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A 1933 edition of James Fenimore Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans,' illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and William J. Jenack Auctioneers.

James Fenimore Cooper’s hometown drops ‘Redskins’

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
A 1933 edition of James Fenimore Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans,' illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and William J. Jenack Auctioneers.
A 1933 edition of James Fenimore Cooper’s ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and William J. Jenack Auctioneers.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) – Athletes in James Fenimore Cooper’s hometown will no longer take the field as the Redskins.

The school board in the upstate New York village of Cooperstown voted 6-to-1 Wednesday night to retire the nickname, which goes back to the 1920s. The vote was prompted by Cooperstown Central School students who found it offensive to American Indians.

Cooperstown is best known as the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. But it was also the hometown of Cooper, who wrote The Last of the Mohicans and whose father settled the town.

The Daily Star of Oneonta reports (http://bit.ly/XY8AMe ) that the school has yet to choose a new nickname. Possible replacements include Deerslayers, Hawkeyes and Pathfinders – each a nod to Cooper’s works.

The Redskins nickname will be retired in June.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-03-07-13 1524GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

A 1933 edition of James Fenimore Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans,' illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and William J. Jenack Auctioneers.
A 1933 edition of James Fenimore Cooper’s ‘The Last of the Mohicans,’ illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and William J. Jenack Auctioneers.