The Fighting Whites were an intramural basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 team formed at the University of Northern Colorado

University of Northern Colorado

-Organization:The University of Northern Colorado offers 100 undergraduate programs and more than 100 graduate programs. The university has a satellite campus in Denver, Colorado...

 in 2002 and named in response to the Native American mascot controversy

Native American mascot controversy

The propriety of using Native American mascots and images in sports has been a topic of debate in the United States and Canada since the 1960s.Americans have had a history of drawing inspiration from native peoples and "playing Indian" that dates back at least to the 18th century...

.

The intramural college team briefly attracted a storm of national attention because of its satirical protest about stereotypes of Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 being used as sports mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

s, particularly the "Fightin' Reds" of Eaton High School in Eaton, Colorado

Eaton, Colorado

Eaton is a Statutory Town in Weld County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,690 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Benjamin Harrison Eaton, a pioneer of irrigation who played a leading role in transforming the arid prairie of the Great Plains east of Colorado's Front Range into...

, not far from the university in Greeley

Greeley, Colorado

The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...

. The Reds' mascot has been described as "a caricature Indian with a misshapen nose, [wearing] a loincloth and eagle feather".

The intramural team, which included players of Native American, white, and Latino ancestry, adopted the name "Fighting Whites", with an accompanying logo of a stereotypical "white man" in a suit, styled after advertising art of the 1950s, as their team mascot. The character has been described as a man from the Ozzie Nelson

Ozzie Nelson

Oswald George "Ozzie" Nelson was an American entertainer and band leader who originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio and television series with his wife and two sons.-Early life:...

 era or a "'Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...

' white American male".

At first, the team's T-shirts used "Fightin' Whites" as the name of the team, but various media reports referred to the team as the "Whities" instead of "Whites". The plan to insult whites in the same way the minority students were meant to perceive Native Americans being insulted backfired on the group when the team's popularity skyrocketed. In response to customer demand, the team eventually began selling shirts under both names. The team added the phrase "Fighting the use of Native American stereotypes" to its merchandise to discourage the shirts from being worn by white supremacists, and arranged for CafePress.com

CafePress.com

CafePress, Inc. is an online retailer of stock and user-customized on demand products. CafePress, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California, USA and its production facility is located in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2001, CafePress.com won the People's Voice Webby Award in the Commerce...

to handle manufacturing and sales of the clothing.

The team sold enough shirts that they were eventually able to endow a sizeable scholarship fund for Native American students at UNC. In 2003, the team donated $100,000 to the University of Northern Colorado's UNC Foundation, which included $79,000 designated for the "Fightin' Whites Minority Scholarship".

External links

• Official site (archived) (last available version from Archive.org, dated March 6, 2005)