Division I-A College Football Quiz: 1) Who threw 11 TD passes
in a game back in 1990? 2) Who holds the record for most
passing yards, career? Answers below.
Wounded Knee
Well, I venture to say there weren”t too many doing what I did
today. Actually, I virtually guarantee there was no one else.
Using Rapid City, SD as my base for the next few days, I set off
on a long drive down to Wounded Knee, in the heart of the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation south of Badlands National Park.
I haven”t been to this part of the country since I was a kid and I
had forgotten just how beautiful it was. It also helped it was a
gorgeous day. So after watching “Meet the Press” (hey, some
things never change!), I started on the drive, picking out a good
country / western station when about an hour into it word of
the action in Afghanistan forced me to change to a news station.
But when I got to the Pine Ridge Reservation, while the scenery
was still good, I also began to see just how hard life is for the
folks living on some of these territories. And at one point, I
began to doubt whether I should continue on to Wounded Knee.
You see Wounded Knee, in case you forgot, was the last battle of
the Indian Wars. But while Little Big Horn was the Indians” last
big conquest of the white man, Wounded Knee was the last
massacre of the Indians. I knew that all I would see is a marker,
nothing more, but it”s all part of our history so I continued on.
As I pulled up to it, alone in this small lot next to the main road, I
tried to soak in the surrounding sights as I was casually jotting
down some notes from the narrative on the board. Suddenly, a
car pulled up with two men and out hopped “Larry.” Well, Larry
was a local Native carrying some trinkets, but what unnerved me
was his companion driving away behind the marker where I
couldn”t see him. This isn”t a well-traveled area, folks. My only
thought was “Oh S—!”
Larry shook my hand, I gave him my name, and then he asked
what I was writing down. “Just history,” I told him, feeling for
my Swiss Army knife. He then pressured me to pay $20 for a
necklace and I coughed it up. Larry then ran to find his friend,
who had hidden the car, and I, err, got in my car and…oh, it
wasn”t that awful. We both sped away in opposite directions.
The rest of the drive was fantastic. A little more on that later.
But first.Wounded Knee.
The Indian Wars had basically ended by 1888, especially after
the capture of Geronimo. Then late in ”88, Wovoka, a Paiute in
Western Nevada, fell ill and in a delirium imagined he had
visited the spirit world where he learned of a deliverer coming to
rescue the Indians and restore their lands. To hasten this day
Wovoka said that the Indians had to take up a ceremonial dance
at each new moon, the “Ghost Dance.”
By 1890 the Sioux took it up with such fervor that it alarmed the
white authorities. An effort was made to arrest Sitting Bull, one
which ended in his bloody murder on December 15 of that year.
The military then decided that it was best to round up the
remaining Sioux in the Pine Ridge Agency. At the time a Chief
Big Foot led 106 warriors and 250 women. On December 28,
the Chief was arrested with 40 of his men while trying to escape
the dragnet and forced to camp at Wounded Knee with the rest of
the group. On the 29th, as the Indians faced a US 7th Cavalry
force of 470 soldiers, arranged on bluffs overlooking the Indians”
encampment, a shot was accidentally fired by a deranged Sioux
(this is one version) and suddenly all hell broke loose. When it
was over, 200 Indians and 25 soldiers were dead, the “Battle of
Wounded Knee.” The Indian Wars were officially over.
But Wounded Knee would play another vital role in our history
about 80 years later. In 1965 LBJ acknowledged the plight of the
Indians in establishing the National Council on Indian
Opportunity to target federal antipoverty program funds into the
reservations. But by 1968 Indian militants were impatient with
the pace of change and began to adopt the ways of the civil rights
and black power activists. That year, two Chippewas living in
Minneapolis, George Mitchell and Dennis Banks, founded the
American Indian Movement (AIM) on the promise of advancing
“red power.” They occupied Alcatraz in San Francisco for a
time in ”69, claiming the site “by right of discovery.” And in
1972 they launched a widely covered sit-in at the US Interior
Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (which happens to
be the most corrupt federal agency of them all).
In 1973 AIM led 200 Sioux in occupying the village of Wounded
Knee. They had been provoked by the light sentences given a
group of local whites that had killed a Sioux the previous year.
The organizers sought to draw attention to the plight of Indians
living on the reservation there. Among those neglected were, of
course, the children, 80% of whom had dropped out of school.
The Indians then took 11 hostages and held them for weeks as a
standoff ensued between AIM and the FBI and federal agents.
Finally, when AIM tried to bring in food and supplies, a shoot-
out resulted and one Indian was killed. The federal government
then reexamined all of the Indians” rights and the programs.
Well, that”s Wounded Knee. I ended up driving some 300 miles
today, through the rest of the spectacular Badlands, alternating
news on the war front with country music and, believe it or not,
the Minnesota Twins / Chicago White Sox game. Then about 50
miles from Rapid City I stopped at the town of Wall. If you
haven”t been out this way, Wall is a mini-version of “South of
the Border.” Wall Drugs, specifically, a block of souvenir stores.
I really wanted a beer, though, so I hit up the Badlands Bar. To
give you an idea of what kind of place Wall is there were two
signs in the bar that caught my eye. “Jane Fonda…American Traitor
.Bitch” and “Vietnam: We Were Winning When I Left.”
The bartender was a great guy and I could have stayed there all
afternoon, but like I said I was still 50 miles from home and that
wouldn”t have been too responsible now, would it?
Stuff
–Saturday I had a stopover in Denver which proved to be
fortuitous because I caught the first half of Oklahoma / Texas
and met a nice gentleman from Oklahoma City. I mean to tell
you, everyone from OKC is awesome. [I was there a year ago.]
Within 90 seconds he”s giving me his business card and telling
me to look him up next time I”m in town. Oh, congrats to OU
for another huge win as they march towards a possible 2nd
national championship.
–Speaking of college football, when I saw that there was even a
“line” on the Miami – Troy State game I was shocked, but there
it was, Miami favored by 50. But Troy State covered, losing
only 38-7!
–The big sports news in the Sunday Rapid City paper was Black
Hills State defeating Dickinson State and University of Mary (I
swear, I had never heard of this school) besting South Dakota
Tech. University of Mary is #6 in NAIA, by the way. I hope to
pick up some Black Hills State t-shirts later on.
–Oh, Monday is not Columbus Day in these parts, it”s Native
American Day. I”m going to a celebration near Mount Rushmore
myself. Hey, maybe I”ll see Larry!
–And this tidbit from Sports Illustrated. The NCAA has warned
colleges that putting U.S. flags on team uniforms might offend
some players. “Institutions desiring to place flags on uniforms
should consider the nationalities of all of their student-athletes
before doing so.” Where”s Lee Greenwood when you need him?
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/29/73: #1 “We”re An American
Band” (Grand Funk) #2 “Let”s Get It On” (Marvin Gaye) #3
“Half-Breed” (Cher)
College Football Quiz Answers: 1) David Klingler threw 11 TD
passes for Houston in a 1990 game against E. Washington. For
the year, Klingler threw 54 in 11 games. 2) Ty Detmer / BYU,
threw for 15,031 yards in 46 games between 1988-91.
College Tidbits:
–Wake Forest”s Rusty LaRue set records for most pass attempts
(56) and completions (41) in a single half against Duke,
10/28/95. LaRue also holds the record for completions in a
game, 55 (the same game), which he shares with Purdue”s Drew
Brees who accomplished the feat in 1998. LaRue also holds the
record for most passes completed in 2 and 3 consecutive games
(96 and 146). And, of course, Rusty later played for the Chicago
Bulls.
–Tennessee”s Tee Martin holds the record for most consecutive
passes completed, 23, in a 1998 game against South Carolina.
He was 23 of 24 that day.
–On 11/1/69, Florida”s John Reaves threw 9 interceptions (in 66
attempts) in a game against Auburn.
–Ty Detmer threw for 300 or more yards in 24 consecutive
games, 1989-90.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. The Reptile Farm.
