Since Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious individual honor in college football, earlier this month, Native Americans have been basking in the glow.
They see the talented quarterback, a registered Cherokee and finance major with a 3.95 GPA, as a significant role model for aspiring young athletes who share his heritage.
Bradford, who is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a sophomore quarterback at the University of Oklahoma and only the second sophomore ever to win the trophy that goes to the Most Outstanding College Football Player in the United States.
“Having an intelligent, well-spoken, poised Cherokee citizen play quarterback for the Sooners means a lot to Cherokee people all over the country, not just the ones here in Oklahoma,” says Chad Smith, the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. “It means that people see a different image of Cherokees than the ones they may have had before, but it’s also a reflection to our community of the success we can achieve for ourselves and our families, our children and grandchildren.”
Smith adds that the chance to see “a Cherokee succeed at the highest level of college football, and to do it while keeping his GPA at 3.95, shows the values that we have always treasured in Cherokee society: education, selflessness and working together as part of a team or community.”
Although Bradford, 21, clearly identifies himself as Cherokee, including on his OU bio, he admitted in an interview with USA Today that he had not experienced a significant Native American influence or tradition in his upbringing.
“When people ask me questions about it, I have to be careful with how I answer,” he says in the paper’s article. “It’s something I’m definitely proud of, and I’ll never shy away from it. But I don’t know probably as much as I should know or as much as some people may think I know.”
