There was a festive feeling in the cold air of Herndon Virginia on January 28, 1992. It was the moment that Washington Redskins fans had waited for since four years previous: Another Super Bowl. This win against the Buffalo Bills proved to be the Redskins final foray in championship moments.

The Associated Press reported that their victory celebration had several hundreds of thousands of people attending. Coach Joe Gibbs said he stopped off the bus at “Redskins Park” to greetings by over 1000 cheering fans.. Gibbs commented, “They are always going to be there. The team belongs to them.”

In 1992, retailers rushed to make shirts, hats, and all forms of memorabilia. Even cans of Coke that seemed to go well with the soda company’s ‘red’ color.

THE NAME GAME

The Redskins are no suddenly going to be no more. Corporate and societal pressures have pushed the team into what so many feel is a must-do name change.. While it’s not yet known what the new name will be, the history of the ‘Redskins’ is a tale that should be told before the book is closed forever…

The team moved to Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) the next year, and Marshall changed the name to the “Redskins” in 1933..

While the coach  was a Native American, “Lone Star Dietz,” the news reports at the time indicate that the name of the team did NOT inspire the team name (though in decades to come the Redskins franchise would often say the opposite was true):

Before 1933, the origin actually extended back into the 18th century.

The actual word itself has divided people since its inception.  The original conception of the word is reportedly from Native Americans themselves, in their attempt to distinguish themselves from white settlers to America.

Chris Creamer delved into the history of the work in a report on Sportslogos.net:

Natives first used the term during the 18th Century as a way to refer themselves in contrast to the “white-skinned” European settlers. For quite some time, the term “red-skin” was used by both whites and Natives in a respectful, non-offensive manner.

By the second half of the 19th Century, however, “red-skin” is used in increasingly negative connotations. A newspaper announcement promises $200 from the government “for every red-skin sent to purgatory” in 1863. In the 1870-’90s the term is clearly the go-to phrase in newspapers to describe Natives whenever something negative has happened, whether in news reports or fictional short stories. Essentially it was now a word used exclusively to slur Native Americans. The 1898 Webster Dictionary refers to the word as “often contemptuous”, various editions of the Random House Dictionary throughout the 20th Century either preface the definition with “often offensive” or “often disparaging”.

There have been court challenges over the name for several decades.. One spanned from 1999 through the 2000 teens:

In 1999, after seven years of litigation, the United States Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO) decided that trademarks using the term “Redskins” were “disparaging to Native Americans when registered” and ordered six trademarks using the word to be cancelled. This decision was reversed on appeal in 2003. In 2014, the same six trademarks were again cancelled by the USPTO, using testimony from several Native Americans to make their decision on whether the word is considered offensive to the Native people. Again appealed, this time the ruling survived, but the decision was effectively turned over following a separate case regarding offensive trademarks by the Supreme Court in 2017.

HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY

2020 may be the official year that the Redskins name was finally canceled, but it is not the first time that Native Americans and others debated the use and logo..

Dateline 1972:
The Pottsville REPUBLICAN ran an AP dispatch entitled “Redskins attached”.. The report said that a delegate of Native Americans met with Redskins president Edward Williams on the name. Williams commented after, “I listened, and that’s all.”

The news article in 1972 mentioned the ‘Hail to the Redskins’ song.. one lyric is quoted, “Hail  to the Redskins, Hail Victory… Braves on the warpath…Fight of old D.C…. Scalp ’em, weep ’em, touchdown we want heap more.”

After the 1972 meeting.. those lyrics were amended and vanished from the song.

In 1988, another victorious year for the Franchise, the team was was met with controversy about its name. The AP reported on January 16 that a letter was mailed to the Redskins asking them to change their ‘racist, derogatory and demeaning’ name.

There were subsequent protests and news media stories for years to come. Controversy always seemed to boil up.. and them simmer down without much further fanfare.

“WE WILL NEVER CHANGE THE NAME”

In 2013, team owner Dan Snyder was famously (REALLY FAMOUSLY) quotes about Redskins controversy when he said, 

We will never change the name of the team. As a lifelong Redskins fan, and I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season.

We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER—you can use caps.

The media’s all caps “NEVER” has not come back to haunt .. that quote in 2013 compared to the cancellation of the Redskins name in 2020 is poignant..

It also shows how much the spirit of the nation’s pop culture has changed in just a several years. At that time, according to ESPN.com, a recent national poll showed that 79 percent of Americans do not feel like the team needs to take on a new nickname. In 2013, only 11 percent of both football fans and non-football fans thought that there should be a change..

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THE LOGO AND STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

The image we see on the current Redskins helmet was NOT always there..

This was the Redskins in 1971:

And it changed to this in 1972:

Walter “Blackie” Wetzel designed the new logo in 1972. He was a former leader of the Blackfeet Nation, and he was tapped to create the image that existed until this day when the Redskins name has officially become retired.

On January 29, 2019, just one year ago, the Independent-Record in Helena Montana placed a front page story on their paper about how the Redskins logo ignited pride within the Blackfeet community. Lance Wetzel, son of logo designer Wetzel, was quoted,

“I took my dad’s word that this was a big-time logo representing our people.  You look at the logo and Blackfeet history, and they are considered powerful people. I identify and connect with the logo that way.”

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THE BLACKFEET NATION ON THE CHANGE

The Redskins name controversy dates back almost 100 years, but the logo controversy dates back to 1972.. Today, as the name and logo officially will retire and a new name will replace it, it’s interesting to check back in with the Wetzel family–the original designer of the logo…

Ryan Kuhn wrote this on July 11, 2020:

Following an extensive review, multiple news outlets such as ESPN and CBS Sports have stated that a name change will happen over the next few days and the team will drop all Native American themes or imagery.

“It’s disheartening,” said Lance Wetzel, who resides in Helena and is an assistant basketball coach for Helena High. “I wish they really would have considered at least sticking with the imagery. It’s a depiction of a real Native American. It’s not a cartoon type character like the (MLB’s) Cleveland Indians.”

Lance Wetzel said that he has had very minimal contact with the Washington Redskins other than a discussion to inform him of the name change.

“As a kid growing up and being a Redskins fan, I’ve always seen that logo,” Lance Wetzel said. “Everyone I’ve been in contact with on the reservation has been positive (about the logo’s depiction). They think that’s my team because it’s a Native American.”

Lance Wetzel’s cousin, Donnie Wetzel, who resides in Montana City, said he is happy to see the name go but he would like to see the imagery preserved.

“It’s a connection I have with my grandfather,” Donnie Wetzel said.

THE FINAL REQIUM FOR THE SKINS

The fast paced changes of 2020 are leaving history in dust. So as the we retire a portion of history, it’s proper to reflect on it.. On November 23, 2009, Walter Wetzel’s grandson wrote a story on MYHERO.COM, and in part said this:

My grandpa was raised on the reservation. His father would hit him and tell him he was worthless, so Walter would play basketball to calm his nerves. Walter played Basketball, Football, Track, and was always the best at his school. He passed all of his classes, and then went to college. After college he got involved with politics.

Walter became president of the National Congress of American Indians and was named a chief of the Blackfeet tribe. He also made the icon for the Washington Redskins in his free time. Walter worked with President Kennedy and many of the people that also worked with the president. Walter also had sons named Don Wetzel, Rex Wetzel, and Peetsi Wetzel. Don Wetzel followed his father with basketball, breaking records and winning championships. Walter loved each and every one of his children.

One day Walter was waiting for President Kennedy at an airport when he received news that the president had been shot and was dead. He stayed at the airport hours after the news, still in shock that someone had really killed the President. He went home that night and his family comforted him.