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Two University of North Dakota hockey
fans and former English majors are using wordplay to try to find
some humor in the pending retirement of the university's Fighting
Sioux nickname.


      The university has said it will to stop using the Fighting Sioux
nickname and logo by April. It made the decision after the NCAA
placed it on a list of schools with what the association deemed
hostile and abusive American Indian nicknames.


      Steve Ekman, an alumnus from Grafton, said he believes the only
way to save the name is to change the reference. To do that, he and
fellow fan Hans Halvorson started an effort known as Save Our
Suhaki. Their mission, as stated on www.suhaki.com, is to prevent
the extinction of the suhaki, an antelope that lives in areas of
Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.


      Their ulterior motive is noted in an editor's note on the
website: "Suhaki is often times mistaken for a
legendary collegiate ice hockey team located at the Ralph Engelstad
Arena, Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States of America."


      "It's all basically in good fun," said Ekman, a lawyer who
first became interested in the "whole legal wrangling"
surrounding the issue.


      Halvorson, who's also from Grafton, said his feelings about the
name change are a bit "more fiery" than Ekman's.


      "I'm just extremely disappointed," he said. "There's hundreds
of thousands of people who are just very loyal, but to some degree
we're all Minnesota nice and the very most anybody has ever done is
write a letter to the editor. To me that's not enough.


      "We are the only organization that people can associate with to
deliver a peaceful and poignant protest against the politically
correct NCAA."


      NCAA officials did not return a phone message seeking comment.


      The tongue-in-cheek protest has the support of several former
UND hockey players, including current New Jersey Devils and U.S.
Olympic star Zach Parise, who asks fans in a "public service
announcement" posted on the website to join the Suhaki crusade and
"do it for the kids."


      State legislators are considering a couple of bills that would
require UND to keep the logo, but Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem,
who considers himself a staunch Fighting Sioux supporter, said the
legislation would likely violate the state constitution.


      School officials have said they're in no hurry to find a new
nickname and will likely go at least a year without one.


      UND spokesman Peter Johnson chuckled when asked about the Suhaki
effort.


      "As an institution that teaches entrepreneurship, we appreciate
the creativity," Johnson said. "Beyond that there isn't much we
can say."


      The Suhaki website went live in November, after 124 people
submitted designs in a logo contest. The winning design was a
caricature of a broad-shouldered antelope adorned in hockey garb
and poised to take off the gloves.


      The site features videos with Parise and 1980 Olympic gold medal
winner Dave Christian, a former UND player who says in a mock
interview that he wishes he was appearing under better
circumstances.


      "I know this Suhaki situation has us all very concerned,"
Christian deadpans.


      The site's "Suhaki survival kit" features an assortment of
T-shirts, jerseys and caps, some of which have been spotted at UND
hockey games. Several visitors to the website have suggested UND
adopt the Suhaki logo. That's not the purpose, Halvorson said.


      "We don't know a lot about Sioux football. We don't know a lot
about Sioux basketball," he said. "All we know for sure is that
we love Sioux hockey. Or should I say Suhaki?"
      
      

Gallery

Bill would require UND to keep Fighting Sioux nickname

NCAA approves of UND plan to retire nickname, logo

Sports

Dave Kolpack, The Associated Press

Author

Two University of North Dakota hockey
fans and former English majors are using wordplay to try to find
some humor in the pending retirement of the university's Fighting
Sioux nickname.


UND fans use wordplay to protest logo retirement

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