Former Washington QB-turned-prostate drug pitchman Joe Theismann appeared at a youth football clinic in Sioux Falls, SD Friday, and under the intense scrutiny of the Argus Leader’s Matt Zimmer, fielded a question about the controversy surrounding his former club’s nickname.
“I can tell you that when I was at the children’s hospital this morning, there was a young Native American boy there with his parents. His grandmother wanted a picture with me, and his father took the picture. And as I shook his hand the father said to me ‘You’re a Redskin,’ and he said it in a very complimentary way, which was very humbling to me.
“I was very proud to play for the Washington Redskins, and I did it to honor Native people in that regard. I think sometimes people perceive words in their own particular way. What happens, what Mr. Snyder (Dan Snyder, Washington’s owner) decides to do is totally up to him. I can just tell you that when I put that uniform on, and I put that helmet on with the Redskin logo on it, I felt like I was representing more than the Washington Redskins, I was representing the great Native American nations that exist in this country.”