FRISCO, Texas — All eyes are on the FCS championship game on Monday, but that’s not the only football contest taking place in here this week.
On Tuesday night at The Star — the sprawling headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys — 60 of the best indigenous high school football players from around the country will participate in the Native American All-Star Game, sponsored by the Native American Athletic Foundation through a partnership with the NFL and Nike.
Chris Bell, a Havre High School defensive lineman and an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe, is the lone Montana representative on the roster.
When they say everything is bigger in Texas, they aren’t kidding. The teams are practicing at Melissa High School which has a $35 million dollar stadium that opened in 2023 and seats 10,000 people. The school also boasts an indoor and outdoor practice field and state-of-the-art weight room.
“It's insane. This is just their practice field. And I've heard other kids saying that this isn't even the biggest stadium or school in the area,” Bell told MTN Sports at practice. “It's just crazy to see how big this is compared to Montana schools.”
But that’s just the beginning of what’s in store for the participants who represent several states and tribes from as far away as Barrow, Alaska, north of the Arctic circle.
“We will be in AT&T Stadium Tuesday morning for a VIP tour, and then they will be playing at The Star on Tuesday night. Most of our kids are from, reservations, which are very rural areas, very poor parts of the country,” said NAAF Executive Director Michael Stomp.
“And so they've never seen,this kind of sports other than what they've seen on television. And so for them to live it and be there in person, you can see it on their faces that they're awestruck.”
Football is what brings the teams together, but there’s a larger purpose behind the game.
“So the purpose of our organization is to feed into our kids, help them become leaders of character, help them develop their skills both on the field and off the field, and get them into college and have them come back to their communities as leaders,” Stop said.
“So it's a fantastic opportunity for these kids to work with other natives from across the country. They get to know each other. They get to see what other kids are doing, what the challenges are. They get to start developing a network.”
Bell is proud to represent Montana and Blackfeet Nation, and hopes the exposure at this game will help him grow as a person and a football player
“ I have a lot of support from back home, even from my tribe. I don't live there on the reservation. But even then, I saw so much support from everybody,” Bell said. “But getting here and just meeting a whole bunch of new people. I know where everyone comes from. We're all indigenous, and it's just really cool to come out here to show our talent and just play for one last time.”
The Native American All-Star Game is set for Tuesday in the Ford Center at The Star. Click here for more information.
