From the Wikipedia article:
The Fighting Whites were an intramural basketball team formed at the University of Northern Colorado in 2002. The reason that an intramural college team briefly attracted a storm of national attention is that, in order to make a satirical protest about stereotypes of Native Americans being used as sports mascots (such as the Florida State Seminoles or the NFL’s Washington Redskins), the team adopted the name “Fighting Whites”, with an accompanying logo of a stereotypical “white man” (styled after advertising art of the 1950s) as their team mascot. The original internet news article about the team mis-identified them as the “Fighting Whities”, inadvertently increasing the comic appeal of their name and logo. In response to customer demand, they eventually began selling t-shirts under each name. The team sold enough shirts that they were eventually able to endow a sizeable scholarship fund for Native American students at UNC. The team reportedly included players variously of Native American, white, and black ancestry.
I do love the Madison Avenue image of the 50s everyman -check out their store chuck full of the Fightin’ Whites buttons and t-shirts on cafepress.
