Draft:Walter Wetzel Sr.

Walter "Blackie" Wetzel Sr. Siksanum(Blackfeet Man) b. 1915 d. 2003.. was the President of the National Congress of American Indians from 1960 to 1964.

Early life
Born on the Blackfeet Indian reservation on June 27th, 1915, Wetzel faced hardship at a very young age. At age 5, he was taken off the reservation and placed in a boarding school in Kansas. When he was 11 years old, Walter would sneak on a train and ride it back home to the reservation in Montana.

Blackie would become a stellar athlete both in Cut Bank and Shelby Montana, where he flourished in basketball, boxing, baseball, football and track. He would eventually sign a scholarship with the University of Montana and become a three sport athlete(football, track, boxing).

Political career
After college, Blackie would become a member of the military. He would then begin his journey in the political world, first, becoming the chairman of the Blackfeet Nation located in Montana in the 1950's By the late 1950's, Blackie would run for President of the National Congress of American Indians, becoming the first Blackfeet Tribal member to win. He held the seat from 1960 to 1964.

He would become a national figure, creating policies that advocated for Native American communities throughout the United States. Both President's John F. Kennedy and Lynden Johnson supported Wetzel's political stance. His continued efforts for Native American communities received support from Senator Robert Kennedy, Mike Mansfield and Lee Metcalf.

NFL logo
In 1971, Wetzel approached the NFL football team formerly known as the Washington Redskins to see about the organization changing the R logo on the helmet to a Native American profile that he had in his collection. In 1972, the team changed their logo to the profile that Wetzel introduced. The team would use the image for nearly 50 years

Acting career
Wetzel was in the movie Greyeagle, playing the role of the medicine man, acting along side friend Iron Eyes Cody