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The Washington Commanders’ controversial former logo, which shows a Native American man in profile with trailing feathers, is expected to be used on alumni shirts that will go on sale by the end of the month. The new apparel is meant to highlight the careers of the franchise’s greatest players who played pre-2020, a source with knowledge of the plan told Front Office Sports.
There’s no appetite within the Commanders’ organization to bring the former “R” icon with Native American imagery back as an official team logo even as part of a rebrand, a team spokesperson tells FOS.
The old name—which was finally changed by former owner Dan Snyder in 2020 after a sponsor backlash over the name and imagery many found racially insensitive—has always been a non-starter for a return, team and league sources have told FOS.
But the logo is a different story. And with it no longer being an impediment politically to the team’s potential return to D.C., it’s primed for a comeback—albeit in a limited way.
As the merchandise plans move forward, however, the family of John Two Guns White Calf, whose likeness was the basis for the old logo, told FOS it wants a voice on how the old logo will be used—and possibly a slice of the money made from the shirts.
“The family has never ever been consulted with,” says Everett Armstrong, a descendant of John Two Guns White Calf and a member of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council. “There was no permission granted. There’s no document stating there’s permission granted or anything.”
In September, nine members of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Commanders owner Josh Harris, saying: “The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, on behalf of the Blackfeet Nation, would like to take this opportunity to express our wholehearted support for the NFL Franchise, Washington team logo of Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf and to urge the NFL and Commanders to restore it to a place of prominence.”
Armstrong told FOS on Friday that he had not been contacted by the Commanders about the team’s alumni shirts. On Friday, an NFL spokesperson referred questions about the logo to the Commanders.
Copyright issues
Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.) spearheaded the logo effort this year as he advocated for its return and for the Commanders to recognize Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, a Blackfeet tribal leader who brought the idea of a logo change to the team in 1971.
Wetzel sought to replace the logo, which at the time was just an “R” on the side of the helmet, with something that would pay tribute to Native Americans. Several options were shown to team officials before a photo of John Two Guns White Calf was selected. Wetzel helped facilitate the creation of the logo, which was first used on uniforms in the 1972 season.
FOS spoke to several descendants of John Two Guns White Calf, a Blackfeet Nation chief whose likeness was likely used on the Indian Head Nickel without any official recognition from the government. John Two Guns White Calf died at age 63 in 1934. No one is opposed to the future use of the old logo as long as the family is involved in the process. But there could be unresolved legal questions when it comes to the right to use White Calf’s likeness.
“If they want to restore the logo, it’s fine with the family, but we need to get this straightened out legally where the family does have the copyright of the logo restored back to the family,” says Thomas White Calf, the great nephew of John Two Guns. “We can sit down at the table with the Commanders executives.”
Until those discussions happen, the family didn’t want to talk about what, if any, financial requirements it would take to support the logo’s return.
However, Thomas White Calf recounted a conversation he had with a now-former Commanders executive in 2014, in which the exec asked him whether the White Calf family was considering taking legal action against the franchise. “At the time, I said I cannot answer any legal questions without talking to the Wolf Tail or Cross Guns families. So, yeah, there probably is a legal issue there because you can’t profit off of someone’s likeness,” Thomas White Calf said. There hasn’t been any meaningful contact between John Two Guns’ descendants and the Commanders for about a decade.
Recognition of John Two Guns White Calf
Multiple family members say they are “thankful” for Wetzel’s efforts on the logo a half century ago. But the two families aren’t close. After Walter Wetzel died in 2002, his son Don became vocal after Snyder’s decision to abandon the logo along with the name.
Don Wetzel died in 2023 and Ryan Wetzel, Don’s son, became the family spokesperson. Wetzel has had numerous conversations with both the Commanders and Daines’s office, which resulted in a plaque of Walter Wetzel being mounted at Northwest Stadium, where the Commanders play, earlier this season. The team’s conversations with the Wetzels are ongoing.
“We’d like to see the logo come back in some form,” Wetzel told FOS in July. “As to what capacity, I don’t know.”
The plaque features the old team logo—which is John Two Guns’s likeness—at the top, but does not mention John Two Guns White Calf, and none of his descendants were invited to the private ceremony where the plaque was unveiled.
Daines has mentioned at multiple hearings that he had spoken to Ryan Wetzel. But in Thomas White Calf’s view, the Wetzel family “has no right to even speak on behalf of our ancestor,” since there is no relation to John Two Guns White Calf. “White Calf’s descendants should be the ones actually talking to Daines and the press,” Thomas White Calf says.
John Two Guns White Calf’s family has spoken with Daines’s office in recent weeks.
“Chief Two Guns White Calf was a legendary leader of the Blackfeet Tribe and worked tirelessly for the good of Indian Country,” Sen. Daines said in a statement to FOS. “I know his family is very proud of his connection to the iconic logo that Washington wore for nearly 50 years. The White Calf and Wetzel families’ passionate support for honoring the Blackfeet logo has created tremendous momentum for the ongoing mission to restore it to a place of respect and prominence.”
As Josh Harris and other members of the Commanders ownership group seek to get the RFK Stadium bill passed in the Senate to make the team’s former home an option for a new stadium, figuring out how to please Daines and the Wetzel family is tricky. The team’s former name and imagery actually stymied Snyder’s effort to move the team to D.C. weeks before he finally changed both in 2020.
Beyond the politics and racial components, satisfying John Two Guns White Calf’s descendants adds a new wrinkle to the saga.
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