Native American trio embraces heritage
STILLWATER — Scrolling through his social media feeds recently, Lindy Waters III stopped to watch a video with a theme that resonated.
Be who you needed when you were younger.
Waters, of Cherokee and Kiowa heritage, grew up with few Native Americans to idolize in sports. For that reason, Waters, a Norman native on the Oklahoma State basketball team, strives to be that idol for others.
“When I was younger, I really didn't have anybody to look up to besides my dad, and I know there's little kids out
there that are in the same situation,” Waters told The Oklahoman. “I want to be the person they look up to.”
Waters, who ranks first nationally in free-throw percentage and third in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage, won't be alone in that effort when OSU plays at Texas Tech on Wednesday. Of the five walk-ons the Cowboys have added to their roster since mid-January, two are Native American. In Waters, Gabe Simpson and J.K. Hadlock, OSU has more Native American players on its roster than any Division I basketball conference had last season. A year ago, Waters was one of only two in the Big 12 and 14 in Division I, per data the NCAA released in December.
Simpson, a Cherokee Nation citizen from Jay, is also a walk-on member of the Cowboy football team. He and his teammates regularly played pickup basketball, and when OSU announced it was holding walk-on tryouts the day after coach Mike Boynton dismissed three players, Simpson's teammates urged him to go for it.
Simpson ended up being the only football player at the tryout, and because he was already cleared through athletic compliance, he was the first walk-on out of the tryout added to the Cowboys' roster.
After doing a class project on Jim Thorpe, Simpson grew up admiring the legendary multi-sport athlete, who was born in what eventually was Oklahoma and became the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. Now, Simpson is a collegiate dual-sport athlete himself.
“Whenever he did everything, I thought I might as well try, too,” Simpson said.
An Osage Nation citizen from Fairfax, Hadlock is the most recent addition to OSU's roster, in uniform for the first time in Saturday's loss to Kansas State. A former righthanded pitcher at Northern Oklahoma College-Enid and Cowley College, Hadlock's baseball aspirations ended with a torn labrum, but in coming to OSU, he found a perfect fit.
Hadlock is a big fan of the Cowboys' turquoise Nike N7 jerseys that celebrate Native American culture; Waters has regularly served as the team's model for the look.
“I just pictured myself in those,” Hadlock said. “Now, it's kind of reality.
"Oklahoma State, how they honor it, I think that's really good. Being Native American, it just means a lot. It shows we're not really overlooked.”
This summer, the American Indian Exposition named Waters “Indian of the Year.” His summer also included several clinics with Native American youth, camps that he said were important because the children could see “I'm real,” rather than only on TV and in pictures.
It's part of Waters giving back to a culture with an importance that's continually growing to him. Having Hadlock and Simpson as teammates helps spread the message.
“Them being able to join us, join me especially — there's people out there that are able to compete at this level,” Waters said. “It means everything.”