By Dan Ninham
At the 2023 North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame Banquet, a conversation among the inductees led to an exciting opportunity for an indigenous athlete to play another football game.
Bennae Calac, a member of the Pauma Band of Luiseño Indians and founder of the N7 Foundation, was attending the event alongside Becki Staley (Blood Tribe, or the Kainai Nation), a highly accomplished runner, and her husband Maurice Staley, a former NCAA D1 football player. Calac’s work with the N7 Foundation and organization of the Indigenous Bowl sparked the idea for this additional game.
The Indigenous Bowl is an annual event hosted by the N7 Foundation, bringing together Native American high school football players from various tribes across North America. The event provides a platform for these young athletes to showcase their skills, travel beyond their local communities, and experience the thrill of playing in a professional sports stadium.
Eleazar Staley, known to many as “El,” is a member of the Blood tribe from his mother Becki Staley’s side and is African American from his dad Maurice Staley’s side. He is a senior at West Charlotte High School (in North Carolina) and is a recent transfer from Mankato West High School in Minnesota. El competed in football, basketball and track at Mankato West and will be competing in basketball and track at West Charlotte High School.
El will be playing in the 2024 Indigenous Bowl with events being held during the week of December 18-22 at the Soboba Sports Complex and hosted by the Soboba Reservation in California. According to the website, “The Indigenous Bowl is the premier event for the 7G Foundation to further the goal of molding the next 7 generations of Native leaders through education, athletics, culture and real-world support. The first Indigenous Bowl was played in 2017.”
El was a 2024 Minnesota track champion in the 4×400 relay and has a personal best time of :49 in his 400m leg. He was also named All Conference in basketball and track and All City in football.
El received notice from college football recruiters when he finished his junior season with 33 catches for 561 yards and seven touchdowns. He had 43 receptions, 772 yards and eight touchdowns his senior season. As a cornerback on defense he also had three interceptions.
“I’m blessed to have been given a gift by God to be able to play these sports at such a high level,” said El Staley. “I am very connected to my spiritual side … it guides all I do in life on and off the field. I work hard to use my gift and honor God.”
The Staley family has recently moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. “We moved to be closer to family and increase the sports opportunities for our kids,” said mom Becki Staley. The Staley sons are excelling in athletics. Ephraim was a junior at Mankato West High School and competed on the cross country and track teams. He has a personal best 4:23 mile and is gaining college recruiting exposure. As a seventh grader this past cross country season, Nahshon earned a varsity letter. Sixth grader Nate played youth football and basketball.
El is determined to stay with his commitment to Mankato State football. He also plans to walk on the track team but only during the winter and spring seasons. Football is first and the priority.
“The plan is to play football at Mankato State for Coach Hoffner,” said Becki. “We know Coach Hoffner is a coach with great integrity and grit and we are excited for the opportunities he will give El. He has told us El will see the field in terms of playing time as a true freshman which is rare and we value that commitment.”
“El is such an amazing athlete but reflects so many things that are important to us culturally,” said Becki. “He is extremely humble and I always see that Native American kid out there that is going to stay pretty even keeled no matter what success comes his way and I anticipate that will carry him far in life. He is very close to our family unit and has the utmost respect for his grandfather. He really takes our family direction and life lessons with him that were handed down to El by relationship and respect for us and my father.”
El was offered a scholarship to Bemidji State University. Mankato State hosted Bemidji State, both with 10-3 records, in the NCAA DII football playoffs on Saturday, December 7, 2024. Mankato State won the early season battle 31-29.
Alex Wischnack, also known as Wisch, was Eleazar’s former high school track and field coach. He talked about his star athlete and said, “I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach El for the past three seasons. El is a rare track and field athlete that is natural at everything the does. Being a natural talent doesn’t allow him to reach the success he had as a part of our track and field program without pairing that with hard work.”
“He took the three-sport athlete mantra to heart and lived and breathed it in and out of season,” added Coach Wisch.
El has a presence at X.com where he shares his sports highlights and his other college interests: https://x.com/eleazarstaley.
