(Above, L-R) Charles Schrader Jr. with brother Vincent “Vinny” Brewer III.
Photo: Shaniah Richard
by Katy Beem
T
he role basketball plays in Indian Country can be difficult to describe. James Giago Davies, who covers sports closely and keenly for Native Sun News, wrote in an article about Pine Ridge Thorpes’ head basketball coach Casey Means: “Off the reservation, a coach and his team can connect with each other, and their community, but however much success this produces, however deep and meaningful the association, it can never reach the scope and depth of tribal identity. The coach, the players, the fans, are connected by more than just community, or even blood, and no matter where the Oglala reside, or how dire their circumstance, when the tribe is at its best, that connection is as ancient and resilient as the vast buffalo grass prairie itself.” (“Iron Sharpens Iron,” Native Sun News, March 22, 2019).
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Learn. Dream. Grow.
