Heritage a point of pride for Chris Wondolowski

By Fred Dreier, Special to USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Major League Soccer's off-season brought a handful of highs for Chris Wondolowski.

In November, the San Jose Earthquakes forward was named the league's Most Valuable Player after tying the league record for most goals (27) in a season. In February, Wondolowski saw his salary double to $600,000, and he earned the coveted "designated player" classification — a salary cap rule that is traditionally reserved for top foreign players such as Robbie Keane or Thierry Henry.

Last week, MLS commissioner Don Garber even tipped his hat to Wondolowski in his annual pre-season address.

"We're excited about Chris," Garber said. "Will he be able to continue and hopefully make another run at the scoring title?"

Wondolowski's other off-season achievement centered on a trip to Washington to meet Senators Tim Johnson (D – South Dakota) and Daniel Akaka (D – Hawaii) as an ambassador with Nike's N7 program, which aims to bring sports to Native American communities. Although Wondolowski grew up in Danville, Calif., he traces his bloodline to Oklahoma's Kiowa tribe via his mother, Janis Hoyt.

Wondolowski said he fondly remembers attending Powwows in Oklahoma alongside his grandparents, eating traditional Kiowa fried breads and learning about his heritage. He displays a tattoo across his chest displaying his Kiowa name, "Bau Daigh," which translates to "Warrior coming over the hill."

He said his Native American heritage hasn't always defined his identity, but said it plays a large part.

"I didn't go around wearing a nametag that said 'Hi, I'm Native American,' but if it ever came up, I've always been very proud to talk about it," Wondolowski said. "It's part of my history and my culture."

The Native American news media has taken notice. Soccer has traditionally lived in the shadows of baseball, track and field, and boxing amongst fans and youth participants on reservations. The sports news website NDNsports.com followed Wondolowski's hunt for the MLS scoring record with regular news stories. Another news site, the Indian Country Media Network, named Wondolowski the world's best Native American athlete for his various scoring achievements since 2010.

Wondolowski is now mentioned alongside other professional sports stars with Native American roots, such as Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain, Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and golfer Notah Begay III.

Wondolowski, however said he's reluctant to become a focal figure of Native American sports. He said he would continue working with Nike's N7 program, which advocates sports for tribes in the United States and Canada.

"As of right now I have no aspirations to be the face of anything, or to be completely associated with anything like that," Wondolowski said. "I just want to help [Native American] youth as much as I can."

Joseph Oxendine, former president of Catawba College, and author of American Indian Sports Heritage, said young Native Americans will gravitate toward Wondolowski whether he's ready to be an American Indian star or not.

"We haven't had as many [sports stars] as we'd like because reservation Indians do not have opportunities to participate and grow and develop," Oxendine said. "They need heroes they can identify with, and there are a sparse number of American Indians who are doing that."

Sitting atop the list of Native American sports heroes are decathlete Jim Thorpe and distance runner Billy Mills, both of whom won Olympic gold medals. Thorpe also had impressive careers in professional baseball and football before his death in 1953. Oxendine, himself a member of the Lumbee tribe, said Mills' experience promoting Native American causes after his career helped him solidify a spot in Native American history.

"It requires the follow-up," Oxendine said. "Billy didn't just win in '64, come home and celebrate and then go away."

Now 74, Mills promotes running to children on Native American reservations. He said that like Wondolowski, he was reluctant to be a champion to the Native American community, because he wasn't sure if it would fully embrace him. Like Wondolowski, Mills is of mixed ancestry.

"In white society, I was the Indian guy, but in some segments of the Native American world, I was not Lakota, I was the mixed-blood," Mills said. "I had to find my own way."

Mills said he had followed Wondolowski's rise in soccer, and said his presence could help the sport flourish with Native American youth. Mills said Wondolowski's future involvement with Native American groups, however, depends on how his internal relationship with his heritage evolves.

"He has to find an area where he has passion, and then focus on that, and health issues is a good place to start," Mills said. "If he gives back, it has to be his own journey."