It’s probably their favorite jersey, for the most part. The guys absolutely love wearing the jerseys. “It strengthens our relationship with the Tribe, which is never a bad thing,” Casto said. The turquoise jerseys received a lot of notice last season, when FSU beat Purdue on national TV. And I think if Nike pushes it a little bit more and maybe other schools look at doing it, it’ll grow.” We’ve created stuff that we’ve put out there and (FSU basketball sports information director) Chuck (Walsh) puts it all of his notes to send out to the media. I tell them the meaning of the color turquoise. I tell them that it’s a partnership with the Tribe. That’s Carolina blue.’ Every single time, I just try and educate them on why we do it. “They were like, ‘Blue, blue, blue, blue, blue. “You learn this real quick: These people are crazy,” Longenecker said, laughing, via phone last month. Although the purpose was explained, fans were displeased with the turquoise color. They were basically generic turquoise blanks that were screen-printed and didn’t look much like Florida State’s normal jersey in design. Since we’re tied in with the Seminoles, they said it was fine if we did it, too.” “A lot of the schools that do it - Oklahoma State does it, New Mexico - they’re more where you would think, traditionally, there are reservations or still Native Americans. “Since we’re the only NCAA school allowed to have a Native American mascot because we have the blessing of the Seminole Tribe, they thought it just made sense,” Casto said last month. Once that was handled, the school pitched the idea to Nike. ![]() From there, FSU contacted the Seminole Tribe of Florida to get its consent. Casto and Longenecker brought the idea to coach Leonard Hamilton, who gave it the green light. Given that FSU is a Nike school and has obvious historic ties to America’s indigenous population, it made sense to take part. In Native American culture, the color turquoise represents harmony, friendship and fellowship. The N7 Fund was created in 2009 by Sam McCracker, who’s now the general manager of N7 programs, with the intention of supporting organizations to provide sport and physical activity programming to children in Native American and Aboriginal communities.
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