Shiyazh Pete played his first NFL game for the Dallas Cowboys.

It was short.

But it gave other Navajo people a happy memory.

He is a rookie.

He plays on the offensive line.

In August, he played a preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Thousands of fans cheered.

They came from all over the Navajo Nation.

They waved tribal flags.

Pete played only six snaps.

Then he went back to the sideline.

The fans stood and cheered for him.

He was the first Navajo Nation member to sign with an NFL team.

The Cowboys let Pete go.

Now he is a free agent.

He went home to the Navajo Nation.

He is thanking fans.

He is looking for a new NFL team.

He surprised students at his old school.

The school is Shiprock High School.

It was their homecoming pep rally.

He was also grand marshal of the Northern Navajo Nation Fair Parade.

On Monday, he will meet fans in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The event is for Indigenous Peoples Day.

Pete joins many Native athletes.

They broke barriers in sports.

They are role models for Native children.

Jim Thorpe was from the Sac and Fox Nation.

He won the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics.

He also played pro baseball and football.

Louis Tewanima was Thorpe's teammate at Carlisle.

He took second in the 10,000 meters at the 1912 Olympics.

Duke Kahanamoku was a Native Hawaiian swimmer.

He helped make surfing known worldwide.

Ellison Myers "Tarzan" Brown was a marathoner.

He won the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939.

Billy Mills is an Oglala Lakota runner.

He won Olympic gold in the 10-kilometer run in 1964.

Patti Catalano Dillon has Mi'kmaw descent.

She was the first American woman to finish a marathon under 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Ryneldi Becenti was the first Native American WNBA athlete.

She played for the Phoenix Mercury in 1997.

Aaliyah Nye is from the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi.

She joined the WNBA in 2025.

Golfer Notah Begay III has Navajo, San Felipe and Isleta heritage.

He won four PGA Tour events in 1999 and 2000.