Native American All Star Game

The Native All-Star Football Game is for Native American and Alaska Native high school football players along with Canadian Aboriginals who will graduate in 2009 that are able to prove their Native heritage by holding a tribal identification card from a federally recognized Native American Indian Tribe or a Canadian Indigenous Tribe.

Since 2002, this game has given young Native American men the honor to finish out their outstanding high school careers, many of whom go on to compete at the collegiate level, and others who begin new endeavors outside of football.

The original idea and concept of the game started with a man named Jeff Bigger. He was the founder of the Native All Star Idea. The first season the two coaches asked to coach in the game were Carl Madison and Herman Boone. Bigger stumbled across them both as friends of an acquaintance and both were also US Army All American Bowl coaches. Carl was one of the first head coaches in the game as well as the winner of the first Native All Star Game.

There has only been one year (2006) where the game was not under the direction of either Jeff Bigger or John Harjo. That year the name of the game was played in Lawton, OK and renamed the Jim Thorpe Indian All Star Football Classic. It pitted former Muscogee (Creek) Chief and former Jenks head coach Perry Beaver up against former Miami of Ohio coach Jim Wachenheim. Perry’s team walked away with the game with a score of 35-0. While the score was lopsided the game seemed closer and was exciting to watch.

In 2007 John Harjo retook the reigns of the game and moved it back to Lawrence, KS once again and Haskell hosted the closet ever NAS finish. Dave Brown and his East team won with no time left on the clock with a 2 pt conversion. The final play of the game the running back for the West took the ball back into his own endzone to secure the win even giving Brown and company the safety, but he did not take a knee or run out of the endzone. Quick thinking by a corner from the East took the ball from him tying the game as the buzzer rang. The play was never called dead and it resulted in a game tying touchdown. Eventual Game MVP and Choctaw Central runningback Joshua Parkhurst punched in the 2 pt conversion and helmets went flying in an unforeseeable upset.

2008-The original 2008 game was to be held on the Soboba Reservation near Hemet, CA. Tragedy and turmoil on the reservation caused game officials to quickly change the location of the game and move it to the home of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians near Philadelphia, MS. Miko Denson and A.D. Walt Wilson were very receptive and helpful in allowing the game to played at Choctaw Central. 6 months of planning and organizing were squeezed into 4 weeks and the NAS Football Game was given new life. Dave Brown held off a 4th quarter offensive explosion by Coach Raymond and company for the victory.

This year the head coaches are two former head coaches Bryan Raymond (Cherokee) and Jim Sandusky (Colville). Here we go again with another NAS rivalry. Both are great coaches and highly competitive. 2009 is off and running and we hope to have a great game.

Native American football players paving the way for a younger generation in this new century number greatly. The old Carlisle teams of the the 1800s and early 1900s, the Haskell teams of the early 1900s that took over where Carlisle left off, the Hominy Indians of the mid 20s that defeated all comers, and Jim Thorpe's Oorang Indians. Many miles were traveled by these athletes and performers on the gridiron.
The college teams defeated teams like Kansas, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Michigan, Boston College, and even Notre Dame. The professional teams taking all comers and one team even staying undefeated for three years, and defeating the 1927 National Football League Champions. Football is Native America's oldest and greatest team sport.

More recently we have had a handful of Native American players make it in DI College Football and into the NFL. Jack Jacobs in the 40s was an All-American from OU drafted by Green Bay and rounded out his career in the CFL as a Blue Bomber. Sonny Sixkiller and Sammy Claphan from the 70s were two prominent Cherokee Football players for The Huskies and the Sooners.

Another Sooner Sam Bradford is making a name for himself as a great Quarterback and player for OU. Nathan Stanley at Ole Miss, Ronnell Lewis at OU, Jarrid Smith at FAU, and Derek Shaw at OU are some other recent Native football players making it to the next level. Kywin Supernaw broke into a starting position as a safety with Detroit in the early 2000's and Tuff Harris made the cut with the Miami Dolphins and then moved to the Tennessee Titans.