Dan Ninham
Special to ICT
The Super Bowl is coming quickly but not soon enough for two Indigenous starting players for the Kansas City Chiefs.
James Winchester, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is playing in his third Super Bowl. Creed Humphrey, from the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is playing in his first Super Bowl.
And a Cherokee Nation referee, Jerod Phillips, will be on the field to help keep everyone in line.
“For me, honestly, I think it’s just exciting,” Winchester told ICT. “It represents something bigger than myself. It represents the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and so many back home with my family and friends that I love and appreciate. It’s such a cool thing to represent a nation and my family, so that’s probably what means the most to me to play in the Super Bowl.”
The Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 12, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
The Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 to secure their third AFC Championship in four years. Philadelphia beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 securing the team’s second Super Bowl appearance in five years. In 2018, the Eagles beat New England 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.
Humphrey and Winchester were featured in a recent video by the Chiefs organization addressing their heritage during American Indian Heritage Month.
James Winchester
A victory Sunday for the Chiefs would mean another Super Bowl ring for Winchester, who was a member of the championship team in Super Bowl LIV in 2020, when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20.
Winchester, who wears #41, is an eight-year veteran in the National Football League who played for the University of Oklahoma Sooners. He is 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, and plays the position of long snapper.
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“This is my third time around,” he told ICT. “Our last one being in the Covid year, and so looking back to Super Bowl LIV you know we got to experience the whole week, and that’s what I am really looking forward to, is everything that surrounds the game, the excitement and just leading up to the game.
“There’s just so much going on. The focus, there only being two teams in the world playing for a Super Bowl Championship, so I am excited about that,” he said.
But being an Indigenous player in the game means more than winning, he said.
“One, to be connected to a nation in Oklahoma and to the state of Oklahoma,” he said. “There’s just so much Native American history there in Oklahoma, and obviously pride for my family.”
Creed Humphrey
Humphrey, #52, comes into his first Super Bowl having been named second-team All Pro and Pro Bowl in 2022.
At 6-foot-4 and 302 pounds, he has been the starting center for the past two seasons.
He also played for the University of Oklahoma Sooners, and was named the Big 12 Conference’s offensive lineman of the year in 2019 and 2020. He was drafted in the second round, and 63rd overall, in 2021.
Humphrey is looking forward to the game, but he also knows he represents other Indigenous people in the Super Bowl.
“It’s obviously a huge opportunity,” he said. “There’s not a ton of representation in the NFL at all, really, with Native American people in there, so just being able to represent my tribe and represent my family in the Super Bowl is a huge honor.”
Referee Jerod Phillips
Phillips is believed to be the first Cherokee Nation citizen to officiate at the Super Bowl, according to the Cherokee Phoenix.
He will serve as a down judge for the big game, joining seven other members of the officiating crew. It is his first time to officiate a Super Bowl.
He told the Cherokee Phoenix that he began officiating for high school and junior high teams, then moved to junior college before advancing into the Mountain West and Big 12 conferences. He began officiating with the NFL in 2016.
He could not be reached for comment.
Looking ahead
As the big game approaches, the two Indigenous athletes know they will be facing a high point in their professional lives.
What are they most looking forward to?
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“Obviously the game,” Winchester said. “Excited to play in the Super Bowl, so fortunate to be able to play in the Super Bowl. Not many people get to do that.”
Humphrey also has a plan to win but knows there’s a full game ahead of him.
“Hopefully, coming back with a win,” he said. “But it’s definitely all business once we get down there … I am fired up just to get down there and get after it and work for a ring.”
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