I often learn things while giving book talks. Yesterday was no different. One of the attendees (whom I didn’t ask permission to use his name) informed me that, when doing some work at Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana in the 1960s, he met Joe Bergie. The first thing I learned is Joe pronounced his last name with a hard G not a soft G as I had assumed. That’s one of the problems of only reading someone’s name; you don’t know how it is pronounced.
The gentleman had talked at length with Bergie out in Montana. Bergie shared with him that, after the 1912 game at West Point, the team had a three-hour layover at Grand Central Station in New York City. Warner let them use the time to see as much of the city as they could before it was time for their train to leave. For boys mostly from reservations, Carlisle was a big town with modern conveniences such as electricity and trolleycars. New York was something else again. Without going into the specifics of their exploits, Joe thought it was a miracle all found their way back to catch their train on time.
Joe told a story major newspapers didn’t include in their coverage of the 1912 Carlisle-Army game. Winded after having his kick-off return for a touchdown called back for having stepped out of bounds, Jim Thorpe returned the re-kick well but ran out of steam and was tackled at the 3-yard line. Bergie, who was the back up fullback, was given the ball instead of the tired Thorpe. Joe punched the ball over the goal line but landed on the ball, something that can be painful any time. This time, he had half of each team on top of him and the officials were slow in pulling players off the pile. He thought he was going to suffocate under the weight. The national papers didn’t notice that he was the ball carrier and gave credit for the score to Jim Thorpe.
Tom Benjey's Weblog 
May 5, 2017 at 1:19 pm |
tom i would like to know more about your talk with my grandpa–sounds so interesting since he was a man of few words — you can fill me in on your story and i have plenty of memories of him…email me
May 6, 2017 at 9:49 am |
Hi Patty,
I wasn’t the person who spoke with your grandfather. It was a man who attended one of my talks and he wishes to remain anonymous. I wish I could be more helpful.
Tom
May 15, 2017 at 5:33 pm |
darn cause i also recall my mother saying they had jim thorpe as a guest at their house in poplar, montana and i am totally fasinated by jim thorpe going to the world olympics, etc.
September 23, 2021 at 8:31 pm |
My grandmother Helen Bergie-Moore was Joe Bergies daughter, I live in Oregon and my father was John Thomas Bergie-Moore. My name is Jesse Thomas Bergie-Moore and my e-mail is sonrisemini@gmail.com, any info on my family would be great!
September 23, 2021 at 9:23 pm |
Hi Jesse,
A chapter in my book, Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs, is devoted to Joe Bergie. It can be obtained from the usual on-line booksellers or ordered from your local bookstore.
Tom
October 12, 2021 at 8:10 pm |
Thank you very much Tom, that’s the book my Mother’s been looking for and we’ll be purchasing it ASAP! God bless!