Former coach Joe Gibbs says he's OK with Redskins name
While debate continues to rage in Washington over whether the city's National Football League franchise should change its name, the most successful coach in team history doesn't see what the fuss is all about.
NFL Hall of Fame member Joe Gibbs, who won three Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, said Saturday afternoon he never once heard anyone complain about the team's name.
"I grew up in North Carolina. The only team we could get on TV in the late '40s was the Redskins," Gibbs said during a NASCAR sponsor announcement for his Joe Gibbs Racing team at Kentucky Speedway. "I pulled for 'em my whole life. Never thought I had a dream of coaching 'em.
"For the whole time I was there -- 15 years -- and Cindy told me the other day, my secretary who was there for the last four years, never once did I hear anybody ever say anything negative about the name 'Redskins,'" said Gibbs. "It was always prideful. It was courage involved. We have a song, 'Hail To The Redskins.' And so everything -- everything -- about that name has been positive for me in my past."
