Shiyazh Pete’s time with the Dallas Cowboys was brief, but his NFL debut gave fellow Navajo citizens a moment to remember.
When the rookie offensive lineman took the field for a preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals in August, thousands of fans who had traveled from across the Navajo Nation erupted in cheers, waving tribal flags and exclaiming “yéego,” an affirmation that translates roughly to “with great effort, do it.” Pete played just six snaps, but returned to the sideline to a standing ovation — a powerful show of support for the first member of the Navajo Nation to sign with an NFL team.
Now a free agent after being waived by the Cowboys, Pete has returned home to the Navajo Nation, where he has been thanking fans for their support as he looks for his next NFL opportunity.
He surprised students at his alma mater, Shiprock High School, with an appearance at their homecoming pep rally and served as grand marshal of the Northern Navajo Nation Fair Parade.
On Monday, Pete will meet and greet fans at an Indigenous Peoples Day event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Pete joins a long list of Native athletes who have broken barriers in sports, inspired pride in their communities and become role models for Native children.
From Olympic champions to professional basketball players, these athletes have helped shape sports history while opening doors for those who follow.
Native athletes stood on Olympic podium Still widely considered the greatest athlete of all time, Jim Thorpe, of the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, won the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics.
He also played six seasons in Major League Baseball and 12 in professional football, including in the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the National Football League.
A track and field teammate of Thorpe’s at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, Louis Tewanima carried on the Hopi spiritual practice of running to gain recognition at the repressive institution.
He finished ninth in the marathon at the 1908 Olympics in London and second in the 10,000 meters at the....
