Joe Dan Osceola
| Seminole leader |
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Chief "Joe Dan" Osceola is a Chief and Ambassador of the Native American Seminole Indian Tribe.[1][2] Chief "Joe Dan" Osceola is the appointed Seminole Tribal Ambassador, who formerly held the position as the youngest Chief and Tribal President elected in Seminole history. Chief Joe Dan Osceola is the great-great-great grandson of Chief Osceola, "Unconquered Chief".
Joe Dan excelled in football, basketball and track, and in 1957 he became the first Florida Seminole to graduate from high school; he would later become the first to graduate college as well. Florida State University, whose athletic teams are nicknamed the "Seminoles", offered him a scholarship to play quarterback. Instead he elected to attend Georgetown College in Kentucky, where he ran track and cross-country. He was also a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, and remains close with fraternity brothers today.
After graduating, Joe Dan returned to the Brighton reservation and worked with the federal government on Indian affairs. After being elected as the tribe's President and Chief at the age of 30, he moved to the tribal headquarters on the Hollywood tribal reservation. He worked with the National Congress of American Indians, the biggest lobbyist group for Indians. He serves as an Ambassador of the tribe.
Chief Joe Dan was bestowed with honorary doctorate degrees from Georgetown and Florida State University due to his diligent work throughout the United States, as he was the youngest president of any Indian tribe in North America and founded the United Southeastern Tribes, a coalition of the Seminole, Miccosukee, Cherokee and Choctaw tribes.[3]