Chief Zee, Renown Superfan and Unofficial Redskins Mascot, Dies At 75

The Redskins confirmed Tuesday that superfan Zema Williams, better known as Chief Zee, has died in his sleep. He was 75.

Chief Zee, Renown Superfan and Unofficial Redskins Mascot, Dies At 75

“The Washington Redskins will always appreciate Zema Williams’ unique passion and dedication to our football team and his fellow Washington Redskins fans,” the team, which has long faced controversy due to — according to some — its politically insensitive name, said in a statement.

Williams, who wore a burgundy and gold faux Indian headdress and carried a toy tomahawk as the Redskins’ unofficial mascot for nearly 40 years, attended his first game as Chief Zee on Oct. 2, 1978, a Monday night matchup against the Dallas Cowboys at RFK Stadium, which Washington won 9-5. He was born in Georgia and worked as a sharecropper, picking cotton as a youth.

In a 2013 interview with former Washington Post columnist Mike Wise, Williams claimed he had only missed four Redskins home games, all due to funerals, including the one following the death of his father in 1981. Williams also became close friends with his Cowboys counterpart, Wilford “Crazy Ray” Jones, who died in 2007. Williams traveled to Texas for Dallas Week in 28 of the first 29 years after he created the Chief Zee alter ego, mainly because of the bond he formed with Crazy Ray, who only missed three Cowboys home games in 46 seasons.

“We became like brothers,” Williams once said of Jones, who first invited him to Texas for the Redskins-Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day in 1978 after seeing him in the RFK Stadium crowd on TV.

Williams also occasionally traveled to Redskins road games, but stopped attending New York Giants road games after being pushed down an escalator in 1979 and ceased attending Philadelphia Eagles road games after he broke his leg and had his right eye dislodged from its socket in the Veterans Stadium parking lot in 1983.

“I don’t put myself in danger like that no more,” Williams told The Post in 2007, one year after his left big toe was amputated following complications from a surgery. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder purchased a motorized scooter that Williams used to get around in his later years.

After hearing news of Williams’ passing, Redskins players DeSean Jackson and Chris Baker expressed their condolences on Instagram.

According to Matt Terl of The Washington City Paper, a group of die-hard Redskins fans started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Williams when he fell behind on his rent earlier this year. Their goal was met in less than 24 hours and the list of donors included former Redskins Darryl Grant, Phillip Daniels and Leigh Torrance. One of the fans who organized the GoFundMe, who met Chief Zee as a child at RFK Stadium and prefers to go by the nickname Tailgate Ted, said there will be a vigil for Williams at Redskins Park on Tuesday evening.

“I just can’t believe he’s gone,” he said Tuesday during a phone call with The Washington Post. 

LANDOVER, MD – OCTOBER 23: Washington Redskins fan Chief Zee cheers during the second half of the game against the San Francisco 49ers on October 23, 2005 at Fed Ex Field in Landover, Maryland. The Redskins defeated the 49ers 52-17. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)