The Chief is back, kind of

November 14th, 2008 at 11:18am Wally Haas

University of Illinois President Joe White visited us in late October and as we were getting near the end of our meeting I said, “Believe it or not, we’ve been talking for more than 45 minutes and no one has mentioned the Chief.”

For those of you who thought the controversy over Chief Illiniwek was over, it’s not.

After Saturday’s Illinois-Ohio State football game, the Chief will make a return appearance at Assembly Hall.

Students for Chief Illiniwek, an independent student group that is not affiliated with the university, rented Assembly Hall for “The Next Dance.” Students get in free while the general public has to pay $5.

Our sister paper in Springfield, the State Journal-Register, doesn’t think much of the idea. Read the editorial HERE.

I always liked the Chief. I remember when I was at the U of I in the mid-70s that some football players used to sneak out of the locker room a bit early at halftime so they could watch the Chief dance.

The Chief often was more entertaining than our football and basketball teams. There weren’t any Chief-bashers back then. If there were, they were not as vocal as they became about a decade ago.

I thought the Chief had retired in peace. I guess “The Next Dance” will fire folks up again.

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