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Former Washington Football Team logo could be repurposed for indigenous peoples organization
While you may see fans at FedEx Field wearing the old Washington Football Team logo, the profile of a Native American, you won’t see it anywhere on helmets, jerseys or the field. That's why Donald A. Wetzel, Sr. said his family wants it back.
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - While you may see fans at FedEx Field wearing the old Washington Football Team logo, the profile of a Native American, you won’t see it anywhere on helmets, jerseys or the field.
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That's why Donald A. Wetzel, Sr. said his family wants it back.
"A peaceful ceremony may be a good way to do it, to hand it from them to us," he told FOX 5 Thursday.
According to Wetzel, his father, Walter "Blackie" Wetzel, gave the logo to former team owner Jack Kent Cooke. Now he’d like to repurpose it as the face of the Blackie Wetzel Warrior Society, which would raise awareness for several issues, including missing and murdered indigenous women.
"To let people know that this can’t happen anymore and that the missing and murdered Indigenous women are not forgotten," said Wetzel’s business partner, Marie Schell.
They have at least one high-profile supporter — Wetzel and Schell met with Montana Sen. Steve Daines last month.
Daines’ office told FOX 5, "the Senator is dedicated to helping the family in their mission to return the logo."
A Washington Football Team spokesperson confirmed that representatives of their legal and public affairs teams also met with Wetzel and Schell last month, adding that they’ll continue speaking with the family "in an effort to understand how they can honor the history of the logo and understand the Wetzel family’s role so they can acknowledge it as appropriate."
"The nine days we spent in D.C. were very important to us because it showed that we kind of meant business," Wetzel said.
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When asked if the Washington Football Team was really considering giving the right to the logo to Wetzel, the spokesperson said that’s part of the process the team will continue to work through.