In the AJC’s “How Do You Like Me Now?” series, Darryl Maxie tracks down blasts from Atlanta’s past and finds out what they’ve been doing.

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1982: Chief Noc-A-Homa celebrates with Braves pitcher Gene Garber and teammates.

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Former Atlanta Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa

Claim to fame: Levi Walker Jr. was the third, and most well known, of the people who played Chief Noc-A-Homa, the Braves mascot who had a tepee in the left-field stands at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from 1969 to 1986. When management removed his tepee in 1982 to add more seats, the Braves immediately lost 19 of 21 games, prompting a fan outcry that resulted in the tepee being reinstated. They then recovered and won the National League West. He and the Braves parted company in 1986, after Walker said the club cited missed public appearances.

Vital stats

Age: 67

Family: Divorced. Son Darryl and daughter Gwin.

Resides: Petoskey, Mich.

Occupation: Native interpreter for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians

About life as the chief

Now: “I still dream about the old stadium. Three or four nights ago, I had a dream. When you put 16 years of your life into a job, that’s one-fourth of my life.”

Then: “I always had great respect for the fans because they always had great respect for me.”

About the tepee

Now: “I would like to see it [at Turner Field]. I respect the Braves organization, and we agreed to disagree [about reinstating it]. … People were curious about what happened out there in the tepee. I spent the games signing baseball caps and gloves. It would start in the second inning, and we closed it in the eighth inning. I had a couple of girls there for crowd control, Princess Poc-a-homa and Princess Win-a-lotta. The one thing was, the kids got Noc-A-Homa. The adults always thought it was some mystical name. Then they finally figured out, ‘Ohhhhh, knock a homer!’

Then: “We went on a skid [in 1982] and people were saying, ‘They took the tepee down, they took the tepee down, that’s what it is!’ … I mean, people were putting up tepees in front of hotels, in front of the state capitol, in their front yards. And the outcry of the general public influenced Ted Turner, and he said, ‘Put the tepee back up.’ “

About Braves he respected

Then: “I remember Eddie Mathews, whether it was a chess game or a boxing match, if you beat him, he would come back and get you. He’d say, ‘Chief, you remember that chess game?’ I had a lot of respect for him.”

Now: “I’ve got a lot of respect for Bobby Cox. He deserves all the recognition he gets. Four years ago, he had a lot of guys who were disabled, so they had to bring up a lot of rookies and he had them close to contention for the playoffs. That says a lot about him, to take a bunch of ragtag players and make the playoffs.”

About political correctness

Now: “Political correctness is an oxymoron, like ‘pretty awful’ or ‘military intelligence.’ The first indication is that it starts with the word ‘political.’ That tells you there’s something wrong. It leaves no room for discussion, negotiation, equality. Political correctness is my way or the highway.”

Then: “As soon as I became Chief Noc-A-Homa, I felt my neck stretching over a chopping block. I knew somebody wouldn’t like it. … All those people in the Native American movement were calling me Uncle Tom, sellout, turncoat and all these other names. The tomahawk chop. They protested it. But why didn’t they protest the tomahawk missile? It’s more deadly, capable of going in a door or a window and killing everybody.”

About appearing again

Now: “I’m going to be back in Helen, Ga., on April 14 with [former Braves] Phil Niekro, Craig Skok, Darrel Chaney and other celebrities in a golf tournament for the United Way, and I’ll be dressed out as Levi Walker, aka Chief Noc-A-Homa.”

Then: “I thought about coming back in ‘91, but they decided against it. … I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if Chief Noc-A-Homa came back and passed the baton on to a younger Chief Noc-A-Homa?’ “