“We’ve been received by the Haskell Community very well. [Dr. Wildcat] has been just a great guy to work with. When he heard that we were interested he was like ‘I want those guys here. I want them to get us on the show’ ” said Mike LeGarde, producer of the Native Report.
PBS’s Native Report is a magazine-style television broadcasting production covering Indian country. “We travel to get stories of Native America: Native individuals, Native institutions, and Native organizations such as Haskell. As a producer I like to go to places where the show has never been before” said Mike LeGarde traveling with his photographer, AJ Larson from Duluth, Minnesota to cover Haskell.
“[People] might have heard [of Haskell], but they might not know about strong academics that the school offers. So that’s why we’re here; just going to get a few stories, one of the school itself, [and] we interviewed Jerry Tuckwen about the Indian [Athletic] Hall of Fame. Even though it’s not Haskell’s it’s still here and not a lot of people know about it.” said LeGarde.
Student-athletes Joshua Garcia, Cailey Lujan, Kasi Lucio, Justine Butterfield, and Janee Bates; softball coach Gary Tanner; faculty Tyler Kimbrell; Athletic Director Nana Alison-Brewer; and Indian Athletic Hall of Fame representative and inductee and Haskell Alumnus and past coach Jerry Tuckwen were all interviewed by LeGarde to tell the story of Haskell, and Haskell’s interconnected history with the Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Native Report’s story on Haskell will be published on https://native.wdse.org and reach a national audience in 30 states. Haskell’s Athletic Director Nana Alison-Brewer was asked what this national attention would do for the Haskell sports program.
She said, “It’s Exciting. It’s definitely something that we need to do more of. We have this gem of an institution here in the middle of our United States. We have so many amazing native communities throughout our country and alumni who continue to promote [us], but there are also different communities I think we haven’t touched or reached just yet. It’s going to be great to have this exposure for those who have always been interested or curious about Haskell…. [Seeing] what we are doing now is really exciting for us and the future and our athletic department.”
