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Kevin Abourezk
ICT
Standing 6 ft, 7 inches tall and carrying cowboots, a cowboy hat, beaded medallion, and turquoise rings and bracelets, Ernie Stevens Jr. by no means left any doubt that he was an Indian to be revered.
“He was just born for the role. He was just born for it,” mentioned Victor Rocha, Stevens Jr.’s longtime buddy and colleague.
Stevens Jr., who led the highly effective Indian Gaming Association for greater than 20 years, died Friday, Sept. 26, on the age of 66.
The former boxer had gravitas, each bodily and intellectually, and his achievements in increasing and defending the Indian gaming business in America can be remembered eternally, mentioned those that knew him.
Stevens Jr.’s loss of life got here simply weeks after he was acknowledged in Milwaukee for main the affiliation throughout a time when tribal gaming operations nationwide reached document revenues of greater than $43 billion in 2024. A development from $11 billion in 2000, which made “Tribal Government Gaming the largest segment of the U.S. gaming industry,” in accordance with IGA.
A citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Stevens Jr. was re-elected in April to his thirteenth time period as chairman of the IGA on the ultimate day of the Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego, California. The IGA relies in Washington, D.C., and works with the federal authorities and Congress to develop insurance policies and advocate for tribal gaming points.
He received many battles in his decades-long struggle to guard the integrity of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, the laws that paved the best way for tribes to function casinos, bingo parlors and different types of playing.
Phil Hogen, former longtime chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, served as a regulator of the Indian gaming business and mentioned he and Stevens Jr. labored collectively to make sure that Congress didn’t amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act out of concern that lawmakers would make modifications that might hurt tribal gaming pursuits. And they each labored to make sure that states didn’t overstep their authority and impede tribal sovereignty, Hogen mentioned.
The Indian Gaming Commission is the first federal company that oversees Indian gaming.
However, whereas they agreed on many points, Hogen and Stevens Jr. butted heads once in a while.
When the late Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada – a longtime defender of Las Vegas gaming pursuits – criticized Indian gaming for missing inside regulatory controls, the Indian Gaming Association and Indian Gaming Commission each labored to make sure tribes developed robust inside gaming controls, Hogen mentioned.
If tribes failed to determine and exhibit inside controls, Hogen mentioned, each he and Stevens Jr. feared Indian gaming opponents would persuade federal lawmakers to revisit federal Indian gaming laws.
“We wanted to be sure they were very professional and playing by the right rules,” he mentioned.
However, when it got here to deciding who would guarantee tribal gaming maintained robust inside controls, Stevens and Hogen stood on opposing sides, with Stevens Jr. arguing that tribes ought to regulate their very own inside controls and Hogen arguing that the fee ought to present that oversight.
Stevens Jr. all the time championed the flexibility of tribes to handle their very own gaming pursuits, Hogen mentioned.
“We mostly got along, but there were times there were some bitter arguments as to who did what,” he mentioned.
Stevens Jr. served as an elected councilman of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin from 1993-1999, and likewise served as first vp of the National Congress of American Indians.
His different notable achievements embody:
- Being inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame in 2015;
- Being inducted into the National Indian Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2008 and into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022 for his boxing accomplishments;
- Co-founding the Soaring Eagle Boxing Club in Oneida with famend boxer Louie Askinette in 1975 on the age of 16;
- Being a four-time consecutive state heavyweight champion from 1976-1979, and a two-time National Heavyweight Champion out of Carson City, Nevada, in 1977 and 1978; and
- Receiving an affiliate’s diploma from Haskell Indian Junior College in 1983 and a bachelor’s in prison justice from Mount Senario College in 1996. He additionally obtained a grasp’s in administration from the University of Phoenix in 2021.
Stevens Jr. was impressed partly by his father, Ernie Stevens Sr., who had blazed a path for his son and different Native leaders by serving on a job power underneath Interior Secretary Walker Hickel, who served former President Richard Nixon.
The job power, which took the nickname “the Katzenjammer Kids” after a late nineteenth century caricature, was charged with revamping the Bureau of Indian Affairs and creating paths for tribes to handle their very own affairs, a coverage that might turn into often called self-determination. To that finish, they labored to push again in opposition to federal paternalism and termination of federal tribal recognition.
“They were the disruptors of their era,” mentioned Mark Trahant, former editor of ICT and the Navajo Times. Trahant and Stevens Sr. labored for the Navajo Nation across the identical time with Stevens Sr. serving because the tribe’s head of financial growth.
Trahant mentioned Stevens Jr. was one of the crucial well-versed consultants on not simply Indian gaming however the complete gaming business, however was by no means acknowledged for his experience by the broader business. Trahant attributed that lack of recognition and respect to “willful ignorance” on the a part of the American gaming business.
“He should have been an American expert on gaming, not just Indian Country gaming,” Trahant mentioned of Stevens Jr.
Rocha, who serves as convention chair on the National Indian Gaming Association and is the proprietor and editor of Pechanga.net, an Indian gaming and political information group, mentioned Stevens Jr. by no means backed down from a struggle.
In current years, Stevens Jr. had begun sounding the alarm concerning the rise of on-line gaming, one thing he feared would compete with tribal gaming revenues.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act permits tribes to function gaming enterprises in states which have legalized playing, but it surely additionally requires tribes to signal compacts with states to determine revenue-sharing and different agreements. Often, these compacts present exclusivity rights to tribes to permit them to be the only real suppliers of sure sorts of gaming inside these states.
However, on-line gaming has raised issues amongst tribes that these compacts are being violated by on-line gaming firms. Stevens Jr. labored to coach tribes, authorities regulators and lawmakers about on-line gaming and its impacts on tribal gaming.
“He protected sovereignty,” Rocha mentioned. “He protected tribal gaming rights.”
He mentioned Stevens Jr. ought to be remembered for his tireless efforts to elevate the voices of tribal leaders. He would journey to nearly any tribal occasion or ceremony that he was requested to attend, particularly if it concerned him speaking about sovereignty or Indian gaming.
Stevens had almost 3.5 million air journey miles and would normally put greater than 200,000 miles on the automobiles he drove, Rocha mentioned.
“His job was to make everyone not only feel heard but be heard,” he mentioned. “That’s where his true power and calling came from, to give those without power a voice.”
Rocha added: “He was good for that function.
As a young person, Stevens Jr. joined the American Indian Movement when it occupied Wounded Knee in 1973, touring together with his mom to the protest. While his mother bought arrested earlier than making it to the occupation, Stevens managed to sneak round federal and tribal officers.
“Ernie is a true and genuine warrior,” Rocha mentioned. “He was at Wounded Knee to Washington, D.C.”
Stevens was taught the significance of tribal sovereignty from his mom and the significance of public service from his father, a Korean War veteran, Rocha mentioned. He mentioned he as soon as requested Stevens Jr. if he deliberate to drop his “junior” suffix after his father’s loss of life in 2024.
“Never. That’s to honor my father,” replied Stevens Jr.
“He believed in the legacy of his mother and the legacy of his father,” Rocha mentioned.
Rocha mentioned he fears for the way forward for Indian gaming following Stevens Jr.’s loss of life. He worries President Donald Trump will search to revisit the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act with the intention to hurt tribal gaming pursuits now that their staunchest advocate is gone.
“Indian Country has a real danger when someone as big as Ernie Stevens (Jr.) leaves,” he mentioned. “It leaves a big wide gap.”
Hogen, nonetheless, mentioned he isn’t as involved about the way forward for Indian gaming.
“Certainly when a strong leader dies, there’s always that concern, ‘Are we going to be able to hang on?’” he mentioned. “Indian gaming has developed so far and so rapidly during the 20 years that he was there.”
Hogen added: “The gambling professionals are as good as they are anyplace. That’s because they’ve got to compete with Las Vegas and New Jersey and they’ve learned how to do that well … I’m confident that the industry will remain strong.”
Rocha mentioned, whereas Indian Country will miss Stevens Jr.’s management, he’ll miss his buddy.
“He’s just such a good friend, just a wonderful, wonderful guy,” he mentioned.
He mentioned Stevens died doing what he cherished: touring to speak about Indian gaming.
“That’s what us old warriors are going to do,” he mentioned. “We don’t stop. We keep fighting to the end.”
A public memorial service for Stevens Jr. can be held Friday, Oct. 3 and the funeral service is happening on Saturday, Oct. 4, in Oneida Wisconsin.
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