By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
Rebecca Wolfe Damas, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is a member of the Class of 2025 inductees into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame (NAIAHF). She will be officially inducted during a ceremony on June 7 in Green Bay, Wisc. at the Onedia Conference Center.
“I am extremely honored to be a part of the group and have so much respect for all of the inductees,” said Damas. “I look forward to meeting fellow inductees and their families at the induction events this summer.”
Rebecca Wolfe Damas, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is a member of the Class of 2025 inductees into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame (NAIAHF). She is shown in this 2023 photo after her induction into the Clear Creek Independent School District (League City, Texas) Athletic Hall of Honor. (Photo contributed)
Damas started her swimming career at the age of six. Seven years in, she won the U.S. Swimming Junior National Championship for the 200M butterfly race – her signature event.
She swam collegiately at the University of Missouri where she was a two-time Big 12 Conference Champion in the 200M butterfly as well as receiving All-American and Academic All-American status. Damas was chosen to be on the Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving 10th Anniversary Team in 2006. She also swam at the U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials in 2000 in Indianapolis, Ind. and 2004 in Long Beach, Calif.
Swimming at the Olympics trials was the highlight of her career, Damas noted.
When asked if she thought she would gain such notoriety for swimming when she started at age six, she said, “Definitely not! I knew I enjoyed swimming, and I was told I had talent, but in those early days, I mostly struck with it because that’s where my friends were and I hadn’t found anything else I was good at.”
Damas said her accomplishments are due to the support around her. “My parents were the ultimate supporters, driving me to and from early morning practices and spending very long days in the Texas heat at swim meets, along with my brother and extended family. I was fortunate to have several very influential coaches: my first swim coach, Barbie Morris; my club coach, John Little; and college coaches, Doug Humphrey and Anne Kampfe Sievers. And most importantly, my grandfather, Dale Wolfe, who prioritized keeping our connection to the EBCI culture and community both relevant and important.”
Damas graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri in 2004 with two bachelor’s degrees – communications and psychology.
In 2023, she was inducted into the Clear Creek Independent School District Athletic Hall of Honor in League City, Texas. While swimming in high school at Clear Creek, she was a High School All-American and was named All-State in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley.
Damas lives in League City, Texas with her husband, Colin, and two sons, Renner and Hutton, who are both EBCI tribal members.
Information from NAIAHF states that the organization was founded in 2022 by Dr. Dan Ninham, a member of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, and his wife, Susan Ninham, a member of the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation, and recognizes “outstanding leadership and achievement in individual and team athletics”.
