SPOKANE, Wash. – For the second time in program history, Gonzaga women's basketball and Nike N7 are partnering in celebration of Native American Heritage Month. During the women's basketball game on Nov. 17 against Wyoming, the Zags will wear customized turquoise uniforms created by Nike. The turquoise color is symbolic of friendship and fellowship in Native American cultures.
Led by Sam McCracken (Fort Peck Sioux), N7 represents Nike's long-time commitment and mission to inspire and enable two million Native American and Aboriginal youth in North America to participate in sport and physical activity. All teams who partner with N7 wear turquoise uniforms during N7 games.
With four Native American tribes in the Spokane area, and 29 in the state of Washington, GU and Nike N7 are teaming up to leverage basketball as a way of showing Native American youth that physical activity can have a profound effect on future generations. The N7 philosophy is inspired by Native American wisdom of the Seven Generations: In every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the seventh generation.
The partnership between Gonzaga and Nike N7 illustrates one aspect of campus engagement with Indigenous communities. Through GU's College of Arts and Sciences, undergraduate students can earn a minor in Native American Studies. This program was designed to foster a deeper understanding of ancestral and contemporary Native American communities on the Columbia Plateau as well as to reinforce Gonzaga's intellectual and spiritual connection to this homeland.
THE HISTORY OF N7
What began as an effort to better represent and support the Indigenous community through the power of sport has transformed over the last 20+ years into a company-wide strategy to champion inclusivity on a larger scale. And it all started with Sam McCracken, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, and Founder and General Manager of Nike N7.
In 2000, Sam had the idea to sell Nike products directly to Native American tribes to support health promotion and disease prevention programs. Inspired by the Native American wisdom of the Seven Generations, which teaches that "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations," the goal of the program, now called N7, was to bring sport — and all the benefits that come with it — to the community, with an understanding that each generation of athletes we cultivate inspires the next.
Seven years later, the Nike design team collaborated with various community experts and tribal leaders to create footwear specifically for the Native American and Indigenous community, called Nike Air Native N7. In 2009, the N7 Collection and the N7 Fund were born. In 2010, Nike co-hosted the first N7 Sport Summit with the Native Wellness Institute to inspire, empower and connect Native American and Indigenous leaders and community members across North America to improve access to play and sport for all kids in their communities.
