Vine Deloria was born on the Standing Rock Reservation at Wakpala, South Dakota, on October 6, 1901. After attending St. Elizabeth's School for several years, he entered Kearney Military Academy, Kearney, Nebraska, graduating in 1921.
He attended St. Stephen's College at Annondale-on-the-Hudson, New York, and was graduated from St. Stephen's in 1926. He was active in sports throughout his college years.
He confesses that the hardest part of his collegiate studies was the English language. Lack of a good grasp of grammar and a limited vocabulary hindered progress in the other subjects he studied.
Before entering the Ministry, Vine worked in a coal mine near Colorado for a year and the following year, he spent as coach of athletics at the Fort Sill Indian School, Lawton, Oklahoma.
He graduated from the General Theological Seminary, New York City, in 1931. For the next twenty years he served as a missionary on the Pine Ridge and Sisseton Reservations in South Dakota.
Then, thinking that perhaps a little help might be needed to save the white man, he served in the Denison, Iowa area for three years. He was called next to be Assistant Secretary in charge of Indian Work in the National Headquarters of the Episcopal Church in New York City. After nearly five years in New York he returned to Iowa as a priest in charge of St. Paul's Church, Durant, Iowa.
Knowing that the Reverend Deloria had had much experience in Indian work, Bishops with Indians in their jurisdictions wanted him. However, when South Dakota called him, he returned as Archdeacon because he could then use his native language in his work, namely, the great Lakota tongue.
In 1954 Vine Deloria received the Indian Achievement Award given annually by the Indian Council Fire; and his college, St. Stephen's, conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree on him in that same year.
Vine Deloria has been in retirement since 1968.
He is the father of Vine Deloria, Jr., the author of the best seller, "Custer Died for Your Sins."