BATON ROUGE — The LSU football experience is already considered one of the most unique in the country, but this Saturday the LSU-Troy game will be the site of a first in major college football history, when it is broadcast in the native language of the Navajo Indian tribe.
Cuyler Frank and Leandro Jodie, members of the Navajo tribe, will broadcast the game on radio stations KGAK and KNDN out of New Mexico. Frank regularly broadcasts New Mexico State University football and basketball games in Navajo to New Mexico’s population of more than 300,000 members of the tribe. The broadcast will also be streamed live on www.LSUsports.net.
Frank is a close friend of LSU Chancellor Michael Martin, formerly the president of New Mexico State. Martin invited Frank and Jodie to help show them what a major college football experience would be like.
“I feel like this is the pinnacle of my broadcasting career,” said the 32-year-old Frank, a native of Blackhouse Valley, N.M.
“You see LSU on TV and you always wonder what it would be like to be in that atmosphere,” said Jodie, 44, who helps out from time to time as a color commentator to Frank’s play-by-play on football games.
Frank is a recruiting coordinator for American Indian programs at New Mexico State, and was encouraged to get into broadcasting in the Navajo tongue by Martin.
“Cuyler and I became friends at NMSU and I supported his broadcasting efforts,” said Martin. “Doing so sent a message that we are committed to recruiting American Indians and reaching out to their communities. And I want LSU to send that same message to all communities. Moreover, coming here offers Cuyler a new opportunity to grow as a professional.”
“Dr. Martin gave me my first opportunity and became a mentor to me,” said Frank. “I’ve wanted to do a game like this away from NMSU for a while now, and then one day Dr. Martin called and invited me. I’m tickled to death and I can’t wait.”
Frank’s career began four years ago, working with Jodie and occasionally some student volunteers who speak the language. The broadcast’s main audience is the Navajo Nation Reservation, which covers parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah and constitutes half of the total Navajo population in the country.
He didn’t have any previous broadcasting experience, and drew a lot of support from Jodie, who had more than 10 years of previous experience; still it was a challenge to translate the language of a modern game like football into Navajo. The language is very complex and was used by the U.S. military as a code in World War II to confuse enemy forces who had deciphered various other codes.
“It was very difficult at first,” said Frank. “We had to kind of come up with our own terms.”
Jodie will also listen from home occasionally so that he can later coach Frank on the terms that are used.
“There are certain words that you just can’t translate,” Jodie added.
For example, quarterback can be described in two ways; joocl ana’ yiilghaigi ? the one who throws the ball, or naakiyal ye adoji’igi ? the one who is called quarter.
“We’ve had to invent new terms and sometimes I’d just be stumped on how to translate something,” laughs Frank. “It used to happen quite a bit, but now I try to just call the game like I see it. It’s a great way to promote our language, and we have a lot of listeners who love football.”
In addition to their duties for NMSU, Frank will also broadcast the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 20. Frank hopes that one day NMSU basketball will allow him to broadcast an NCAA basketball tournament game, or perhaps even other major sporting events in Navajo.
Still, he is ready to see what his first big-time game is like.
“I’ve seen some games, and I’ve watched LSU on TV and thought it looked amazing,” he said.
“I’ve never been to a place like this.”
Glossary of Navajo terms as explained by Cuyler Frank:
Quarterback-there can be a number of ways to name him but here is what I call him: joocl ana’ yiilghaigi (The one who throws the ball) or naakiyal ye adoji’igi (The one who is called quarter)
Runningback– Lii yiilnishiigi (workhorse) or joocl yil ana’ wo’iigi (one who runs the ball into the gaps)
Middle linebacker– Ach’aji na’ne alniigone hadees’i’igi (one who looks out in the middle on defense)
Offense– Joocl indei a’iigi
Defense ? ach’aji anaja’iigi