What started as a class project might become an annual event at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Bobbi Rahder’s tribal museum management class was to produce an exhibit. Things changed when Rahder, archivist/curator at the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum, talked to Mike Tosee about a ceremony he organized last fall that honored several former Haskell athletes.

Brent Cahwee, Web master at Haskell and ndnsports.com, helped Rahder’s class research the athletes. The exhibit received positive responses and has drawn approximately 1,000 people through mid-February. The exhibit will be on display through May 15.

“It’s been neat to expose the students to Native American athletes,” Cahwee said.

Tosee, American Indian studies instructor at Haskell, created a video highlighting various American Indian athletes and their accomplishments. The video was played at the fall ceremony.

The exhibit at Tommaney Hall library displays photos and statistics of current and former Native American athletes in professional sports or at Haskell, as well as upcoming American Indian athletes from high schools across the nation.

The section displaying past athletes at Haskell has articles on people such as Oklahoma City University basketball coach Abe Lemons, who had an entire panel devoted to him.

Current athletes shown in the exhibit include major league pitcher Sebastian “Beau” Kemp and Indianapolis 500 racer Cory Witherill.

Rahder and Tosee thought the idea of displaying the exhibit through the school year would inspire Haskell’s students.

Anna Scarcia, a senior at Haskell, was a student in Rahder’s class and worked on the former athletes’ panels of the exhibit. Scarcia obtained photos and articles of the former athletes from the cultural center at Haskell and from athletes’ families. Scarcia also worked on panels of the athletes honored at Tosee’s ceremony for the exhibit.

Scarcia said she enjoyed seeing everything come together, seeing people’s reactions to the exhibit and enjoyed meeting the former athletes.

“It’s a long time overdue, as far as having someone to look up to,” Scarcia said. “They don’t get a lot of exposure, but there are a lot of talented Native American athletes out there.”