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Payback?

I recall going to a fire dance in 1964 somewhere around Drumright, OK.

I remember seeing the Cherokee warriors dancing around the fires with their long hair gong all the way down their backs in their deerkins.

I can still recall the loud chanting and beating of drums and seeing the bright colors painted on their faces and the feathered head oranments they wore.

I was introduced to Jim Thorpe, a national hero at that time for his Olympic Gold Medal.

I asked my grandmother to interpret for me what the men were saying as they danced.

Here is what she said:

"Son. This is something you must always remember about the Cherokee. Until we learned to speak the white man's language, our language was pure and we did not curse each other with our tongues."

Jim Thorpe died in Lomita, CA, in 1953. He was possibly the greatest all-around American athlete of the 20th century. If you met him in 1964, you met his ghost.

I suggest you probably met Billy Mills. Mills, an Oglala Sioux and US Marine, had won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympic games in the 10,000 meter race. It is considered one of the great upsets by an "unknown" against the establishment.