Shiyazh Pete’s tenure with the Dallas Cowboys proved fleeting, yet his NFL debut afforded his fellow Navajo citizens a moment of enduring resonance.

When the rookie offensive lineman took the field for a preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals in August, thousands of fans who had journeyed from across the Navajo Nation erupted in acclamation, brandishing tribal flags and crying “yéego,” an exhortation translating roughly to “with great effort, do it.”

Pete participated in a mere six snaps, yet upon his return to the sideline he was met with a standing ovation — a resounding demonstration of support for the first member of the Navajo Nation to sign with an NFL team.

Now a free agent, having been waived by the Cowboys, Pete has returned to his home on the Navajo Nation, where he has been expressing gratitude to fans for their support as he seeks his next NFL opportunity.

He made a surprise appearance before students at his alma mater, Shiprock High School, at their homecoming pep rally, and served as grand marshal of the Northern Navajo Nation Fair Parade.

On Monday, Pete will partake in a meet-and-greet with fans at an Indigenous Peoples Day event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Pete now stands among a storied lineage of Native athletes who, having shattered barriers across the sporting landscape, have kindled pride within their communities and emerged as role models for Native children.

From Olympic champions to professional basketball players, these athletes have not only helped shape sports history but have also opened doors for those who follow.

Jim Thorpe, of the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma—still widely heralded as the greatest athlete of all time—won both the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics.

He further distinguished himself over six seasons in Major League Baseball and 12 in professional football, among them the American Professional Football Association, the precursor to the National Football League.

A track and field compatriot of Thorpe’s at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, Louis Tewanima perpetuated the Hopi spiritual discipline of running, thereby garnering recognition at that repressive institution.

He placed ninth in the marathon at the 1908 Olympics in London and second in the 10,000 meters at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, establishing an American record in the event.

Contemporary surfing traces its provenance to the Native Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku.

His international exhibitions, interspersed between the gold- and silver-medal-winning swimming feats he delivered at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Olympics, catapulted surfing into widespread renown.

Kahanamoku proved pivotal in enshrining surfboards as standard ocean lifeguarding equipment.

He appeared in films and served from 1935 to 1961 as sheriff of Honolulu.

Ellison Myers “Tarzan” Brown, a marathoner hailing from the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island, triumphed at the Boston Marathon in 1936 and 1939 and represented the United States at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Brown had been slated to contest the marathon at the 1940 Olympics, yet those games were annulled owing to World War II.

Oglala Lakota runner Billy Mills became the first non-European to claim Olympic gold in the 10-kilometer run, triumphing in an upset, Olympic-record performance at the 1964 Games in Tokyo.

That race constituted the finest U.S. medal showing in the event since Tewanima's silver more than half a century prior — and Mills' 10K gold remains unequaled by any subsequent U.S. Olympian.

Patti Catalano Dillon, the first American woman ever to have completed a marathon in under 2 hours and 30 minutes, is of Mi’kmaw descent and was raised in Massachusetts.

Dillon finished as runner-up in the 1980 New York Marathon, as well as in the 1979, 1980 and 1981 Boston marathons.

She held world records in the half marathon and the 30-kilometer and 20-kilometer runs.

Ryneldi Becenti was the inaugural Native American athlete to compete in the WNBA, suiting up for the Phoenix Mercury during the 1997 season.

Becenti honed her craft playing the frenetic brand of “rez ball” endemic to the Navajo Nation and distinguished herself as a premier player at Scottsdale Community College and Arizona State University before embarking upon a professional career in Europe.

Aaliyah Nye, a Los Angeles Sparks player, is a citizen of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi in Michigan.

Having distinguished herself as a top scorer in high school and, subsequently, at Alabama, Nye entered the WNBA in 2025 as a Las Vegas Aces draft pick.

In 2026, she was drafted and then waived by the Toronto Tempo and the Atlanta Dream before being claimed by the Sparks.

In 1999 and 2000, golfer Notah Begay III amassed four PGA Tour victories.

A Native American of Navajo, San Felipe and Isleta descent, Begay established a foundation dedicated to advancing Native American health and wellness through soccer and golf programs.

He is a television golf analyst.

___ Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado.

This narrative is disseminated through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at Reporters.