MITCHELL CYPRESS

BY VIDA VOLKERT, STAFF WRITER, FLORIDA STATE TIMES

Mitchell Cypress treasures education because he knows it is the key to his people's success.

As the chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida - one of the most successful tribes in North America - Cypress manages an annual budget of $15 million. Among his priorities is to push for educational reforms within the tribe and encourage its youth to attend college.

"My goal is to support higher education among tribal members," Cypress said. "The tribal council works hard to provide choice."

If a member of the tribe does matriculate the tribe pays the student's tuition and living expenses, regardless of the school. Some Seminoles have chosen FSU, a choice the tribe takes pride in. It also is proud of FSU's use of Seminole symbolism, according to Cypress.

"We (the Seminole Tribe of Florida) don't have anything against it," Cypress said. "There are two sets of Seminoles. The ones who do not accept Florida State using 'Seminoles' is the Oklahoma Nation.

"We could give tribal members tangible items that could possibly one day be taken away from them," he said. "But Florida State can give education to our people and that is something that no one can take away.

"One of the things that Florida State University gives us is a sense of pride. FSU could have chosen anyone else to portray and use as its mascot. We are proud that a university as prestigious as Florida State decided to use us. And it was a great decision because we are called the unconquered Seminoles. We are the only tribe that never signed a treaty with the United States government."

Cypress went on to praise FSU for "rolling out the red carpet" for tribal high school graduates who attend, and for the university's sensitivity in seeking guidance from the tribe's cultural department so any Seminole symbolism will be portrayed accurately.

As for Cypress, when the work day is over, he prefers to ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle to his Everglades home. His laid-back image is completed by his handmade, Seminole-patched jacket, blue jeans and cowboy boots. Even though he enjoys all of the trappings of the chairmanship, among them a private jet and helicopter, Cypress tries to keep a low profile and his people's traditions intact. He believes in family values and leading a simple and healthy life.

Growing up a Seminole Indian and poor in the 1950s was tough for Cypress. He was harassed and discriminated against by classmates while attending a white-dominated school in Clewiston.

"My mother had to get up at 4 a.m. to get us prepared to go to the bus stop, and we had to travel at least 45 miles on an old military bus to get to school," Cypress said.

"Sometimes we did not have much in the way of clothes or shoes, or sometimes we did not eat because we did not have money to pay for lunch. Those things were hard, but there was no excuse to stay home."

Many of his fellow Seminole classmates chose to drop out and stayed on the reservation growing tomatoes. But Cypress always felt that he needed to go as far as he could. Encouraged by his mother, he went to boarding school in Oklahoma, to the equivalent of a technical school.

"I went as far as I could," he said.

Later, Cypress served in the Army during the Vietnam War and, when he returned to the Big Cypress Reservation, he became interested in politics. For 16 years, Cypress represented his community among tribal leaders. He was elected president of the tribe in 1995 and elected chairman in June 2003.

From his office in the stunning four-story tribal headquarters building on the Hollywood Reservation - one of six and the center of operations - Cypress oversees the tribe's $300 million gambling empire.

The tribe owns casinos in five cities around the state, including a recently inaugurated Hard Rock Café in Hollywood. It also is among the top six producers of beef in Florida.

With around 3,000 members, the tribe is descended from the few Seminole Indians who did not leave the Florida peninsula when the U.S. government forced the Seminoles to relocate to a reservation in Oklahoma in the late 1800s. The Seminoles who stayed in Florida survived by scattering, hiding themselves in the Everglades until the early 1900s, when Seminoles and whites began to trade peacefully. The tribe was recognized by the federal government in 1957 and Billie Osceola - Cypress' mentor - was elected the first tribal chairman.