Chief Caddo

Chief Caddo is the name of the statue formerly given to the winner of the annual football game between Southland Conference members Northwestern State University (NSU) of Natchitoches, Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) of Nacogdoches, Texas. Northwestern State University stopped participating in the exchange in 2021 after a Student Government Association and Faculty Senate joint resolution recognizing that Caddo Nation officials stated the statue was offensive, acknowledging the statue was inauthentic, and calling for the end to the practice.

Made of solid wood, Chief Caddo was one of the largest trophies in college football, standing and weighing in excess of .

History

The idea of the statue was created in 1960 when longtime rivals NSU and SFA decided to award the winner of the game a trophy. The two schools settled on a wooden statue (both schools are located in heavily forested areas) supposedly representing an American Indian "chief" who, in European-American folklore originating in the 1930s, was responsible for settling the locations that became the cities in which university was located (both of which are named for branches of the tribe). Under the agreement, based on the results of the 1961 football game, the losing school would chop down a tree from one of its nearby forests, while the winning school would receive the log and carve the statue from it.

NSU won the 1961 game 35–19; thus, SFA delivered a 2,000-pound black gum log to NSU. Woodcarver Harold Green spent some 230 hours fashioning the statue. It was named "Chief Caddo," supposedly after the Native nation that first settled the two communities.

In June 2010, after years of transportation to and from games had left "Chief Caddo" in poor condition, the trophy was given a much-needed refurbishing. The project, headed by Bill Flynn (Flynn Paint & Decorating of Nacogdoches), undertook the restoration of the trophy. Among the many restorations to the trophy were: the repairing of the base, the construction and replacement of feathers in the headdress, the restaining and repainting of the entire trophy, and intricate detailing.

NSU and SFA played for this trophy from 1961 to 2019.

In 2024, NSU and SFA announced that with SFA's return to the Southland Conference, the rivalry would continue but with a new trophy. "The Chief" has " the same 7-foot-6, 320-pound dimensions as the original, commissioned by both universities in 1960. It is topped with a pitchfork on one end and an axe on the other, with scores from past games adorning the length of the trophy. The winning team will display the trophy with its representative logo facing upward." Both schools engaged in conversations with the Caddo Nation regarding plans to add a piece designed by the nation to the trophy https://sfajacks.com/news/2024/9/30/football-sfa-and-northwestern-state-announce-new-rivarly-trophy

Currently, the statue resides at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Game results

See also

* List of NCAA college football rivalry games

References

{{Southland Conference football rivalry navbox

Northwestern State Demons football
Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football
College football rivalry trophies in the United States
Caddo