< Back Jordan Brewer Jordan Brewer Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Jordan Brewer was born in Saint Joseph, MI, and grew up excelling as a three-sport athlete, competing in baseball, football, and basketball. He was recruited by the University of Michigan for football, but a shoulder injury during his senior season derailed those plans. Undeterred, Jordan took the opportunity to play baseball at Lincoln Trail Junior College, where he had a standout two-year career, earning All-Region honors. His performance caught the attention of the University of Michigan’s baseball program, where he quickly made his mark. In his first year, Jordan had an outstanding season, earning Big Ten Player of the Year and helping his team reach the finals of the College World Series. Following this success, Jordan was drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round. He advanced through the Astros minor league system to their Double-A team, overcoming several surgeries along the way. Despite these challenges, Jordan has enjoyed a successful professional baseball career and is excited about what future opportunities lie ahead. Photos: Houston Astros Media Team and Meza Photos <Back

Dustin Quinn Martin Navajo Induction Category: Year Inducted Builder 2023 <Back Dustin Quinn Martin was born in Chinle, AZ. His mother is of German and Russian descent. His Father is Diné and Red Running into Water Clan born for the Towering House Clan. Dustin’s passion for running began at an early age, when he tagged along to track practice with his mother, Claudia, who was an assistant coach at Gallup High School. Native distance runners quickly became his idols. After attending high school in Albuquerque, Dustin ran four years of NCAA Division I cross country and track at Columbia University. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in anthropology in 2011. In the fall of 2011, he returned to New Mexico to serve as the Program Director of Wings of America, an organization founded in 1988 to create opportunities for talented Native American runners. During his early years with Wings, Dustin used his youthfulness and willingness to travel to reinvigorate the Wings network and expand the reach of the organization’s summer programs to provide mentorship and learning opportunities for Native youth from coast to coast. Apart from continuing to lend a hand to some of the most-talented runners across Indian Country, Dustin developed programs, such as “Flight Club” and “Pursuit” that do not require participants to race one another. Regular movement and connection to the Land are what are most important. Under his leadership, the Wings organization purchased a headquarters in Albuquerque, NM, that houses the Wings Elite Program, an opportunity for the best post-collegiate runners from across Indian Country to run at a professional level with the support of a Native coach and Native-lead organization. Photo Credits: Benjamin Weingart and Joy Godfrey

< Back Tanner Albers Tanner Albers Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 Tanner Albers was a team captain for the 1994 and 1995 Boys Basketball Teams at Takini High in South Dakota. In both of those years he was the team’s leading scorer, earning All-State and All-Tournament honors while leading the Skyhawks to back-to-back state tournament appearances. He was also a team captain for the 1997-98 United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) Thunderbirds where he led them to the school’s first Junior College National Tournament appearance. That year he earned 1st Team Mon-Dak All-Region, Mon-Dak Region 8 Player of the Year, and was the school’s first, 1st Team All-American. Tanner is currently still the school’s all-time leading scorer UTTC. Tanner played for the Division I Delaware State University Hornets for the 1998-99 season and finished up his collegiate basketball career at the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND. Up until his passing in 2010, Tanner had traveled across North America, playing in many basketball tournaments with teams Iron 5, Iron Boy, Rim Rats, Pure Method, and many others. He would often receive MVP, All-Star, and others honors because of his amazing scoring and shooting talents. He had the opportunity to coach at the collegiate level and was a co-creator of HOOPGOD Basketball Camps. <Back

Rob McClain Category Athlete Tribe Muscogee Creek/Red Lake Ojibwe Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 10/11/1998 Rob McClain started his athletic career in Red Lake, Minnesota. There he was a three sport athlete that excelled in Football, Golf and especially Basketball. Red Lake High school is where Rob played on the team varsity team for four years and went to the state tournament each of the four years. In his final two years of high school his team finished with a top four finish at state. He concluded his high school career with over 1500 points and 1300 rebounds. Rob played junior college basketball at United Tribes Technical College the next two years. He scored over 1000 points, was named all-conference two years in a row and also named an All-American in his second year playing there. He played well enough to garner attention from many NCAA Division I and II schools. He played his final two years of college basketball for the NCAA Division 1 school University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) coached by the late Lew Hill. Rob graduated from UTRGV in May of 2021 with his degree and is now back at United Tribes as an assistant coach on the Men’s Basketball team. Home 2027 Banquet 2027 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

Carolyn Darbyshire-McRorie Category Athlete Tribe Metis Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 12/6/1963 Carolyn was a contributing member of four provincial championships in 1985, 2007, 2009, and 2020. Playing with her mother in 1985, the team represented Manitoba at the Canadians. She moved to Calgary and played in many competitive play downs and an Olympic Trials spot in 2001, where she played all positions on mixed and ladies teams in that time period. Curling with Team Bernard in 2006, they played in various spiels and went on to win two provincial championships, the Olympic Trials in Edmonton and the Silver Medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC. In 2020, she went on to win the Senior Provincial Championship and went to play at the Canadians in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. In 2017, Carolyn went on to get her coaching certificate to give back to her curling community which has given her so much. She has coached a women’s team to their first Alberta Championship and an Olympic Trials spot. In 2018-19, she went on to work in China as the National Women’s curling coach, working with five teams at their Centre located in Beijing. Working closely with two teams, taking them throughout the World Curling Tour events, moved one team from a rank of 50th and 104th to a 24th and 26th ranking in the World Curling standings and a 5th place standing at the World Curling Championships. Carolyn is now back in Canada coaching junior teams for the past two years. Her hopes are to continue curling competitively and working with teams to help give them the knowledge of the game that has given her so much joy and happiness in her life. Home 2027 Banquet 2027 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

Bennae Calac Pauma Band of Luiseño Indian Induction Category: Year Inducted Builder 2022 <Back Bennae is a strong Native woman, mother, business owner, mentor, teacher, and leader. Over the last 35 years, Bennae Calac has represented Pauma in various political, cultural, and administrative capacities. She has served as the repatriation chair since the age of twenty-one and her life’s work is to preserve the culture and traditions of her people. She is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Luiseño songs and dances and works with her own children and local youth programs to ensure that this traditional knowledge is instilled in the younger generation. Bennae was elected as Committee Member to the Pauma Band’s Tribal Council in December 2008 and served another two-year term as Secretary and Treasurer. Through her various Tribal roles, Bennae interacts with the youth, culture, public and political relations. Bennae continually answers the community’s call to speak on topics ranging from native wellness, health advocacy, domestic violence, women’s issues, and cultural preservation. Bennae serves on numerous boards and committees, including as the Co-Founder of the 7G Foundation, a (501)(c)(3) organization providing Native Americans, and other Indigenous people and communities, assistance in reaching their goals through Athletics, Education, Health-Mind-Body Practices, and Community. She has also established and serves as Board Chair for Onoo Po Strategies, a multifaceted consultancy and holding company with capabilities in Economic Development, Technology, Procurement and Distribution, Business Strategy and Marketing, and Environmental and Agricultural Management. Photo: Mom (left) and daughter at the US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis.

Sunnie R. Clahchischilgi Category Media Tribe Diné (Navajo) Year Inducted 2022 Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi is a longtime storyteller from the Navajo Nation. She spent over a decade as sportswriter for the Navajo Times, telling stories of high school, college, and professional Navajo athletes. Clahchischiligi, a former athlete, developed an admiration for sports and storytelling at a young age. She completed six internships in three years, one at Sports Illustrated magazine in New York City. Clahchischiligi earned multiple awards for her writing in sports, editorial, community coverage, elder coverage, and investigative reporting. She wrote for the St. Cloud Times, the Albuquerque Journal, the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Osage News, Searchlight NM, and the Salt Lake Tribune. From her extensive coverage of basketball on the Navajo Nation, she has been dubbed an expert in rezball, a fast-paced style of basketball played throughout Indian Country. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian, to name a few. Clahchischiligi has a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of New Mexico, a master’s degree in rhetoric, writing, and digital media studies from Northern Arizona University, and is currently a PhD candidate in rhetoric and writing at UNM. She also teaches composition in the English department. Home 2027 Banquet 2027 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Steve McDonald Steve McDonald Prairie Band Potawatomi Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Steve McDonald is a Life Member of the Professional Golf Association (PGA). He was a two-year, four-sport letterman at Haskell Indian Junior College in football, basketball, baseball and golf. McDonald played golf at Washburn University, where he won five college tournaments. As a golf professional he has won over 35 sanctioned PGA Midwest and South Florida Section tournaments, including the 1988 Midwest Section Match Play Championship. He was named seven times to the Midwest Section PGA Cup Team. He was also named four times as a member of the Midwest Section PGA District VII Cup Team and a two-time member of the South Florida Section Chapter Cup Team. McDonald won eight times on the First Nations Golf Associations Professional Golf Tour. He was twice named the First Nations Golf Association Player of the Year. He is a founding Board Member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (PBPN) Boys and Girls Club and The First Tee of Shawnee County. He was a Board of Trustee Member to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. In 2006 he served as Chef de’Mission for Team Kansas at the North American Indigenous Games held in Denver, CO and was also the Commissioner of Golf. He has visited over 25 Native American Reservations teaching youth golf. He was the Head Golf Professional at Addison Reserve, Delray Beach, FL, the General Manager of The Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes, Lake Mary, FL, the Director of Golf Instruction at Lake Shawnee Golf Course, Topeka, KS, and the Vice President of Golf at Jacks Bay, a Tiger Woods designed golf course. McDonald is a two-time cancer survivor and the 2022 South Florida Section PGA of America Deacon Palmer Award winner. He is semi-retired but still playing and teaching, and to date he has given over 20,000 lifetime golf lessons. <Back

Nicole Johnson Category Athlete Tribe Inupiaq Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 5/20/1969 Nicole Johnson’s passion for Inuit games started in fifth grade when she learned how to do the Two-Foot High Kick after church in a youth program. Inuit games are games that were played to build the survival skills Indigenous people of the North played to develop the skills need for everyday survival and just for fun. In seventh grade, Nicole entered her first competition at the 1982 Native Youth Olympics (NYO), taking first place in the Two-Foot High Kick. She continued to compete through high school, at NYO, the World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO), and the Arctic Winter Games (AWG). After high school she continued to compete until 2004, over the years winning over 100 medals, earning the outstanding athlete award, and sportsmanship award, at various competitions. She has set records in several events over the years, setting her first record in the Two-Foot High Kick at the 1985 NYO and continued to break her record until the 1989 WEIO, kicking 6’6”. This record held for 25 years. Her record in the Two-Foot High Kick at AWG, still holds at 6’5”. In 2017, Nicole was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame, as an athlete and ambassador to Native Games. Nicole is the former chairwoman of WEIO, and current President of AWG Team Alaska. Nicole currently works with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, coaching youth, training officials, assists with organizing the statewide Native Youth Olympics competitions, and acting as the head official for many different competitions. Her passion for the Inuit games continues by sharing and preserving the rich history and culture of these sports through coaching, instruction at schools, throughout Alaska, the lower 48, and the Yukon territories. Photo: Cook Inlet Tribal Council Home 2027 Banquet 2027 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Kim Squire Kim Squire Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2026 Kim Squire, a member of the Ontario Raiders and Toronto Rock from 1998-2003, played a pivotal role during the Rock’s championship-winning dynasty in the early 2000s. Squire was a major part of four NLL championships. In 2001, Squire was second on the team in points during the regular season and first on the team in points during the postseason. Squire had almost 100 loose balls as a forward. He was named to the 2001 All-Pro Second Team. Squire scored 112 goals and recorded 107 assists in his 80-game career with the Ontario Raiders, Toronto Rock, Rochester Knighthawks and Buffalo Bandits. Squire was also ranked 10th in scoring with 14 goals in the all time Toronto Rock playoff career record book. He was on the 1998 Minto Cup and 2001 Mann Cup championship teams. In the first World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in 2003, Squire was a forward on the Iroquois Nationals silver medal team. Photos: Graig Abel/Toronto Rock <Back

Awehiyo Thomas Category Athlete Tribe Cayuga Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 5/9/1986 Awehiyo Thomas (Beautiful Flower) is Cayuga Nation, Wolf Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She played competitive lacrosse on the international, NCAA DI and professional stage, with many Player of the Game awards. Awehiyo first started playing lacrosse in 1998 for Six Nations Girls Field Lacrosse, and later traveled to Cattaraugus, NY playing many years with the Seneca Girls Lacrosse Club under Sandy Jemison. In 2003, she had her first international experience with U-19 Team Canada, finishing third and being named the third-leading scorer on the squad. Awehiyo was a walk-on starter at Syracuse University, who transferred from Canisius College in her junior year. She started all 21 games and helped the team to its first NCAA Final Four in 2008 - as a senior she started all 19 games and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness. Awehiyo was a proud member of the Haudenosaunee National Women’s Lacrosse (HNWL) Team for many years, competing on the world stage in 2009, 2013 and 2017. In 2018, she was the first Haudenosaunee woman to play professional lacrosse with the Baltimore Ride in the UWLX league. Most recently, she was a member of the HNWL Sr. Team which placed first at the Pan American Lacrosse Association in 2019. As a veteran lacrosse player of 24 years and mother of four, soon to be mother of five, she continues to be a role model for many Indigenous girls coming up. She comes from a long line of great lacrosse players in her family including Grandfather Ivan Thomas, the 1997 Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee and great-grandfather Joseph Logan Jr., maker of the “Logan Special” lacrosse stick. To this day, Awehiyo’s lacrosse display at Woodland Cultural Center in Brantford, Ontario continues to be up for the public to view. Photos: Reems Landreth and Awehiyo Thomas Home 2027 Banquet 2027 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Terry Felix Terry Felix Sts'ailes First Nation Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Raised on the Chehalis Reserve, Terry Felix did not play organized soccer until high school in tenth grade. At 16, he joined a men’s team coached by his father Pete. First Nations were not invited to play in non-Native tournaments in the 1970s except for one tournament where a Whitecaps’ scout was present and approached Terry’s father for Terry to try out for the youth team. In September 1981 he signed a professional contract with the Vancouver Whitecaps. On July 10, 1983, he made his professional debut for the Whitecaps against the New York Cosmos in front of 50,000 fans. In doing so he became the first Indigenous soccer player to play professionally in North America. In 1983 Felix represented Canada in the Olympic Qualifiers for the Canada Men’s National Soccer Team and earned three caps. In doing so he became the first Indigenous soccer player to represent Canada. Felix played for the Canadian Olympic Soccer Team and scored two goals including the winner in the first of a two-game series in May, 1983. He played a three-game series for the Canadian National Soccer Team against the Scotland National Team in June, 1983. He suffered a career-ending injury while training with the Olympic Soccer Team just before the 1984 Olympics. In September, 2018, Felix was inducted into the British Columbia (BC) Hall of Fame Aboriginal Sports Gallery. In June, 2020, he was inducted into the BC Soccer Hall of Fame and two years later in June, 2022, he received the honor of the Indspire Award Laureate for Sport. Felix continues to promote and coach Aboriginal Youth Soccer. <Back