Cooxooeii Black, Colorado College, Men's Basketball

COOXOOEII BLACK OF COLORADO COLLEGE, a senior on the men's basketball team from Arapaho, Wyoming, has been selected as the SCAC Character & Community Male Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning January 27.

The SCAC Character & Community award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.



Growing up on the Wind River Reservation in west-central Wyoming as a member of the Northern Arapaho Nation, CooXooEii (pronounced jaw-kah-hay) participated in numerous tribal rituals and customs.

Little did he know that one of those rituals, the Grass Dance which has steps performed to the cadence of a drum, would have a profound impact on his ability to turn his passion for basketball into an opportunity to attend one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the country.

As one legend has it, a handicapped boy who wanted to dance was instructed by a medicine man to seek inspiration in the prairie. There, the boy observed the swaying of the grass and had a vision of himself dancing in the same oscillating motion. When he shared this vision with his village, the use of his legs was returned and he performed the Grass Dance for the first time.

CooXooEii, whose name means ‘Warrior Stands with Weapon,’ had a vision of his own. His vision was to play college basketball and the footwork he developed through years of performing the Grass Dance became an essential aspect of his game.

CC head coach Andy Partee first noticed the 6-foot-7 forward when he was playing AAU basketball for Team Denver. After CooXooEii’s first attempt at admission to Colorado College was declined, Partee suggested to his club coach, Sam Reese, that a post-graduate year might improve his transcript enough to earn a spot in the class of 2020.

Like a true warrior who understood what he needed to do and was brave enough to forge his own path, CooXooEii traveled more than 2,000 miles away from his home in Arapahoe, Wyo., to spend a year at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, N.H.

After proving himself in the classroom, CC’s Admissions office took a second look at CooXooEii’s application and offered him the opportunity to attend college at the one place that could fulfill all of his needs - proximity to the Wind River Reservation, academic excellence and the opportunity to play collegiate basketball.

When Colorado College fans saw CooXooEii for the first time in the fall of 2016, one of the first things they noticed was his long black hair, braided down his back. More often than not, by the end of those games, they became mesmerized by his artistic footwork, including his signature drop step, which drew opposing defenders out of position and resulted in easy baskets. 

During the first three seasons of his collegiate career, CooXooEii’s on-court performance resulted in a pair of second-team all-conference honors from the SCAC.

This season, despite being the focal point of every opponent’s defensive strategy, CooXooEii has been nearly unstoppable. Through the first 17 games, he ranks second in the conference averaging a career-high 20.8 points, sixth at 8.2 rebounds per game and second with a .549 field-goal percentage.

This year alone, Black has scored 20 or more points on 11 occasions. He also has posted seven double-doubles (points-rebounds) and owns a career total of 23.

In addition to being the SCAC’s most dominating big man, Black has etched his name into a spot among the most productive players in program history. He currently ranks fourth with 653 rebounds, sixth with 86 blocked shots, ninth with 1,466 points and tied for 26th with 141 assists.

By the end of the season, he likely will become the only player in program history, and just the fourth in the SCAC annals, to have recorded 1,500 or more points and 700 or more rebounds.

The two-time captain of the basketball team also makes time to embrace his spiritual side as a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving as chapter president during each of the last two years.

While some may question how it’s possible to reconcile the beliefs of his ancestors with the teachings of Christianity, the foundation of CooXooEii’s success is rooted in the love and support he receives from his family, which is consistent throughout both sources of his spirituality.   

Much like having defenders draped on his back as CC’s go-to post player, in some ways, CooXooEii shoulders the weight of the Wind River Reservation in everything he does.

In addition to his performance on the court, CooXooEii’s creative nature extends to the classroom, where he owns a 3.25 grade-point average in English, with an emphasis on creative writing and poetry.

Putting the same level of commitment into his academics that he does into basketball helps all of the young players in his tribe understand the true meaning of being a student-athlete.

After graduating in May, CooXooEii’s short-term goal is to attend graduate school and earn a master’s of fine art in creative writing, with the hopes to publish a book of poetry based on his experiences as a Native American.

In the future, he intends to return home and operate a basketball camp that focuses on empowering the young as well as mentoring high school athletes on how to prepare for and earn the opportunities he enjoyed as a college athlete. 

Even though CooXooEii dances to the beat of his own drum, he does it in a manner which honors his Northern Arapaho heritage and makes his family and friends on the Wind River Reservation proud.