Redwoods’ Indigenous roots: History of the bear and tree in Haudenosaunee culture

When you look at the sidelines during a California Redwoods game, you’ll see defensive coordinator Chris Collins wearing his team hat. Usually, he goes with the one with the bear logo on it.

He was even wearing it at the hospital after the birth of his son.

The bear is Collins’s favorite animal, and that predates his tenure as a coach with the Redwoods. It comes from what he’s learned from former teammates and coaches about what the bear means in Haudenosaunee culture.

“That’s why I’m honored to be one of the coaches of the California Redwoods,” he said. “The meanings of the bear and the tree, they are two iconic pieces of their culture. I think it’s pretty rad.”

When Redwoods LC launched as one of the Premier Lacrosse League’s initial six clubs, their logo was a bear on a crest designed with furrowed bark, representing a tree.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated before the 2019 season, PLL co-founder Paul Rabil said, “[The team name] captures topography a little bit more than maybe the others. We looked at Redwoods as one that is a group of leaders, both feared and admired, who have tradition in the sport.”

Accomplished, veteran professional lacrosse players like Kyle Harrison, Greg Gurenlian and Joe Walters donned the uniform with that iconography; at the same time, they were representing two very significant symbols in Haudenosaunee culture.

Dr. Thomas James Reed is from the Oneida Nation. He is an assistant professor of American Indian Studies at California State University, Long Beach and a broadcaster for the Southern California Lacrosse League. While different communities will have slightly varying explanations of certain symbols, he explained that the bears – a symbol of strength, healing and wisdom – are the Keepers of the Medicine.

As lacrosse is the Medicine Game, the bear plays an important role in protecting the sport and its values. That means a lot to Collins.

“The game itself is truly magical and a form of healing. The medicine that comes with even picking your stick up, I legit feel that,” he said. “I joke about it with my daughters all the time. ‘If you ever need some energy, go walk over and pick up your stick.’ That’s something I’ve always wanted to convey to them, that the game is always bigger than just wins and losses.”

“I say to my family, we are a lacrosse family,” he added. “We understand how important healing is and how important the game is to us.”

The tree is also a symbol of great significance for multiple reasons. Like the bear, it symbolizes great wisdom because of its deep roots and old age.

During the California gold rush, many trees – including redwoods – were cut down and used to build houses and other goods. In the book “City of Wood: San Francisco and the Architecture of the Redwood Lumber Industry,” author James Michael Buckley wrote that the trees “gave their ancient souls to produce wealth for human hands.”

While many of the redwoods in California were cut down, preservation efforts were made to protect the trees, which can live for 2,000 years.

“They’re really beautiful and powerful, redwoods, and have deep connections,” Dr. Reed said. “Similar as you would a grandfather or grandmother, a really old relative you respect very much, is how you would want to respect a tree.”

Though the 2025 California Redwoods roster was one of the youngest in the PLL, they did have a few veterans (Dylan Molloy was even nicknamed “Gramps”) who were locker room leaders. Romar Dennis was one of those veterans, and he said being associated with the redwood and longevity was inspiring.

“Lacrosse is so new to California relative to the rest of the country, and it’s cool to get tied to something so old like the redwood tree and all these things that have been here for a long time and us trying to establish some tradition,” he said. “Just getting tied to some things with some legacy and some meaning in California, that helps us feel a lot more significance for representing California with our team but also helps connect us to the state. I think it will be a really pivotal foundational piece to what our team means to the state of California and being here in these early years of hopefully what is here for a long time in the PLL.”

In the Haudenosaunee culture, the tree is also a symbol of peace.  The Haudenosaunee have the Great Law of Peace, which is the oral and written agreement that establishes the unified and peaceful government between member nations (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora).

“It’s rooted in the Great Tree of Peace. The Great Tree of Peace was originally in Onondaga,” Dr. Reed said. “It’s the central fire for the Haudenosaunee, for the people of the Longhouse. This Great Tree of Peace was a place where we buried our weapons underneath it. It was symbolic because at the time we were once five nations, before the Tuscarora joined, and this great white pine tree of peace, its pine needles grew in clumps of five and was symbolic of us coming together.”

Knowing how the tree has brought people together in the past, Dennis hopes the tree they represent can do the same for sports fans in California.

When teams were assigned specific regions before the 2024 season, Dennis was surprised one team – the Redwoods – was tasked with representing an entire state as large as California. He thought of his home state of Maryland having both the Orioles and Ravens, while not too far away, Washington, D.C., has the Nationals and the Commanders.

He even thought back when Major League Lacrosse had both the Los Angeles Riptide and the San Francisco Dragons. But he said it would be cool to be able to unite the different fan bases.

“I thought, ‘That’s a pretty daunting task,’ when the PLL rolled out regions,” Dennis said. “San Francisco Giants fans don’t cheer for the Padres and Sacramento Kings and Lakers, etc. The state’s so big. … I’m like, ‘There’s no way everybody in California will identify with or relate,’ but I think everyone has done a really good job.”

“There’s obviously a part of Northern California called Redwood City, and talking to people up there, they’re immediately like, ‘Alright, cool. We have our team,’” he added. “People down in Orange County and San Diego, all those kids cheer for the Redwoods, as well, and kids here in LA. I think that’s a really huge task, and that’s a really interesting comparison to the Six Nations coming together because it’s also a very big region [with] a lot of different cultures and people who have different beliefs.”

The Redwoods did well to represent the state on the field in 2025, finishing as one of the top four teams in the league and earning a spot in the Championship Series as well as reaching the semifinals. Additionally, five different Redwoods took home individual postseason awards, including Brian Tevlin, who won the Jimmy Regan Teammate of the Year award, and Dennis, who won the Welles Crowther Humanitarian Award.

Collins feels a great responsibility to uphold and share the significance of the bear, the tree and the game of lacrosse.

“Now it’s my job,” Collins said. “Everything I’ve learned from the mouths of my former teammates, to be an ambassador of what the game means in general and how it’s supposed to be played with a calm mind, with peace, that’s one thing you’re never taught growing up. The game is just put the ball in the back of the net, but to actually have the significance and understanding of playing the game for the Creator and its healing powers and purpose, that’s my takeaway.”