May 17, 2012
Jim Thorpe won the 1500 meter run, the last event of the pentathlon, with a time of 4 minutes 44.8 seconds. Avery Brundage did not finish but was awarded seven points, comparable to a last place finish. Whether he started and did not finish or just didn’t bother to run at all is unclear. Ironically, Thorpe could have finished dead last in the 1500 meters and still won the pentathlon but he probably never considered loafing to save his energy for the decathlon. Brundage finished in sixth place overall, ahead of Hugo Wieslander, who finished fourth in the 1500 meters. The best Brundage could hope for if he came in first, second or third was a bronze medal because, even if he finished dead last, Ferdinand Bie of Norway would have had only 22 points overall as he had only 15 points coming into the 1500 meters where Brundage already had 24. A first place finish would have given Brundage 25. A fourth place finish would have given him 28 points, still good enough for a bronze because James Donahue and Frank Lukeman both finished with 29 points in a tie for third place. The tie was broken by recalculating their results using the method used for the decathlon with the result that Donahue was awarded the bronze medal
According to Wikipedia, Brundage chose not to compete in the final event of the decathlon, again the 1500 meter run, and later regretted the decision. It may be that he also chose not to run the 1500 meters in the pentathlon as well. Perhaps his biographer, Allen Guttman, can shed some light on this but it has been decades since he wrote about Brundage and he may have forgotten the details.
Something that is clearer now is that the Brundage who came in second to Frank Cayou in a track meet held at the University of Illinois on April 28, 1900 probably was Avery. Although still in high school in Chicago, his times were already good enough to compete with college boys.
Tags: 1500 meters, 1912 Olympics, Allan Guttmann, Avery Brundage, Ferdinand Bie, Frank Lukeman, Hugo Wieslander, James Donahue, Pentathlon, Stockholm Olympics
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Frank Cayou, Jim Thorpe | Leave a Comment »
May 15, 2012
Six days before beginning the decathlon competition, Jim Thorpe won the Men’s Pentathlon (not to be confused with the Modern Pentathlon which will be discussed later). Unlike the decathlon, all five pentathlon events were held on the same day, July 7, 1912. The first event was the long jump which Jim Thorpe won with a jump of 7.07 meters. Average Brundage’s 6.83 meter jump was good enough for fourth place. Next up was the javelin which was won by Hugo Wieslander of Sweden with a throw of 49.56 meters. Thorpe’s 46.71 was good enough for third place while Brundage’s 42.85 was ninth. The third event was the 200-meter run which Thorpe won with a time of 22.9 seconds. Brundage came in 15th.
After three events were completed, only the top twelve were allowed to continue; the rest were eliminated. It isn’t clear to me if the rules called for only the top twelve to continue or if those with composite scores higher than 25 were eliminated. Either scheme arrives at the same place in this case. Jim Thorpe was the overall leaders at this point with two firsts and a third place finish for five points total (1+3+1). Avery Brundage’s 22 points (4+7+11) kept him in the game tied for seventh place.
Only the top six competitors were allowed to continue after the fourth event, the discus. Jim Thorpe won that one too with a throw of 35.57 meters. The discus throw must have been Avery Brundage’s best event because he placed second in it. When overall scores were recalculated to determine who made the cut, Thorpe was, of course, well ahead in first place at six points. Surprisingly, Brundage was tied for third with 22 points. Because two men tied for sixth place, seven were allowed to compete in the last event.
<continued next time>
Tags: 1912 Olympics, Avery Brundage, Hugo Wieslander, Pentathlon, Stockholm Olympics
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Jim Thorpe | Leave a Comment »
May 10, 2012
This year is the 100th anniversary of the 1912 Olympic Games that were held in Stockholm, Sweden. What makes that important to us is the participation of two Carlisle Indians: Jim Thorpe and Lewis Tewanima. Writers across the country and even from England are working on articles about these games and the two men who starred in those games. The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, DC is even opening an exhibit concerning American Indians’ participation in the Olympics on May 24. As a result, experts such as Bob Wheeler are being interviewed by various reporters and other writers. Even I am being asked to verify details.
The other day, I got a phone call from someone about a detail about which I had never given any thought: exactly when was the decathlon competed in the 1912 Olympics? Fortunately, with the use of the Internet, the answer could readily be found. The 1912 Decathlon was competed over three days. On the first day, July 13, the 100 meters, long jump, and shot put were held. The second day, July 14, hosted four events: 400 meters, high jump, discus throw, and 110 meter hurdles. On the third day, July 15, were the pole vault, javelin throw, and 1,500 meters.
Something that I find interesting is that Jim Thorpe tied for third in the pole vault, an event for which his physique was not well suited. Pole vaulters tend to be wiry, something that Thorpe wasn’t. Yes, he had tremendous upper body strength, but that was offset by his overall body mass as muscle is heavy. His great leg strength and running speed probably made up for his weight as he cleared 3.25 meters (10 feet 7.95 inches) in those pre-fiberglass pole days.
The decathlon was a battle of endurance as much as anything. Of the 29 athletes who started the event on the first day, only 12 finished all 10 events. Among the non-finishers was Avery Brundage. After finishing 10th in the pole vault, Brundage dropped out without competing in the javelin or 1,500 meters. Even at that, he is listed as placing 16th in the decathlon.
Tags: 1912 Olympics, Avery Brundage, decathlon, Lewis Tewanima, Stockholm
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Jim Thorpe | Leave a Comment »
May 8, 2012
Vance McCormick wasn’t a slacker child who lived with his wealthy parents and coached the Carlisle Indian School football team to give himself something to do, he worked in the family businesses. After he returned home from Yale in 1893, he helped his father operate his many businesses that included Central iron and Steel, Dauphin Deposit Bank, and Harrisburg Bridge Company. After his father died in 1897, Vance was in charge of the entire enterprise. The McCormicks were hard working Scots-Irish Presbyterians who attended Pine Street Presbyterian Church. At Yale, Vance split with his father on politics and became a Democrat.
In 1900 at age 27, Vance began his career in politics by running for and winning a seat on Harrisburg’s common council from the 4th ward. About the time he turned 30, he began a term as mayor of Harrisburg. McCormick’s legacy to Harrisburg is still seen today in the city’s park system. Less visible, but more impactful, are the water filtration plant that supplied clean drinking water to the residents of Harrisburg at a time when neither Philadelphia nor Boston had such a facility. He also had 45 miles of city streets paved. A reformer, Horace McFarland credited him with cleaning up Harrisburg morally as well as physically as fast as he could in his one term as mayor. And he wasn’t a full-time mayor! In 1902, he also became publisher of the Patriot-News, which he had ferreting out Republican corruption. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 1914 as organized labor and liquor interests opposed him. Today, he is perhaps remembered most for what he did on the national level.
McCormick’s restructuring of the moribund state Democratic party was a turning point in his political career. He was instrumental in shifting the Democrats to progressivism. Vance became a major player on the national stage. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee (1916-19) and served as Woodrow Wilson’s campaign manager. He chaired the War Trade Board (1916-19) and served on the Commission to Negotiate Peace at Versailles in 1919.
After the war, McCormick returned to Harrisburg where he published both the Patriot-News and the Evening News. At age 52, he married for the first time to the widow of eight-term Republican congressman Marlin Olmstead. He died in 1946 at his country home, Cedar Cliff Farms, across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg.
Tags: Cedar Cliff Farms, Evening News, Horace McFarland, Marlin Olmstead, Patriot-News, Treaty of Versailles, Vance McCormick, War Trade Board, Woodrow Wilson
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football | Leave a Comment »
May 3, 2012
We need a little more information on Carlisle’s first coach to put the man in proper perspective. Vance McCormick was a great player, but was he a good coach? We already know he was a Walter Camp All America quarterback at Yale in 1891. Looking closer at the caption under his photo in the 1892 Spalding’s Guide reveals that he was also captain of the 1892 Yale squad. In those days being captain meant a lot more than it does today. Captains took a leadership role unknown to today’s players. They were field generals who directed their teammates’ actions when they were on the field of play. Coaches weren’t allowed to send in instructions—even via substitutions. So, a former Yale captain would have been better prepared than an ordinary player to coach a team. But this was no ordinary team. In the beginning, Carlisle Indian School football players had no previous training in the sport. Many had likely played on shop teams but those teams wouldn’t have had coaches (or at least coaches who knew anything about football) and the players would not have been taught the fundamentals of the game.
Vance McCormick probably the extent of the challenge when he took on the job. His teammates at Yale had likely been coached prior to college at the high schools or prep schools they attended and knew the fundamentals before arriving in New Haven. Moreover, they weren’t going to be on the varsity team the first year there anyway. That year would be spent on the freshman team, where they would work on the fundamentals extensively. Given McCormick’s family background, it is likely that he was well coached before arriving in New Haven. Vance McCormick wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth—a whole tea set is more like it. Before coming to Yale, McCormick was educated at Harrisburg Academy and Phillips Andover, private schools that likely had coaches for their football teams.
So, Vance McCormick was probably better suited to coach a team than were his former teammates, but was likely unprepared to coach players who didn’t know the fundamentals or had little prior exposure to the English language. In spite of that, he recognized that the players were athletically gifted and got them started on the road to eventual fame on the gridiron.
Tags: 1892 Yale, Harrisburg Academy, Phillips Andover, Vance McCormick
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May 1, 2012
While cleaning up the scanned files in preparation of reprinting the 1892 Spalding’s Guide, I noticed a photograph of Vance McCormick on the page opposite page 17. Walter Camp had named the Yale star as the quarterback of his 1891 All-America team, an honor that earned his photo a page in the next year’s Spalding’s Guide. A friend, Nancy Luckenbaugh, taught at Carlisle Indian School and, in 1894, invited him to make the trip from his family’s home in Harrisburg to look over the football material that could be found there. McCormick had graduated from Yale in 1893 and was living at home and working in the family businesses at that time. Liking what he saw, he agreed to become the Indians’ first coach, albeit unpaid. Disciplinarian W. G. Thompson was put in charge of the football team in 1893 when Superintendent Pratt relented and allowed the boys to play against other schools but he was not a coach.
Pratt recalled McCormick’s exuberance in his memoir:
He was on the field one day taking part in instructing the boys how to fall on the ball when chasing it down the field. The ground was moist from recent rain, but he disregarded that and was giving them most enthusiastic incentive. The boys failed to execute the movement properly as he explained, and to show them how, without removing his hat or coat he rushed after and fell on the ball, as the game required. When he got up, his hat and clothing were some admonition against too sudden enthusiasm. The boys gave themselves up to the severest practice, and such energy they soon met all conditions.
Unfortunately, Vance wasn’t a full-time coach and, thus, couldn’t devote the time and energy necessary to lead the Indians to victory against the level of competition they played. He again helped in 1895 but couldn’t devote much time to what could best be called a hobby. He would be followed by other Yale men until 1899.
Tags: 1892 Spalding's Guide, Nancy Luckenbaugh, Richard Henry Pratt, Vance McCormick, Walter Camp All America
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football | Leave a Comment »
April 26, 2012
I thought I’d continue with the theme of Carlisle Indians who played football in WWI by looking through the 1919 Spalding Guide for references to the Carlisle team or its players. Before starting that, I checked to make sure that I hadn’t done it before as my memory isn’t as good as it once was. In January of this year, I did a piece about the Carlisle students whose names I wasn’t familiar with who were playing on military teams. I recollect having mentioned that, although the 1918 Spalding Guide included Carlisle’s schedule for that year, none of these games were played because the school was closed shortly before the beginning of the football season in 1918. Fortunately, some names I do recognize can be found in the 1919 book, too.
Om page 22 is the photograph of the 1918 Georgia Tech “Golden Tornado.” Joe Guyon is #8 and John Heisman is #12. Charles Guyon (Wahoo) isn’t in the photo. Perhaps, Heisman got rid of him by then. Page 188 displays headshots of players and coaches for the 1918 Mare Island Marines team. Lone Star Dietz, #3, coached this team composed mainly of his former Washington State players. So may of them were on this team that this photo was published as part of the Washington State yearbook for that year. The New Year’s Day game in Pasadena on January 1, 1919 was the second one for those who had also been on the 1915 Washington State squad that had played in Pasadena in 1916.
Page 263 includes a write up for the Base Section No. 5 team from Brest, a major port of embarkation: “On January 19, 1919, a Base foot ball squad was organized under Lieut. W. C. Collyer, former Cornell half-back. This squad was composed of the above mentioned engineers, together with several stars gathered together from different outfits. Of these, the most prominent was Artichoke, a former Haskell and Carlisle Indian star.” Not being aware of anyone named Artichoke, I am confident that the player in question was Chauncey Archiquette, Jim Thorpe’s early idol. Unfortunately, a team photo wasn’t included to see that Artichoke was indeed Archiquette.
Tags: Artichoke, Base Section 5, Brest, Golden Tornado, John Heisman, Mare Island Marines, Rose Bowl
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Charles Guyon, Chauncey Archiquette, Football, Haskell Institute, Joe Guyon, Lone Star Dietz, Washington State University | Leave a Comment »
April 23, 2012
Page 110 includes headshots of soldiers who played on the Camp Funston (Fort Riley, Kansas) football team in 1917. Number 29 is Pvt. Thomas Hawkeagle (aka Pretty Boy and Hawk Eagle). Nothing further could be found about him in the book but it is well known that he played on the 1914 Carlisle team and distinguished himself so much against Auburn that he figures prominently in the legends of the origin of the War Eagle cheer. Hawkeagle was the last Carlisle player mentioned in the 1918 Spalding Guide for activity in the 1917 season. There were likely others but they weren’t mention by Spalding or I just missed them. John Flinchum was listed on page 224 as the captain of the 1918 team, playing at left tackle. No coach was listed for 1918 because none had been hired at that point.
Non-players in the form of officials were listed in the back of the book on pages 233 through 249. Officials were separated into various groups: collegiate, service and scholastic, as well as by region, state or conference. Southern Officials were grouped by white and colored. Even the officials that were set apart as being active-duty military had this separation even though the Service Officials did not. Indians were not segregated from other officials as Indian players had been allowed to play on otherwise all-white teams for many years. Oddly, only one former Carlisle player was listed as an official and that was Mike Balenti.
The advertisement for Warner’s 1912 book was still being run in the 1918 guide. This time, it included an anonymous testimonial for “The coach of an unbeaten Western college” who was surely Lone Star Dietz whose Washington State team had gone unbeaten in 1917. Dietz’s team was not invited to the Rose Bowl that year because military teams were drawing large crowds at that time. Dietz and his players would be invited at the end of the 1918 season but that time they wore Mare Island Marine uniforms.
Tags: Baylor University, Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Pretty Boy, Thomas Hawkeagle, War Eagle
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, John B. Flinchum, Lone Star Dietz, Mike Balenti, Pop Warner, Washington State University | Leave a Comment »
April 19, 2012
The first person in the back row of the Baylor team photo on page 67, conveniently number 1, is Assistant Coach M. R. Balenti. Mike Balenti, wearing his red Carlisle letter sweater, stands out from the Baylor players in their uniforms that appear to be light gray with dark gray stripes across the chest. Perhaps they were gold with green stripes or Baylor used different colors in those days.
The next place Carlisle alums would be found was on the pages reserved for military teams. Page 92 contains only the photograph of the First Regiment, U. S. Marine Corps, League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia team. Players number 25 and 26 are the Garlow brothers, William and James. William starred at line on some of Carlisle’s powerhouse teams and later coached at West Virginia Wesleyan. Prior to this, I didn’t know that James had played competitive football. The page 101 write-up of The U. S. A. Ambulance Service team reported on the game played against the Garlow brothers’ team which was better known as “Eddie Mahan’s All-Stars.” In a rematch game, Mahan had strengthened his team with the addition of some players that included “Pete Garlow, the Carlisle Indian star tackle.” The writer probably meant William Garlow as I hadn’t seen him referred to as Pete before.
Page 105 included a discussion of a game between two Army outfits, the 318th and 319th Infantry Units. “By means of a varied attack and with the clever open field running of Mannok, the former Carlisle Indian star, and the stellar line bucking of Anderson, the 319th emerged victorious by the score of 3—0.” Another mystery regarding Carlisle just emerged. I had never heard of anyone by that name associated with Carlisle, football player of otherwise. Perhaps he went by another name at Carlisle or he didn’t go to Carlisle at all. It would be great if a reader could provide some information regarding Mannok.
<next time—More Carlisle Players in The Great War>
Tags: Eddie Mahan's All-Stars, Mannok
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, Mike Balenti, William Garlow | Leave a Comment »
April 17, 2012
The photo on page 30 of Carlisle Indian School’s starting eleven for 1917, the last team that would represent the school, includes one player who would be heard from later, Nick Lassau. To learn more about Nick, aka Long Time Sleep, read up on the Oorang Indians of 1922 and 1923. Note that Carlisle’s uniforms had changed to include stripes across the midriff and the stripes that had been below the elbow were moved up above the elbow to align with the midriff stripes. Page 35 may contain the last thing written about a Carlisle team in a Spalding’s Guide: “Carlisle showed improvement over the previous year, but until they get a team of first rate caliber they will do well not to schedule so many matches with the big colleges.”
Page 41 begins the section on Foot Ball in West Virginia with the All-West Virginia Elevens selected by H. A. Stansbury, Athletic Director of West Virginia University. It was no surprise that Pete Calac of West Virginia Wesleyan headed the list. No other Carlisle Indians were on it, most likely due to not playing for a West Virginia school.
Page 50, immediately preceding the Foot Ball in the District of Columbia section, contains a photograph of the Georgetown University team on which the players are numbered but no legend is provided. Number 2, front row center in a sweater, is Georgetown’s Head Coach, Al Exendine, star end on the great 1907 Carlisle team. Georgetown was the class of DC college teams as had become the norm under one of Warner’s former assistants.
John Heisman, Head Coach of Georgia Tech, authored the Review of Far Southern Foot Ball. So, it is no surprise that he named Joe Guyon to his All-Southern Team at half-back. About his own team, Heisman wrote, “This team was considered by many as the best of the year anywhere. Whether it was or not need not here be debated. But certain is that in Strupper, Guyon and Hill it possessed three back-field men who were the equal of any other three that could be named the country over.” He said nothing about Guyon’s brother.
<next time—More Carlisle Players in The Great War>
Tags: Golden Tornado, John Heisman, Strupper
Posted in Albert Exendine, Carlisle Indian School, Charles Guyon, Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs, Football, Joe Guyon, John B. Flinchum, Nick Lassa, Pete Calac, Pop Warner | Leave a Comment »
