What made the Washington Redskins unusual?
No one else felt like if they were going to use an Indian name, they would need to have Indian players. Marshall planned to use an Indian name as a way of marketing ‘‘Indian football.’’ Everyone else was just picking a name.

It’s well known that Marshall was an unapologetic racist.
Oh, absolutely. Marshall would never have called his team the ‘‘Negroes’’ or the ‘‘Coloreds.’’ He also had this whole weird thing about the White Confederates and Indians being joined by some mystical bond.

How did that affect his use of Indian iconography?
Marshall wanted the images to be dignified. He thought that having the band dressed up as Indians and the cheerleaders wearing these Princess Minnehaha costumes was not a caricature, but was, in an odd sort of way, respectful.