Washington Redskins Super Bowl–winning quarterback Joe Theismann weighed in on the controversy surrounding his former team’s name. “I was very proud to play for the Washington Redskins, and I did it to honor Native people in that regard,” he said in an interview.

“I can just tell you that when I put that uniform on, and I put that helmet on with the Redskin logo on it, I felt like I was representing more than the Washington Redskins, I was representing the great Native American nations that exist in this country,” Theismann told South Dakota’s Argus Leader newspaper.

He also recalled a recent visit with an American Indian boy in a nearby hospital, whose family supported the name. “And as I shook his hand the father said to me ‘You’re a Redskin,’ and he said it in a very complimentary way, which was very humbling to me,” Theismann said.

Theismann said a decision to change the team’s name is “totally up to” Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder. Snyder has stated he will “never” change the name.

Via Talking Points Memo.