Tom Benjey's Weblog

Thorpe received a lot of hype, even before dominating the Pentathlon tryouts. One such example is shown below. As coach of the Carlisle track team, Pop Warner placed himself in charge of Thorpe’s and Tewanima’s training for the Olympics. As part of their training regime he had them sit out most of the school’s spring meets. So, for the first time in several years, a team other than Carlisle won the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s track meet held on Hargest’s Island (today’s City Island) at Harrisburg. Thorpe did not attend the meet but Tewanima made an appearance. He ran 18 miles from the Indian School to Hargest’s Island, arrived at the field when the 2-mile run was underway. According to the report in The Carlisle Arrow, “he circled the field amid the cheers and applause of’ nearly everyone on theground. Tewanima made the eighteen-mile run in a little less than one hour and fifty minutes and seemed fresh at the finish and able go many more miles.”

Thorpe’s absence gave others an opportunity to shine. Bruce Goesback placed 1^st in the 220 hurdles, 3^rd in the 120 hurdles, 4^th in broad jump and high jump. Possum Powell finished 2^nd in both high jump and shot put. John Squirrel was 3^rd in both 440-yd dash and broad jump. Sampson Bird came in 2^nd in the hammer throw and 4^th in discus. Gus Welch place 2^nd in the half-mile and won the 440-yd dash but was disqualified of “alleged interference” with another runner. Arthur Coons placed 3^rd in pole vault, Joel Wheelock came in 4^th in both hurdle events, and Blackdeer, the only distance man to score points, came in 4^th in the 2-mile run.

Carlisle still placed second to Penn State without its Olympians and beat all other colleges in the meet.

Jim Thorpe's Physique

Tags: Arthur Coons, Blackdeer, Bruce Goesback, City Island, Hargest's Island, Lewsi Tewanima

This entry was posted on August 11, 2008 at 3:14 am and is filed under Carlisle Indian School, Gus Welch, Jim Thorpe, Joel Wheelock, Pop Warner, Sampson Bird, Stancil Powell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.