A Unique Sound (fwd)

Tue May 23 12:53:14 UTC 2006

A Unique Sound

[Photo credit: Amanda Stone
Sequoyah Indians girls basketball coach Bill Nobles]

[Download
Listen to clips from the game (2:00)
Need an mp3 player? Get Quicktime]

By Amanda Stone

TAHLEQUAH, Okla.—“Sequoyah Indian girls won.”

Radio host Dennis Sixkiller spoke these words after the Tahlequah
Sequoyah girls won their second consecutive Oklahoma state high school
basketball championship. Listeners heard those words in Cherokee.

["Sequoyah Indian Girls Won" as written in the Cherokee syllabary.]

Among broadcasters airing the state games, Sixkiller and partner David
Scott were the only ones in Oklahoma using the tribe’s native language.

“We enjoy doing it in Cherokee, and I’m glad we’re able to,” Sixkiller
said. “We get all kinds of responses.”

In winning the 3A Oklahoma state championship, Sequoyah defeated
Verdigris High School of Claremore, 60-45, before a crowd estimated at
more than 5,000.

The Sequoyah game aired on Cherokee Voices and Cherokee Sounds, a radio
program sponsored by the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation. It airs on stations
at 101.7 FM and 1350 AM and carries community stories, sports and
Cherokee music.

[Photo credit: Amanda Stone
Oklahoma girls 3A state basketball championship trophy is on display at
Sequoyah High School.]

Sixkiller said both stations carried the games. The FM station broadcast
in English and the AM station in Cherokee, he said.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Gina Stanley, superintendent of Sequoyah
High School. “I don’t miss a game, but once they make it that far,
there are a lot of others out there listening and taking advantage of
it.”

Although unsure how many listeners tuned in for the games, Sixkiller
said many people in the Tahlequah area told him that they enjoyed the
broadcasts.

“About a month before the games, we had people wanting to know if we
were going to do it again,” Sixkiller said. “People really like it.
Some people in Jay drove around a parking lot until they could hear
it.”

The Sequoyah basketball program has a good fan following, said Bill
Nobles, the girls’ basketball coach. Buses made the two-and-a-half hour
trip to Oklahoma City for the games, and school was dismissed so the
355-member student body could attend. The radio station sufficed for
students and other fans who could not support the team in person, he
said.

“It’s great there are so many Cherokee speakers around,” Nobles said.
“This is very much a community and family-based program. There’s a lot
more speakers than people realize.”

Amanda Stone, Cherokee, attends Northeastern State University in
Tahlequah, Okla. She is a 2004 graduate of the Freedom Forum's American
Indian Journalism Institute.

Article Link: http://www.reznetnews.org/news/060505_cherokee/