Will Rogers could have played a game of cowboys and Indians all by himself.

While Oklahoma's favorite son earned acclaim on stage, screen, radio and in his newspaper columns for his cowboy feats, he always identified himself first as a Cherokee. Although he had little Cherokee blood, he became known as "the Cherokee Kid" during his performing career.

Amy Ware, who has chosen Rogers as the subject of her dissertation, spoke Friday during the State of Sequoyah Conference, sponsored by the Cherokee Nation's State of Sequoyah Commission at Northeastern State University.

Ware, an assistant instructor at the University of Texas in Austin, hopes to attain her Ph.D. next year. She teaches a course called, "Killing John Wayne: American Indians in Popular Culture." Her multimedia presentation featured clips of Rogers' film and radio performances.

Most of the audience members have no direct experience of Rogers' humor, having been born after his death in a 1935 plane crash. So some of his barbed comments appeared to come as a pleasant surprise, sparking frequent laughter.

"I propose he was culturally a Cherokee, a man who grew up in the nation and whose father was prominent," Ware said.

Rogers was born on the Clem Rogers ranch near Oologah. But, contrary to popular belief, he never lived in Oklahoma. He left the area and began his world travels in 1902, when the area was still Indian Territory.

(The family continued its prominence over the decades. Besides the well-known Will Rogers Jr., Rogers' nephew, Clem McSpadden, represented the 2nd District of Oklahoma in Congress).

Ware described Rogers as a cowboy-Indian hybrid.

"It is a cultural mix the stereotype does not allow," Ware said.

The popular conception pitted cowboys against Indians, she said. In reality, the Indians were more likely to be fighting cavalry, while the cowboys were a mixed-heritage lot, with cowpokes ranging from various white ethnic backgrounds to black, Hispanic and yes, sometimes Indian.

During Rogers' youth, he worked cows on the Dog Iron Ranch where he grew up. He earned acclaim for his roping skills, as evidenced by the short silent film Ware presented, "The Ropin' Fool," shot in 1922. Besides such relatively basic rope work as the "Texas skip," Rogers dazzled audiences by roping horses, by throwing a loop a man and horse could gallop through without touching, and lassoing a man on horseback by the waist, without putting the rope over his head. In the latter case, the horse stepped through the rope and it went up to land around the rider's midsection.

The Rogers were a wealthy family. Both Rogers' parents came to Oklahoma before the Trail of Tears. They intermarried with Scotch and Irish.

Rogers grew up in the wake of the Civil War, and as a 10-year-old was aware of the Oklahoma land fun.

Later he would write, "We spoiled the best territory in the world to make a state."