A convergence of ambition brought two Native Americans together in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2018. The shorter one held a microphone. The taller one a ball. One wanted to play in the NBA. The other wanted to call NBA games.
Jacob Tobey, then 21, asked the questions for Tulsa’s KJRH-TV. Lindy Waters III, then 20, answered as a guard for Oklahoma State. The interview ended. The dreamers moved on.
Tobey spent the next several years calling junior college and college basketball games and covering the Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets before catching a break. Waters went undrafted and played for the Enid Outlaws and Oklahoma City Blue until he broke through.
Eight years after that first interview, here they are, NBA broadcaster and San Antonio Spurs guard, working for the same franchise. What are the odds? Tobey is believed to be the only Native American broadcaster in the NBA. Waters is one of three Native American players in the league.
When the Spurs signed Waters in July, an idea flashed. Tobey shared it with Waters and presented it to his employer. Consider it done, he was told. On April 6, the Spurs will feature Native American Heritage Night when they host the Philadelphia 76ers at Frost Bank Center.
The evening will include in-game performances from Native artists, the awarding of a grant to community leaders and other elements that honor the Native community. The heritage night is in collaboration with American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AIT-SCM), the Lindy Waters III Foundation and Nike N7.
Before tipoff, fans are invited to the ULTRA Club at 6:30 p.m. for a land acknowledgment led by a representative from AIT-SCM recognizing Indigenous peoples as the original stewards of the land.
Tobey will sing the national anthem before the 7 p.m. tipoff.
“I’m just so excited,” said Tobey, a musician who performs at venues in San Antonio and Austin. “When we signed Waters, I knew it was a perfect match, the way he cares for and gives back to the Native community.”
Tobey is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Waters a citizen of the Kiowa Tribe and also of Cherokee descent. The broadcaster and player have bonded over their shared cultural heritage and rugged journey.
“We both grinded to get where we are,” Tobey said. “He had to play semi-pro basketball and stuck it out in the G-League. I felt the same way. I was calling junior college basketball in random towns. I understand the grind he endured and admire what he’s done for his heritage.”
Waters grew up on a farm near Norman, Oklahoma. Although a gifted athlete, he felt alone, isolated. “In all the sports I played, I didn’t see any other Native Americans,” Waters said. “I didn’t feel like I could relate with anybody else.”
As a boy, Waters posted black and white photographs on his bedroom wall of Jim Thorpe, a Native American considered the greatest male athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. In one image, Thorpe is holding a football. In another, he is settling in blocks for a race. In a third, Thorpe is wearing his college jersey.
“I wanted to be like him,” Waters said.
While growing up, Waters, like Thorpe, played football, baseball and basketball and competed in track and field. He developed his basketball skills under his father, Lindy Waters, Jr., once a star at Southern Nazarene University, and took a lethal three-point shot to Oklahoma State.
In Stillwater, Waters became a draw for the Native community. In turn, he hosted basketball camps and clinics for Native American children and served as guest speaker for Native youth groups. In 2018, the American Indian Exposition named him “Indian of the Year.”
Four years later, Waters signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Soon after, he founded The Lindy Waters III Foundation to support Native Americans through sports, health and leadership programs.
His determination is reflected in two words tattooed on his left forearm, “Press On,” distilled from a verse of scripture, Philippians 4:13.
“He gives God the glory,” his father told the San Francisco Chronicle. “And he’s given back to our culture and our heritage of all tribes. … He’s my hero.”
Waters is one of three Native American players in the NBA. Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. MarJon Beauchamp of the 76ers is a descendant of the Mission Indians and the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians.
The Spurs-76ers game on April 6 will bring together three Native Americans — two players, one broadcaster — under the same NBA roof. A happy coincidence, the team says.
Tobey grew up in Sandwich, Massachusetts, about 90 miles from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. A trip to the hall at age 12 inspired a passion. Inside the venue, Tobey watched the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference finals between the 76ers and Boston Celtics.
After listening to Celtics announcer Johnny Most, Tobey repeated the famous call as his mother recorded him: “Havlicek steals the ball! Over to Sam Jones. Havlicek stole the ball! It’s all over! It’s over!”
Seventeen years later, Tobey delivered a call that’s getting shared and reposted on social media. In the final seconds of the Spurs-Suns game last week, his team down by one point, Victor Wembanyama took the biggest shot of his career — 17 feet from the hoop.
Tobey: “Victor checks the clock. Dribbles. Fades. And sends the Spurs to the playoffs with 1.1 seconds remaining!” After the Suns missed a desperation heave, Tobey dropped the mic: “It’s a Fiesta once again!”
There will be another fiesta in two weeks: The crowd on its feet. Tobey at the mic. Waters on the floor. Sound rising, maybe a tear or two falling and hearts swelling with pride.
