Civil rights group to honor NCAA for mascot policy

TULSA, Okla. (AP) The National Collegiate Athletic Association will be honored this weekend at an awards banquet in Tulsa. <br/><br/>NCAA senior vice president of governance and membership Bernard Franklin

Friday, November 17th 2006, 5:48 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) The National Collegiate Athletic Association will be honored this weekend at an awards banquet in Tulsa.

NCAA senior vice president of governance and membership Bernard Franklin will accept the sports leadership award from the Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism.

Under a new NCAA rule, member colleges and universities cannot display Indian-themed mascots, nicknames or symbols in postseason games.

The decision also bars schools with Indian mascots from hosting future NCAA postseason events.

Coalition president Louis Gray noted that on Tuesday, Northeastern State University announced it was changing its mascot from Redmen to RiverHawks. Gray says about 155 Oklahoma institutions continue to use Indian names.

The coalition's second annual awards banquet, "Winds of Change,'' is set for tomorrow at Oklahoma State University at Tulsa.