Sequoyah Stonecipher's Diary, August 3, 2006. My name and my heritage.
- Sequoyah Stonecipher’s Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic Diary
- August 3, 2006
Everyday I have people ask me about my unusual name. I think it’s a cool name.
My full name might give you a better idea of my heritage – Sequoyah Trueblood Stonecipher. My mother, Ann Stonecipher, is one-quarter Choctaw Indian, a tribe in Oklahoma. That makes me one-eighth Choctaw, and I’m very proud of the bloodlines.
Stonecipher also has an Indian sound to it, but my father, Bill, is German. He guesses that the name’s spelling was changed when his forefathers came to America from Germany.
My mother named me for my great grandfather – Sequoyah Evonne Trueblood. He was a Choctaw and Chickashee Indian in Oklahoma, where my mom lived until she moved to San Diego with her family.
Sequoyah is actually a recognized and historic name in Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas. In the 1800s, Sequoyah was an influential Cherokee Indian who developed the tribe’s first written language.
My mom says that after she and my dad named my older brother William Benjamin Stonecipher III, she thought about naming their next child for her Indian heritage. She always loved the name Sequoyah Trueblood, but she feared Sequoyah Trueblood Stonecipher was too many letters.
When I was born, though, she received a phone call from one of her cousins in Oklahoma. She was reminded that my birthday, Nov. 16, was the same date as a great uncle also named Sequoyah Evonne Trueblood. That made up her mind, and I’m glad my parents gave me the name.
I’m very proud of my Indian heritage. When I was younger, my brother and I learned a lot about our heritage from my grandfather. He taught us how to make medicine bags and we would make drawings. My mom also used to take us to powwows on Barona land.
Baseball takes up most of my time now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost interest in my Indian heritage.
Jim Thorpe, of course, is the most famous Indian athlete. He played in the Major Leagues, although he’s best known as an Olympic decathlon champion and football player with the Carlisle Indians.
I’ve been told that the higher my baseball career progresses, the more I’ll be asked about American sports teams using Indians as mascots such as the Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves in baseball or the Washington Redskins in football.
My mother says her father never expressed strong feelings on the subject, so my family doesn’t feel demeaned by the use of Indian mascots. But they also don’t feel any special pride such as the Seminole Indians have stated in defense of Florida State University using the Seminoles as their mascot.
I hope someday I’m asked a lot of questions about Indian mascots, because that will mean I made it to the Major Leagues and people will want to hear what I say. But I still have long way to go before I can think about my dream of playing Major League baseball.
Right now the only thing on my mind is the Area Code Games Aug. 5-10 at USC and then the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic at noon Aug. 12 at San Diego State’s Tony Gwynn Stadium.
