‘Chief Noc-A-Homa’, beloved former Atlanta Braves mascot, dies at 81

“he loved baseball.”ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Atlanta is mourning the loss of a beloved legend in baseball.

Levi Walker, Jr., known by the community as Atlanta Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa, died Friday afternoon with family by his side. Walker served as the Braves’ mascot from 1966 to 1985 and became famous for doing a dance on the pitcher’s mound before games and interacting with fans and players.

In July 2022, the 80-year-old chief was rushed to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center after his health began declining.

READ: Former Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa in failing health

“I’ve been blessed by the fans to be the mascot for the Atlanta Braves,” Chief Noc-A-Homa said last year.

“He loved baseball,” Walker’s daughter, Gwyn Walker Newman, said.

For Walker, a full-blood member of the Odawa Tribe, the mission was simple: he wanted to represent Native Americans on a large stage.

In the late 60s, he noticed there wasn’t a lot of representation going on with Atlanta Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa, who to that point, was portrayed by white men.

His former wife, Mary Mularz, recounted how Walker convinced the Braves to let him take over the role.

“He goes in with his full Indian outfit on and says that he wants to speak to the general manager, and the secretary says into the phone, ‘There’s an Indian out here who wants to talk with you,’” she said.

Perhaps surprisingly, Braves management agreed, and a legend was born.

For the next 17 years, the Chief became a fixture of Atlanta baseball at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

One reporter even wrote that kids might not know who Jeff Burroughs or Andy Messersmith were, but they sure as heck knew Chief Noc-A-Homa.

“People I went to high school with, friends, other adults tell me, ‘We didn’t go to see the Braves. We went to see your dad,’” Walker Newman said. “They went to see my dad!”

On-field feats that included pre-game rain dances and perfect form running. He was there when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run and when Rick Camp hit his only home run.

The Chief was a celebrity who would draw a crowd in public. Noc-A-Homa rubbed elbows with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and rock stars like Jerry Reed, but he always had time for his biggest fans: the kids, visiting them at stadiums and hospitals.

“He was probably probably 6-8, something like that, and he was dying,” Walker Newman said, recalling a trip with her father to see a child with leukemia. “My dad made him happy.”

In fact, it’s hard to find any photos or videos of the Chief where people aren’t smiling.

Even after Chief Noc-A-H retired before the 1986 season, the persona lived on in a generation of fans.

“People would flock around him, because they loved him,” Newman Walker said. “He had this charisma.”

That charisma was important to create an environment that could cross over cultural barriers and help Atlanta fall in love with baseball.

“I’m going to miss him,” Walker Newman said.

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