This Plaque is in Northwest Stadium honoring Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, and the country’s first peoples for strength, pride, courage, and service.
I was one of the photographers for The Washington Redskins from 1978 to 1988 under Nate Fine, Director of Photography. Jack Kent Cooke was the owner. I didn’t get paid, however I was on the field for home games and traveled to some away games. I covered the team, some training camp, player events including John Riggins at home, and Cooke’s home events. It was great!
Back then there was no auto focus. We used film in our Nikon Cameras with motor drives. It was an adventure, especially during rain & snowstorms, going through up to 10 rolls of film for a game.
So after the many years and always a fan, it was sad to see the name & logo go away. There is now some effort to bring the old logo or similar back. It’s on the helmets shown here on this website. The logo is not racist. The Redskins name was the issue. I don’t think the Commanders name goes with the burgundy & gold, it’s generic, and the Commanders name would be misaligned with the iconic logo. This is why I’m proposing changing the name to Redwools or R e d W o o l s .
RedWools are Red for Redskins and Wools for the important product made by Native Americans. The iconic logo with R e d W o o l s would add even more value to the franchise. It would take the team even further away from the previous ownership and bring everything back to the proud tradition of the franchise.