The trek to Haskell Indian Nations University is one which countless Indigenous people have taken for many generations. The short distance of less than two miles from Haskell, formerly Haskell Institute and Haskell Indian Junior College, to the nearby University of Kansas, however, is one much less frequently traveled, especially for American Indian student-athletes.

Phil Stand (Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska) has recently taken that two-mile journey, transforming from Fightin’ Indian to Jayhawk, and joining only a handful of other extraordinary Native athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills.

In late July I met this young man at the national Phi Sigma Nu conference hosted at Haskell, and was able to be a firsthand witness to someone who not only stands out in a crowd – admittedly, at 6’6 and 265 pounds, that isn’t difficult – but clearly has a genuine concern for others.

After Stand and I spoke of the importance of his tribal language and the blessings that those around him have been to his life, I went to researching his achievements and came across an interview from two years earlier that fully spoke to his feelings and outlooks prior to making the leap from Haskell to KU.

In reaching out to the author, a former classmate of Stand’s, I quickly realized her story was no less intriguing. Rhonda Tree-Mangan is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. At the age of 36 she packed up her husband and three children and moved from Colorado to Lawrence, Kansas in order to fulfill her goal of completing her university degree and, in an even more extraordinary feat of will, competing in her final year of eligibility as a collegiate volleyball player.

After graduating from high school in 1994, Tree played volleyball for two seasons at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kansas and then enrolled at Hastings College in Nebraska, where she would remain for one season. It would be 15 years before she would see a college classroom or court again. During her “time off” she got married, had three beautiful children, and also became involved in the worlds of fitness, modeling and photography. And then she became one of only a small number of individuals her age to compete in collegiate athletics while leading Haskell’s volleyball squad to its first ever post-season berth and being named to the all-tournament team.