Ralph Sturges, the chief of the Mohegan tribe and a philanthropist, activist, and sculptor, died yesterday. Sturges greatest accomplishment during his chiefdom was to gain federal recognition for the tribe, paving the way for the Mohegan Sun resort casino (and, incidentally, my favorite pro basketball arena).

Earlier this year, Sturges explained his support of bringing the Sun basketball franchise to Uncasville:

"One of the reasons I was behind bringing the team here was not because we wanted to make money from the WNBA team," Sturges says. "It was to give us a chance to publicly advertise in all major magazines and newspapers. It gave us an in that we never had before."

When I was a kid, I went on a field trip to the Mohegan museum, which was essentially a few rooms in a house off of route 32 in Montville. We kids were impressed to meet the actual chief of the tribe, Chief Little Hatchet (Courtland Fowler), as well as the tribe's medicine woman (Gladys Tantaquidgeon--and yes, we had to learn how to spell that!) and to see the artifacts of the tribe's history. It's truly amazing to see how much the tribe has accomplished since then to restore their history and regain their importance in the fabric of life in Connecticut. Gaming, for all its negative impacts, has had a hugely positive effect for the tribe, as well as for the people they employ from the larger community, and Ralph Sturges is the man to thank for that.