The caricaturization of the Seminole mascot by Florida State has not always been so friendly. Read this exerpt from a book about the subject-
http://books.google.com/books?id=0TG2s-lIldYC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=%22florida+state+university%22+seminole+approved+mascot+merchandise&source=bl&ots=eEtMf9K2Av&sig=tTF9tAvlOYDUw8jB1YZYQMNreKo&hl=en&ei=NnimSuSjJMP-nQeoqai5Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=17#v=onepage&q=&f=false
They had various silly mascots named
Sammy Seminole, who performed at football games in the 1960's and performed silly routines on the football field, and
Chief Fullabull, who was "even more carnivalesque" than Sammy Seminole, and "ran around performing silly stunts and clownlike routines" at basketball games in the late 1960's. None of these early caricatures were approved by the Seminoles, and in fact they were enraged and opposed to them.
Chief Fullabull changed his name to
Chief Wampumstompum, thinking it was less offensive, but it still was opposed by Seminole Indian leaders, and later it was changed to
Yahola.
I the late 1960's another axe-wielding, feathered mascot and logo emerged named
Savage Sam, a fierce warrior Indian. Finally after years of complaints about these mocking figures, the more respectful current
Chief Osceola on horseback was developed as the mascot and logo in 1978.
Still the Seminole leaders never endorsed the mascots until recent years when one single governing body of a tribe of Seminoles in Oklahoma endorsed the mascot and logo. The Florida Seminole tribe, and other Seminole tribes did not.