"Take it to the bank: Sometime during tonight’s telecast of the BCS national championship game, mention will be made of Sam Bradford’s American Indian heritage. It’s become quite a story.

Perhaps they’ll show Cherokee Nation officials giving away T-shirts at the game, as the tribe plans to do. The shirts have Bradford’s name and football jersey number written in Cherokee.

Bradford’s Indian bloodlines were never part of coverage during his outstanding high school career at Putnam City North. Why? As his father Kent told The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson during Sam’s breakout season as Oklahoma’s quarterback in 2007, "We actually have never been active in Indian affairs or culture. Not that we aren’t proud of the Cherokee heritage, but we were simply raised as middle-class, Oklahoma City people.”"

Get the Story:
Role model: Bradford embraces Indian storyline (The Oklahoman 1/8)

Earlier Stories:
Sam Bradford 'a role model' among Native Americans (AP 1/7)
BCS National Championship: OU quarterback Sam Bradford inspiration to American Indians (The Oklahoman 1/6)

Related Stories:
Bradford, Cherokee football star, wins Heisman Trophy (12/15)
Cherokee football player favored for Heisman (12/10)
Oklahoma players embrace Indian heritage (11/13)
Cherokee Nation embraces star college quarterback (10/13)