Chief Justice

Four hundred years ago, middle America was populated by a group of native tribes known as the Illini.

They were among history's first underdogs -- hunters and farmers outmanned by war, disease and displacement.

There were once 12,000 Illini in the area.

Today there are none.

That is, if you don't count the guy who entertains the University of Illinois sports crowds by pretending to be a whooping Illini chief, dressing like a caricature and dancing like a fool.

He's historically inaccurate. He's morally questionable.

He's also, finally, thankfully, endangered.

Making a rare move that actually reeks of education, the NCAA on Friday banned from its postseason tournaments the use of 18 Native American nicknames and mascots it considers abusive.

The University of Illinois is on that list. That means if it makes it to basketball's Final Four again, the words "Illini" and "Fighting Illini" will have to be as invisible as the culture they diminish.

Florida State is also on that list. So if it returns to baseball's College World Series, it will be without a flaming shred of "Seminole."

Then there is Southeastern Oklahoma State, which ... well, considering its nickname is the "Savages," one can only hope they disband the athletic program entirely.

"It's about time," said Joseph Red Cloud, an administrative assistant with the influential Oglala Sioux tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D. "These names have always meant something different to Indians and non-Indians. They say they are honoring us. But many of us don't find it honorable."

To many sports fans, Native American nicknames are inspiration.

To many Native Americans, they are infuriating.

To many sports fans, the "Fighting Illini" is symbolic of their Midwestern spirit.

To which Native Americans ask, um, fellas, why do you think the original Illini were fighting in the first place?

Many feel that allowing Native Americans to force nickname changes is as silly as allowing folks from Ireland to mess with Notre Dame.

Yet few of those critics are from a culture that has been stolen, hidden and now demeaned.

In other words, Notre Dame fans, leprechauns weren't real people.

"These names and images have a damaging effect on Native Americans because it freezes us in our past, it distills our humanity to a one-dimensional term," said Joseph Gone, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who once fought for the elimination of mascot Chief Illiniwek when he was a student at Illinois.