The Chief is going into semi-retirement.
Chief Wahoo, the longtime Cleveland Indians logo is going into semi-retirement after the 2018 season. The logo has been used less and less recently. Since 2009, baseball fans in Arizona have not seen the logo during spring training out of respect to the state’s Native American population. The TOPPS trading card company announced last July that it was dropping both Chief Wahoo and the Atlanta Braves screaming Indian or savage logos from new cards the company was printing including reissues of old baseball cards. Chief Wahoo merchandise will remain available in Cleveland as the team is not giving up various Chief Wahoo trademarks. The Indians name is remaining. The Indians ownership has caught up to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
In August 2005, the NCAA decided that 19 schools had names or mascots that were “hostile or abusive” and that the offensive names, logos and mascots had to be gone by February 1, 2006 or the schools would face sanctions which included not being able to host post season championship events in all sports and the barring of the use of the team name and logo during post season tournaments. Additionally colleges could choose to not schedule games against schools with names, logos and mascots deemed offensive to Native Americans. The schools were given a choice change the name and the associated logos or go to local Native American or Indian tribes and get approval to continue using names and logos and mascots. The University of North Dakota dropped its Fighting Sioux name and logo in 2012 after failing to get local tribes to approve the name. The university settled on Fighting Hawks as a replacement. Florida State’s use of the Seminoles as a nickname is not a problem as the Seminole tribe was fine with the name. Chief Wahoo was created as a promotional tool in 1947.
