Native Americans are about as common on college football rosters as women.

That’s an exaggeration, of course, but not far from the truth.

Retired football coach Herman Boone of Alexandria, Va., works with the West team for the Native American High School All-America game. Teams practiced Tuesday at Haskell Indian Nations University for Saturday night's game.

“Less than two percent it’s 1.88 are playing football at the NCAA, NAIA and junior college level,” Jeff Bigger said Tuesday.

Thus Bigger, who lives in Tulsa and runs Okscouting Inc., organized the first Native American High School All-America football game. It’s scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Haskell Stadium.

“Two years ago I was sitting with some coaches and the subject of Native American athletes came up,” Bigger said during Tuesday’s practice sessions on the Haskell Indian Nations University campus. “This idea came up to give them exposure and I made a commitment to organize it.”

Most Native American football players come from rural areas or from reservations so they go to smaller schools where they are mostly overlooked by college scouts.

On Saturday, more than five dozen Native American football players who just graduated from high school will have an opportunity to show what they can do. Moreover, Bigger will hold a combine for the participants on Saturday morning, then put that information on his Web site for college coaches to peruse.

It’s an all-expenses paid trip for the invitees who were asked only to sell as many all-star game tickets as they could. Tickets cost $5 and will be on sale at the stadium on Saturday.

“This is not about money. This is about exposure,” Bigger said. “We have some sponsors. We have Gatorade and Ozarka water all over our locker room and the National Football League Players Association has helped. But we’re not going to make money.”

As of Tuesday evening, about 90 percent of the participants had arrived on the HINU campus. The others were scheduled to reach Lawrence either Tuesday night or this morning. Bigger is expecting 64 players from 13 states with the bulk coming from Oklahoma, Montana and Arizona.

Two legendary former high school coaches will be in charge of each team. Carl Madison of Pensacola, Fla., will coach the East and Herman Boone of Alexandria, Va., will coach the West.

Bigger discovered something Tuesday when both teams were practicing on the same field south of Haskell Stadium.

“Both the coaches are very competitive and they didn’t want to practice on the same field,” Bigger said, “so we moved one of the teams down on the grass by the cemetery.”

Practices will continue through Friday afternoon. An awards dinner is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Stidham Union on the HINU campus.