having trouble adjusting colleges but you see reporters it's not them not there when I was in the. Traumatic state. First thing he asked me is that he seen the Inet on yes and then never heard from says against them. I expect to go on to college and continue to try to make it to the NBA. If you have people come to see us we ask their car scouts look at me now but they can't do nothing until next year.

Let's talk about some of the more subtle benefits of these kids playing bass. It's not just a matter of developing skills on the basketball court. There's a little more going on here. You know did it creates more of a teen atmosphere or teamwork atmosphere for the kids and they get along pretty good and it makes them work harder in class because we you know we want them to work hard in class. They can do well and that's cool if you know what we think they should do well in the classroom too which was you know let him do right. Try to put my schoolwork before our Vasco. Do you find that's true I mean I guess again I kind of wonder if it doesn't kind of go to your head the fact that you are a basketball player first. Program kids around here do the word basketball. Yeah that or make it hard to concentrate and do the planes that are on regional the state all this worry about going back to get a lot of encouragement. Yes to tell

you the thing about those in your studies as well because the balance that I get most of my current from my dad my mom or a lot of. Questions. I am I

am. Why. Again the championship they had won the year before. Their starters were a

year bigger and stronger but they ran into a tough opponent in the end when the last buzzer sounded. They had lost. They're good boys.

They really are and I'm pretty sure that when you come down for a game like this you bring in a lot of family a lot of extended family because everybody kind of lives through the basketball. Yeah yeah they have a lot of support. I think the whole basketball. Team like they have reservations down here and. It's just. They're real good team and I think they have a lot of good sportsmanship. You know that's what we try to keep in mind. Now that your boys are graduating will you keep coming to games. Oh yeah. I'll be down here. Never stops never stops. A lot to me. That I only had one son. And I lost my son. Then I took my son. And I'm real proud. I'm real proud of them. You have good reason. Yes I put him first and the star last

year and they're both going to graduate. And I'm proud and proud of my two grandsons. What are your expectations for the game this next year when it. Oh. Main Street Wyoming is made possible in part by grants from Kennicott

energy proud to be a part of Wyoming's future in the uranium exploration mining and production industry and by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and ridging lives of Wyoming people through the study of Wyoming history values and ideas.