Mark One Wolf was, for a time, a favored native in Dan Snyder's fight to save the "Redskins" nickname. "Native American backing team name is VIP at practice," read a Richmond Times-Dispatch headline. It was accompanied by an Associated Press photo of One Wolf in profile, as if to echo the team's logo. But that was July. Now folks on both sides of the squabble agree on one thing: One Wolf makes poor Liz Warren look like Pocahontas.

"He is the 21st-century version of William 'Lone Star' Dietz," says Toby Vanlandingham, an anti-name activist from the Yurok Reservation in California. Dietz was the former Redskins coach whose reputed Sioux heritage inspired the team's nickname, according to the save-the-name camp, even though most evidence available today suggests he was neither Indian nor the inspiration.

"Mark One Wolf is a fucking phony," says ReGina Zuni, an ardent pro-namer living on the Isleta Pueblo reservation in New Mexico. Zuni says she's so convinced that One Wolf's not really an Indian that she emailed the team to warn them to stay away from him, lest they get caught using another—yes, another—poseur.

Authentic or not, One Wolf's star shone brightest during Washington's training camp in July in Richmond. He showed up at the team's workouts wearing an urban Indian ensemble and an RGIII jersey, his long black ponytail accessorized by a red bandana, a Western-looking necklace, and a cap with turkey feathers. The name controversy was overshadowing every other story, so media flocked to the Indian-looking dude in team colors.

That's how the Times-Dispatch found him. The story discussed One Wolf's founding of Native American Redskins Fans, a group for name sympathizers, and how he'd been a special guest at RGIII's mom's birthday party because he stood out.

While in Richmond, One Wolf gave his pro-name spiel to anybody with a media credential. "It's never been an issue for me or my family," One Wolf said as a camera rolled. "The Redskins name, it's always been a term that we felt was a unifying term."

That soundbite landed him a featured role in the video titled " Redskins Is a Powerful Name," released by Redskins Facts, a new group that lobbied for support for the name. The team initially attempted to disguise Redskins Facts as a grassroots deal, but the operation was quickly unmasked as the work of PR powerhouse Burson-Marsteller.