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< Back Laticia DeCory Laticia DeCory Oglala Lakota Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Laticia "Doni" DeCory's life journey is the epitome of excellence that has resonated across multiple domains. DeCory's early years were marked by exceptional accomplishments in high school. A three-time first team South Dakota all-state athlete in basketball, she was bestowed with the honor of being part of the All-USA Today South Dakota team and the USA Today Athlete of the Year for South Dakota. Notably, she was a three-time state shot put champion and held a state record in shot put. She was named valedictorian from Pine Ridge High School. Her collegiate journey continued the legacy of triumph, with DeCory playing basketball at Brigham Young University (BYU) and excelling in track and field at Utah State. Her achievements included being a part of the 1994 Big West conference team champions and establishing a Western Athletic Conference Shot Put record. She continued to carve her legacy, becoming the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for BYU women's basketball. DeCory diligently training for the US Olympic track and field team as a heptathlete and contributing to the inaugural Indigenous nation handball development team. She was recognized as a Converse All-American in high school and an Academic All-American in college at Utah State. She also was a Divison 1 assistant coach for the University of South Dakota. DeCory's prowess was not confined to the sporting arena. In her professional career, her influence extended into public health and medical care, with notable roles at the CDC and two decades of service as a respected pulmonologist and respiratory care specialist. She further made her mark in corporate healthcare as a Quality and Compliance Director for the Indian Health Service (IHS) and other private facilities. However, it's her enduring commitment to youth development that sets her apart. As the director of Youth Opportunity and the co-founder of the BEAR program, she has directly impacted the lives of over 3,000 young individuals, guiding them towards professional careers in fields ranging from medicine to academia. Laticia "Doni" DeCory's life is a testament to the heights that can be reached through unwavering dedication and a commitment to excellence. <Back

Brent Reiter Category Athlete Tribe Menominee Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 10/3/1981 Brent Reiter attended Shawano High School in Shawano, Wisconsin from 1996-2000 and excelled in both Cross Country and Track & Field. Reiter was state champion in the 1600m run at the 2000 WIAA State Track & Field Championships and state runner-up at the 1999 WIAA State Cross Country Championships. He was a seven-time state qualifier, six-time sectional champion, ten-time Bay Conference Champion, a seven-time varsity letter winner, school record holder in the 1600m run, and led the Hawks to two straight Bay Conference Cross Country team titles in 1997 and 1998. Reiter was named Shawano High School male athlete of the year in 1999-2000. After graduating from Shawano High School in 2000, Reiter attended Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 2000-2002. He participated in Cross Country, Track & Field, and the Marathon. Reiter was a two-time National Champion, four-time National runner-up, nine-time All-American, an academic All-American, and led SIPI to two straight National Cross Country team titles in 2000 and 2001. Reiter also attended Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky in 2002-2003. He earned First Team All-Conference honors for Cross Country in 2002. Reiter was inducted into the Shawano Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010. Home 2025 Banquet 2025 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Greg Edgelow Greg Edgelow Cree Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Greg Edgelow is a retired Olympic freestyle wrestler born in Edmonton, Alberta and living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Edgelow is a nationally certified Aboriginal Wrestling Coach with Cree Ancestral Heritage from Manitoba Canada and European mix. In 2018, Edgelow was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, Indigenous Gallery. Edgelow won at every level of wrestling. He was a juvenile, junior and six-time Canadian senior wrestling champion (7 Freestyle and 1 Greco) and 5 times top-10 placing at the world championships (fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth). He represented Canada at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain placing 11th and won a bronze medal at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, two bronze medals at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba, a silver medal at the 1992 Pan American Championships, Toronto and a gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. Edgelow is the only Canadian to win a medal in wrestling (bronze) at the Goodwill Games. He is also the only Canadian wrestler to win four separate consecutive senior freestyle weight classes (82 kg, 90 kg, 96 kg, 100 kg). His last senior national title was in 1998, where he represented Canada (100 Kg) at the World Championships in Tehran, Iran. He is a two-time NAIA All-American for Simon Fraser University, while placing #1 in Minot, ND at 177 lbs. in 1986. Edgelow was awarded the 1999 Canadian Sport Leadership Award for his outstanding athletic achievements and leadership in volunteerism, beating out fellow finalist, Hockey great Wayne Gretzky. Edgelow was the motivational speaker at the Parade of Nations for the 1997 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) Victoria and member of Aboriginal Team BC Mission Staff at NAIG 2006 Denver and Assistant Chef de Mission, Team BC at NAIG 2008 Cowichan. He worked with the BC Boys U-16 Soccer team at the 2017 NAIG Toronto where they earned gold. Edgelow created an endowed wrestling scholarship fund at his Alma Mata, Simon Fraser University in 1996 that has financially assisted over 35 university wrestlers since its creation. Edgelow works in Indigenous relations at the corporate level providing economic development, jobs and training for Indigenous people and businesses. <Back

< Back Brady Tanner Brady Tanner Cherokee Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Brady Tanner was born on January 4, 1980 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He is a member of the Cherokee Nation, is the son of Gary and Jane Tanner and has two sisters Jamie and Jennifer. Brady has come a long way as he only weighed 4.9 pounds at birth and has Rubenstien-Taybi Syndrome which limits his ability to mentally develop and grow normally. He started lifting in the Special Olympic Competitions at age 21 and was considered the Strongest Special Olympian in the World from 2011-2014 with his maximum lifts. The maximum lifts for Brady’s career included: Bench Press-525 lbs., Squat-650 lbs., Dead Lift-650 lbs., and a strict Curl-165 lbs. for a total maximum combination of 1,990 pounds. In 2011 Brady was chosen to be on Special Olympic Team USA and represented America in Powerlifting at the 275+ category in Athens, Greece. He won three Gold Medals and one Silver Medal including the Overall Combination Gold Medal. Brady has also won the following competitions: -He competed in the first National Special Olympics Games and won two Gold Medals in Powerlifting. -State Special Olympic Champion (Kansas) 19 times from 2001-2020. -World Association of Bench Pressers and Deadlifters (WABDL) – 17 World Championships in Bench Press and 17 World Championships in Deadlift. He was the Outstanding Lifter seven times in Bench Press and four times in Deadlift. -Natural Athlete Strength Association (NASA) nine-time National Champion Brady has also accomplished the following: -Brady has been awarded Kansas City Sports Commission Special Athlete Achievement Award in 2011. -He was recognized as one of the 10 Most Distinguished Kansan of 2011. -The Mayor of Lawrence, Kansas declared June 16, 2011 as Brady Tanner Day. -He is an inductee of the 2013 American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame -Lawrence High School Hall of Honor in 2013 -Inducted to the World Association of Bench Pressers and Deadlifters Hall of Fame in 2016 -Kansas Special Olympics Hall of Fame in 2018 Brady was the Ball Boy for the Haskell Indian Nations University from 1987 until 2015 where he was motivational to all the student athletes in the athletic program. <Back

< Back Nakola Bad Bear Nakola Bad Bear Crow Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Nakola Bad Bear, Crow, was raised in Pryor, Montana and her parents are Curtis and Nadia Bad Bear. Nakola attended Montana State University-Bozeman (MSU-Bozeman) and was on the basketball team for four seasons. She graduated with a degree in Community Health. At MSU-Bozeman her team won two Big Sky tournament championships, three Big Sky conference titles, and appeared in the national tournament. She was named a two-time all conference and an all-tournament honoree. Nakola was the co-president for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) Student Association for two years and they held annual MMIP awareness basketball games. She grad-transferred to MSU-Billings to play her final year of eligibility and they won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship and made it to the NCAA DII Final Eight. She was named the Newcomer of the Year, Second Team All Big Sky Conference as a senior and Third Team as a junior, two-time All Big Sky Academic Team, GNAC Player of the Year, D2 CA All Region First Team, WBCA All American First Team and CSC Academic All American. Nakola plans to start graduate school in Occupational Therapy in the fall of 2025. She hopes to continue to inspire the next generation, continuing to lay a foundation for the future kids to grow and thrive on. She hopes to open a therapy clinic on her reservation to help eliminate generational trauma, and break the cycle of poverty. <Back

Eugene Oree Foster <Back Navajo Induction Category: Media Year Inducted 2024 Eugene Oree Foster was a long-time resident of Fort Defiance, Arizona where he was born and raised. His late father, Harold Y. Foster, was a Navajo Code Talker and his mother is Margaret Foster. As a sports writer, Foster covered all sports at all levels including professional, college, high school, junior high school, elementary school, and community sports and leagues. He was also a heralded athlete at Window Rock High School (1968-71) in basketball, baseball, cross-country and track and field. He earned a college athletic scholarship to run cross-country and compete in track and field at Central Arizona College. Foster played semi-professional baseball with the Fort Defiance Indians. He was also a varsity school baseball coach and an assistant cross-country coach at Window Rock High and coached a little league baseball team, the Fort Defiance Indians. He received his AA Degree from Central Arizona College, BS Degree in Journalism from the Arizona State University, and MA Degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. Foster was a recipient of many awards including the Native American Journalist Sportswriter for 15 consecutive years, the prestigious Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) Skip Bryant Media Award in 2010 and 2016, and the award for excellence, the Wall of Fame Award from Central Arizona College, for his outstanding journalism, as a historian, and a photojournalist. He was also a sports correspondent for Arizona State University Football, the Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball, Arizona’s Phoenix Suns Basketball, Professional Bull Riding (PBR), Ty Murray and Associates, the Arizona Interscholastic Activities (AIA) 365Sports, the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) Sports, the Arizona Republic, and the Gallup Independent Sports. These sports awards and recognitions were meant with excellent award-winning sports journalism reviews. As a sports editor for over 30 years at the Navajo Times newspaper, he established the Navajo Times All-Area Athletic Sports Teams, established the Arizona vs New Mexico Basketball Classic, founder of the Navajo Nation Sports Hall of Fame, founder of the Native American Basketball Invitation (NABI) for Youth, and founder of the Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Native American Day for 10 consecutive years. He also recognized many athletes in the professional rodeo arena with the Indian National Finals Rodeo (NIFR), and the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) Association, and locally with the All-Indian Rodeo Cowboy Association (AIRCA), the Navajo Nation Cowboy Association (NNRCA). Oree Foster died on 3/1/2023 and will be missed.

< Back Analyss Benally Analyss Benally Navajo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Analyss Benally was born and raised on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. Her parents are Brian and Vikki Benally. She has one sibling, Patience Benally. Benally attended Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kansas. During her time at Wichita Heights HS, she was a four-year varsity player and scored over 1,000 points in her high school career. Analyss was named three-time Wichita Eagle All-City League, three-time Wichita Eagle All-Class 5A, Sports in Kansas Class 5A Honoree and 2016 Navajo Times All-Star. When it came time to choose a college Analyss chose NCAA Division I San Jose State University (SJSU). At SJSU she became one of the top three point shooters in the Mountain West Conference. She set the SJSU sophomore three point field goals made in a season record. She scored a career high 31 points against San Diego State University. Despite missing numerous games due to injuries in her freshman and senior years, she finished in the top ten in school history with three point field goals made, three point field goal percentage, and three point field goal attempts. Analyss graduated from San Jose State University in 2021. Analyss played professionally in Europe since 2021. Her rookie year team was in Romania with CSM Alexandria. She moved the following year to play in Albania with Flamurtari winning the Albanian-Kosovo Liga United Cup, Albanian Super Cup, Albanian Cup, and was Albanian League Champions. She was named Eurobasket.com All-Albanian League and Eurobasket.com All-Liga Unike for the season. Her next team was Bashkimi in Kosovo. She went on to win the Kosovo Cup, Albanian-Kosovo Liga United Cup. Her team were Kosovo League Regular Season Champions, Kosovo League Champions, Liga Unike Regular Season Champions. During the off season, Analyss resides in New Mexico where she hosts free basketball camps and participates in speaking engagements to tell her story in hopes of inspiring, encouraging and uplifting native youth to never stop working toward their dreams. Additionally, Analyss made her acting debut in the 2024 Netflix movie Rez Ball directed by Sydney Freeland and produced by LeBron James. <Back

James Lavallée Category Athlete Tribe Métis Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 10/6/1997 Born and raised in Winnipeg, James is a proud Métis who grew up paddling on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. James has represented Canada internationally at various kayak competitions including the 2014 and 2015 Canoe Sprint Junior World Championships. In 2016, James was named to Canada’s national canoe-kayak team. In 2017, James proudly wore his Métis sash on the podium after winning three medals for Team Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. In October 2017, he received the national Tom Longboat Award presented to the top Indigenous male and female athletes of the year. In 2019 James was presented with an Indspire award in the category of Métis youth. In the summer of 2020 James co-founded Waterways Recreation with the mission of supporting community wellness by using canoeing and outdoor recreation to connect Indigenous youth to cultural skills and identities. To date, Waterways has provided thousands of Indigenous youths with the opportunity to connect with their cultures through community led canoeing summer camps and paddling programs. When he is not out on the water sharing his passion for paddling James studies at Concordia University where he plans to major in management and minor in political science Home 2025 Banquet 2025 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Clay Mayes III Clay Mayes III Chickasaw & Cherokee Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2023 Clay Mayes was the head cross country and track coach at Bacone College (BC), University of Antelope Valley (UAV), and coached a group of cross country and track student-athletes in Oklahoma. Between 2011 and 2019, Mayes guided his student-athletes to five NAIA National Titles including 2017 5000m and 10,000m titles at the NAIA Outdoor Track Nationals, 2016 and 2017 Mile titles at the NAIA Indoor Track Nationals, and the 2016 Cross Country title at the NAIA Cross Country Nationals. While at BC and the UAV, Mayes recruited nearly 30 cross country and track student-athletes the first year for each program while representing 20+ tribes. His athletes at BC and UAV went on to obtain three Top 20 Team National Finishes and one Top 10 Team National finish at the NAIA Cross Country Nationals, while obtaining BC’s first and only Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) title with a win at the 2016 SAC Cross Country Team Championship and a win over two-time defending national team champion Oklahoma City University. Mayes’s athletes acquired 21 All-American honors for both cross country and track. Mayes was named SAC Coach of the year, and Midwest Coach of the year while coaching at Bacone College. As a high school coach, Mayes had 27 State Champions for cross country and track. Most notable honors include Arya Bahrein’s 5k Cross Country State Meet Course Record, Ben Barrett setting Oklahoma’s Mile State Record, being a two time-Footlocker National finalist, having a 14.51 5k and setting Oklahoma’s 3200m state record in 8.57. Following Ben’s records one year later, Zach Black (Cherokee) eclipsed Ben’s Mile State record with a 4.09. A Claremore, Oklahoma native, Mayes graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2011 with a degree in Psychology. Mayes was a high school All-American honored runner with a sixth place finish at the Nike Outdoor Track Nationals 5000m in 15.11. As a college cross country and track athlete, Mayes competed for Oklahoma State University and University of Oklahoma, and was a scorer on the 2009’s 12th-place finishing team at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, had a 14.16 5000m personal best, and was named Big 12 All-Conference for the 10,000m. <Back

< Back J.R. Conrad J.R. Conrad Eastern Shawnee Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 J.R. Conrad was born and raised in Northeast Oklahoma, and he is an Eastern Shawnee Tribal Member. J.R. grew up in Indian housing with his mom’s side of the family all living under the same roof for much of his childhood. Once he got to high school, he figured out football could pay for school and it could change the trajectory of his life, and future generations of his family. J.R. became an All-State player, a Gatorade Player of the Year for Oklahoma, and a Gatorade Player of the Year for the Southwest US. He went on to play football at the University of Oklahoma, and was the first true freshman to ever start at center in school history. He was a USA Today All American, started in over 40 games, and was a 4-year starter. Played in bowl games, and the Blue Grey All Star Game, got invited to the combine. He was drafted by the New England Patriots and was a part of Super Bowl 31 team, played for Bill Parcells, followed him to the New York Jets, and later spent a short time with the Dallas Cowboys. J.R. has been married to his wife Keisha for 24 years, and they have four children: Hayden, Hudson, Henley, and Holden. <Back

< Back Glenn Styres Glenn Styres Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Glenn Styres started building Ohsweken Speedway in his front yard, a track that has become a top dirt racing destination in Canada. Whether he was building his own Field of Dreams, sponsoring teams from around the world, or as a driver himself, Styres has been a racing industry leader for 30 years. Styres success has been validated internationally by being voted the North American Sprint Car Promoter of the Year eight times. Behind the wheel he was a multi-time champion at his home track, the Ohsweken Speedway and on tour winning the Southern Ontario Sprints Tour Championship multiple times. In recent years Styres has supported international stars like Kyle Larson’s dirt sprint car program as well as being a major sponsor and team owner in the Chili Bowl Nationals and World of Outlaws, including competing himself. Styres is also a role model in the Indigenous community and has a TV series airing on APTN, called Friday Night Thunder, and it takes viewers inside the Ohsweken Speedway. <Back

< Back Jesse Frankson Jesse Frankson Inupiaq Eskimo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Jesse Frankson started training for the Inuit Games in 1997. He competed in the Native Youth Olympics (NYO) State competition for the one foot high kick and tied the state record as a senior in high school. He then started coaching NYO high school athletes for three years. He was selected for Team Alaska in 2002 and 2004 for the Arctic Winter Games, which is held Bi-annually in various parts of the world, where he set records for the Alaskan High Kick and the One Foot high Kick. Jesse went on to compete at the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in 2005 and 2006 with several games, four of which he set records in. The One Foot High Kick, Alaskan High Kick, Kneel Jump and the One Arm Reach, all of which he held at one time, something that to his knowledge, has never been done before or since. He also competed and won in the Two Foot High Kick, Scissor Broad Jump and Stick Pull. Jesse was one of a few athletes featured in Jonathan Stanton’s documentary Games of the North, also Guinness World Records which was featured on Fox in 2001, where he set the world record for the Highest Martial Arts Kick at 9’8”, in a televised competition against Martial Artist Michael Blanks. Jesse was born in Kotzebue, Alaska and raised in Point Hope, Alaska. His wife Krystle Frankson and he have six children. His parents are Theodore Frankson Jr. and Kristi Frankson. <Back