Basketball guard Tahnee Robinson is one of very few highly visible Native Americans playing on a Division I sports team. She is descended from several tribes. Her mother is Pawnee and Eastern Shoshone. Her father is Northern Cheyenne and Sioux. Her family still lives on the Wind River Reservation in Fort Washakie, Wyo., the same reservation where she grew up.
Although clearly a standout for the University Nevada Wolf Pack, Robinson was largely unknown outside of the Western Athletic Conference.
That was until Robinson became one of five finalists for the Sullivan Award, an honor bestowed each year by the Amateur Athletic Union to an outstanding amateur athlete.
Maya Moore, the nation’s most heralded women’s college basketball player, had been one of 12 semi-finalists for the Sullivan Award, named after AAU founder James E. Sullivan. But the University of Connecticut superstar’s name was absent from the five finalists.
Public votes account for a percentage of the final results, and Robinson credits her many supporters for helping make her a finalist. “For the Native American community to support me the way that they have is incredible,” says Robinson. “I’m not a member of their tribe, but they’ve supported me through everything, no matter what.
“People drive hours to our games,” she says. “Not only in Nevada (where there is a large Native American population). When we went to Louisiana Tech, there were a few people who drove four to six hours from home to watch the game. When we go to Idaho, there are people traveling to watch us play there.”
Robinson credits her parents with instilling in her a sense of importance about school and sports — something she said is lacking in many Native American households. Her mother was her first coach and her father drove her to the gym whenever she asked. They sent her to basketball camp and drove her long distances to tournaments.
