Spotlight on Seminoles in Sports Throughout the Years

Sports are among many people’s favorite pastimes. From casual pickup games to professional tournaments, sports have been an important, and fun, part of Seminole culture for centuries! This week, join us as we do a little dive into the Seminole world of sports through photographs. From the traditional game of stickball, all the way through the recreational past times of today, Seminoles have long played, enjoyed, and excelled at a variety of different sports. In this special edition of our Seminole Snapshots series, we explore images of Seminoles throughout the years enjoying sports of all kinds.

Now, everyone knows Florida State’s Seminoles. For the purposes of this post, we are focusing on Seminoles playing sports and not the Florida State University Seminoles athletic teams. But, don’t worry. We aren’t ignoring our friends in Tallahassee. Come back in November for a fresh blog post focused on the relationship between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Florida State Seminoles!

 

Stickball

Stickball is the quintessential traditional Seminole game that most people think of, and an important cultural touchstone. Similar in a lot of ways to lacrosse, Seminoles and many other Southeastern tribes have played stickball for centuries. In fact, Choctaw stickball was recently featured in Disney’s Marvel show Echo. It traditionally is used to settle disputes and strengthen social ties at large gatherings. Players use two rackets and a leather ball. In our featured image you can see a group of men and woman playing stickball. They are at the Kissimmee Slough Shootout and Rendezvous, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Big Cypress, February 2-3, 2001. The curatorial building under construction can be seen in the background. (2016.14.159).

 

Golf

A few years ago Tara Backhouse, Curator for the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, found this photograph recently added to the Museum Collection. In it you can see several Seminole men playing golf. One wears a big shirt and turban. Two other players can be seen wearing western style slacks and Seminole patchwork shirts. A Seminole woman with a beautiful skirt and cape watches the men play. Although golf is not a traditional Seminole game, it apparently has been part of Seminole life for almost a century! Backhouse estimated that this game dates to around the 1930s and was most likely in South Florida. It may have been the first evidence of Seminoles playing golf.

Golf has continued to be a well-loved pastime for many Seminole Tribal members throughout the decades. If you look through the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum Collection, you will find a vast array of images of men, women, and children enjoying golf both recreationally and in a tournament setting. Below, Bobby Frank, Hootie Whitecloud, and Tyrone Cypress (L-R) enjoy a game at the Howard Tiger Memorial Golf Tournament, date unknown. The image was taken by Elrod Bowers.

Golf has also taken many tribal members around the country, and even around the world. In the collection you can find images of Seminoles playing golf throughout the United States, and even in the Bahamas. Below, Bruce Dietz smiles and waves at the camera at the Fourth Annual Inter-Tribal Golf Classic hosted by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation at the Foxwoods Country Club in Richmond, Rhode Island between the dates of July 11-12, 1998.

 

Seminole Legends Hall of Fame

In a small room off the Hollywood gym, the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s own Sports Hall of Fame honors some of the best Seminole athletes from the 1940s onward. Started in 1998 by Moses Jumper Jr., the Hall of Fame recognizes over 100 exceptional Tribal athletes. His uncle, Howard Tiger, was the original inspiration for the Hall of Fame.

“We started this to give all our people a place to see our athletes,” Jumper said in a 2013 Seminole Tribune article. “Young people come through here and see their parents, uncles and grandparents who played sports, too.” Members of the Hall of Fame come from a variety of sports. Below, join us to celebrate a few of the first inductees to the Hall. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and there are many, many more incredible Seminole sportsmen and women out there to recognize.

Joe Dan Osceola, at the far right in the back row, played semi-pro baseball on a Seminole team in the early 1960s. Others in the photo include, back row, from left, Eugene Bowers, Howard Tiger, George Storm, (unknown), and Jessie Osceola; and in the front row, from left, Bobbie Osceola, Jimmy Hank Osceola, Max Billie, Jackie Willie Sr. and Sandy Billie Sr.

 

Joe Dan Osceola

Well known for his important and transformative work as a leader and youngest (and first!) Tribal President, Joe Dan Osceola was also an amazing athlete. He was an incredible football, baseball, and track star. Osceola graduated from Okeechobee High School where he was the quarterback of the football team, as well as being the captain of the basketball team. He was one of the first Seminoles to attend a public Florida school, as well as the first to graduate from a public Florida school. Below, you can see him in March 1957 while a high senior, posing for William Boehmer.

Joe Dan would go on to be offered a scholarship to play for the Florida State Seminoles football team. He declined and instead chose to go to Georgetown College in Kentucky. There, he ran track and cross and field and joined the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Years later Florida State would bestow upon Joe Dan an honorary doctorate degree. Sports would continue to be an important part of Joe Dan’s life and leadership for decades.

In a Seminole Tribune article honoring the life of Joe Dan in 2021, his daughter shared that sports and being a coach was integral to his being. Joe Dan would go on to be a coach on the Brighton Reservation and later for Optimist teams in Hollywood. “He was out there with my brothers from T-ball all the way through high school,” she said. “He coached football. He coached me in softball. He was a coach for as long as I can remember. Dad attended all the games.”

 

Harry Billie

Born around Everglades City, Harry Billie is remembered as a dynamite natural athlete. He was a triple hitter, excelling in basketball, baseball, and football. A football star with Naples High School, Harry Billie would graduate with the class of 1962 and play with the Florida State Seminoles. Billie would switch to baseball within about a year, eventually scoring a minor league contract with the Pittsburg Pirates, where he would stay for about four years.

“I think he was the greatest athlete I ever played against, and probably until Deion Sanders came along, he might have been the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen,” said Jim Spooner in an interview with Glenn Miller. Miller would interview a few others about Billie, such as Len Harsh the News-Press sports editor in the 1960s. “I wish you could have seen him,” Len shared. “I’d say he was the best natural athlete I’ve ever seen. He could do anything. Deion [Sanders] was one of the finest all-around athletes I’ve ever seen. I think Billie could outdo him a little bit.” High school basketball teammate Bob Wells shared “Let me tell you something, he was a phenom. Just liquid on a basketball court. You never seen anything like it. You remember how Jordan moved? He was a 5-11 Jordan.”

Howard Tiger

You may recognize Howard Tiger’s name from the memorial golf tournament mentioned above. Or, you may recognize it from his incredible leadership and long-lasting impact on the Seminole Tribe of Florida! One of the original inductees of the Hall of Fame, Howard Tiger is remembered as an incredibly dedicated coach and founder of the Recreation Department.

In 2014 the Howard Tiger Recreation Center opened in memory of his contributions. “He was a great coach and Tribal member,” said Howard Tiger’s son Mike Tiger at the dedication. “He started the Recreation Department for us when the field was all pine trees and palmettos. We thought we were on cloud nine. It was great, and it will continue to be great for our people. This will help keep our youth out of trouble and set them on the right path, which was my father’s biggest message.”

Howard Tiger is often talked about as one of the tribe’s best sportsmen, even sometimes being quoted as the “Seminole Tribe’s Jim Thorpe.” A semi-professional basketball and football player, Tiger would go on to join the military, becoming the Seminole Tribe’s first enlisted Marine. He would go on to leave a lasting impact as a coach and mentor, insisting that recreation and sports be accessible for everyone.

At the 50^th Annual Howard Tiger Memorial Basketball Tournament son Mike Tiger emphasized this, saying “My dad had a special way of implanting good, positive recreation for everyone, men, women and children,” Mike said. “He brought about the thought process of “Hey, let’s have recreation for everybody’.” Below, you can see some action shots from the 50^th Annual Howard Tiger Basketball tournament, held in April 2018.

 

Other Seminoles and Sports through Photographs

We encourage you to explore the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum Collection and celebrate other incredible Seminole athletes throughout the years. Below, you will find just a few more snippets of Seminoles excelling in sports from the Collection.

A young man competes in calf roping during a rodeo event at the Fred Smith Rodeo grounds in Brighton, FL, 1998. Fred Smith is also a Seminole Hall of Fame inductee.

 

Noah Billieboy in uniform, November 1963. Billieboy played for McArthur High School in Hollywood, FL.

 

Eugene Bowers in a letterman jacket, 1960. Bowers was the star football player at McArthur High School in Hollywood, FL. He was known as “Tank” and would go on to be one of the first inductees into the Seminole Hall of Fame.

 

Ivan Billie taking the shot on the basketball court of the Mississippi Coliseum located in Jackson, MS. The photo was taken on March 13, 1998 at the Mississippi 2A State High School Basketball Championship between the Choctaw Central Warriors and the Calhoun City Wildcats.

 

The “Lil Seminoles” Girls Softball Team, circa 2007.