Hot shot lawyer joins fight to save Massapequa Chiefs name out of love for hometown: Thats our identity

A high-powered lawyer joined the fight to keep the Massapequa Chiefs name and dissolve a state ban on Native American imagery in schools — and he worked pro bono out of hometown pride.Nashville, Tennessee-based Oliver Roberts, who grew up in town before graduating from Harvard Law, stepped up in the 11th hour to join a reinvigorated legal battle against the Empire State’s logo ban.“I think Massapequa is a great place, great people — a place of great values.I just thought it was my way of being able to give back,” Roberts, who played soccer and basketball in the Massapequa school system as a boy, told The Post.“That’s what this is really all about — the state attacking towns like Massapequa, which just are towns that care about their local values,” said Roberts, a 29-year-old constitutional lawyer who successfully took on the IRS twice in court.Roberts kept up with the Massapequa school district’s initial, lengthy lawsuit against the state Board of Regents after it imposed the ban in 2023, complete with threats of the funding penalties if schools didn’t comply.The Chiefs had faced their case getting dismissed in court in March, but the town sent an SOS to President Trump, who deployed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to intervene on behalf of the close South Shore community. “LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!” the POTUS declared in April.Roberts, who previously sat on the Massapequa district’s finance subcommittee, felt a call to action.He reached out to former school board member Gary Baldinger, a noteworthy Massapequa high alum who also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, with a simple text: “How can I help out?”Roberts worked pro bono for weeks to file an amended lawsuit ahead of a June deadline on behalf of the district, which has said rebranding would cost taxpayers $1 million.Now with a long legal road ahead, Roberts is on the ‘Pequa payroll and is playing for the Chiefs again, this time in the courthouseIn May, he and ...