August 19, 2011
A. G. Spalding’s football guides from the early days of college football are excellent sources of information for football historians and researchers. Unfortunately, these books are now quite old and fragile, a factor that severely limits their use as research tools. To make matters worse, they have become rare enough that, when copies appear for sale, they are quite expensive.
Seeing the need for inexpensive copies of these highly useful books, Tuxedo Press is reprinting them in paperback form as they previously did for what they call Pop Warner’s Single-Wing Trilogy. Coaches, researchers and historians have found the Warner books so useful that Tuxedo Press is doing the same thing for Spalding’s Official Football Guides for the years 1883 to 1919 as copies of these books become available to them to reprint in paperback form.
Because the years from 1883 to 1893 were very small, they are bound as a single volume. Beginning with 1899, the next year Tuxedo press has found so far, each year is printed separately because those volumes are much larger. Besides the rule changes for the upcoming season, an annual volume includes Walter Camp’s three All-America team selections for the previous season, other critics picks for their All-America teams, assessments of the various teams’ successes for the previous season and outlook for the upcoming season. These books are filled with illustrated ads for Spalding equipment. The equipment illustrations could be very useful in researching the evolution of helmets and such.
More information can be found at http://www.tuxedo-press.com/index_files/Reprints.htm. The reprints of the Spalding’s Guides are also available through on-line resellers and can be ordered by your local bookstore.
Tags: A. G. Spalding, All-America team, Caspar Whitney, Spalding's Football Guide, Walter Camp
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August 17, 2011
Yesterday, a little news snippet caught my ear: President Obama visited Decorah, Iowa where he stayed at the Hotel Winneshiek. While there is nothing about that that is earth shaking or will be of great historic significance, it was of interest to me. It wasn’t what the president was doing that got my attention; it was the names of the places he was that resonated with me.
Decorah (often spelled De Cora or Decora) is not just a geographical name but is also the name of an important Nebraska Winnebago family, many of whom were hereditary chiefs. The granddaughter of one of these chiefs, Little De Cora, was Angel DeCora who, after being educated at Smith College, rose to prominence in the late 19th century as the leading female Indian artist of her day and was well known in the leading eastern art circles. In 1906, she accepted the position as director of the Native Art Department at Carlisle Indian School. In late 1907, she married William Henry Lone Star Dietz who, at 25 was her student, but was still 13 years her junior. The two generated much positive press nationally for Carlisle.
Winneshiek is the name of an important Wisconsin Winnebago, or Ho Chunk, family which has provided the tribe with many chiefs. The son of one of them was William Winneshiek who was noted more for his musical ability than his athletic prowess at Carlisle and went on to a career in music, even having his own all-Indian band. He did, however, find time to play football in the early NFL for the Oorang Indians. His biography can be found in Wisconsin’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals.
His brush with history finished, Obama left Hotel Winneshiek in Decorah for breakfast in Guttenberg.
Tags: Decorah, Guttenberg, Obama, William Winneshiek, Winneshiek, Wisconsin's Carlisle Indian School Immortals
Posted in Angel DeCora, Carlisle Indian School, Football, Lone Star Dietz | 2 Comments »
August 8, 2011
While preparing Spalding’s Official Football Guide for 1906 for reprinting, I noticed a few things about the Carlisle Indian School football team’s 1905 season. These things caught my eye because it was this very team under Advisory Coach George Woodruff that Sally Jenkins maligned in her 1907 book. Caspar Whitney ranked the Indians as the 10th best team in the country for 1905. He also placed Frank Mt. Pleasant as a substitute at quarterback on his All America team.
George Woodruff placed three Carlisle Indians to his All Eastern Eleven for 1905: Frank Mt. Pleasant at quarterback, Charles Dillon at guard, and Wahoo (Charles Guyon, older brother of Joe Guyon) at end. N. P. Stauffer placed Dillon at guard on his All Eastern Eleven as well.
That an authority of the stature of Caspar Whitney considered Carlisle as the 10th best college football team in the country means something and that something is that the Indians were viewed as having had a very good season. Not their best ever, mind you, but a successful one at that.
These selections, along with George Orton’s observations that were posted in the June 27, 2011 message, show that Jenkins’s assessment of the type of play and success of the 1905 Carlisle Indian football team is at odds with the opinions of the experts of the day who actually saw the teams play.
1905 Carlisle Indian School football team from Spalding’s Official Football Guide for 1906
Tags: Chauncey Archiquette, Frank Jude, George Orton, George Woodruff, Littleboy, N. P. Stauffer, Oscar Hunt, Sally Jenkins, Scott Porter, Wilson Charles
Posted in Albert Exendine, Archie Libby, Arthur Sheldon, Bemus Pierce, Carlisle Indian School, Charles Guyon, Football, Frank Hudson, Frank Mt. Pleasant, Joe Libby, Mike Balenti, Nicholas Bowen | Leave a Comment »
July 11, 2011
A few weeks ago, Alyssa Roenigk, Senior Writer for ESPN The Magazine, queried Tex Noel, Editor of The College Football Historian, a monthly publication of the Intercollegiate Football Researchers Association (IFRA), about a 1912 game between Harvard and Yale in which the quarterback sneak supposedly originated or, at least, was popularized. Tex forwarded her query to the researchers on his list, of which I am one. Alyssa’s question triggered a tremendous amount of activity on the part of a number of individuals in several different directions. The response was amazing, even to Alyssa.
One person researched the origin of the story, a Wikipedia article. Another researched the players that were supposed to have been involved. Others found coverage of the game in question in newspapers. Being skeptical of the claim, I focused on the rules in place in the years leading up to that game. Others probably looked in directions of which I’m not aware.
Alyssa interviewed me about what I found as she surely interviewed others as to what they discovered. She was quite taken with the activity, both in quantity and depth, that resulted from her question and she will likely look to the IFRA for assistance with future articles.
Ms. Roenigk is working on an article about the history of the quarterback sneak that will appear in the football pre-season edition of ESPN The Magazine that will likely include quotes from several IFRA researchers. I don’t know if a link will be available to the article if it is placed on ESPN’s website because a paid subscription to the magazine may be required to have access to the articles on the website. Anyway, look for the quarterback sneak article as you peruse the print magazine at your local newsstand.
Tags: 1912 Harvard Yale Game, Alyssa Roenigk, ESPN The Magazine, IFRA, Intercollegiate Football Researchers Association, Quarterback sneak, Tex Noel, The College Football Historian
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June 27, 2011
While looking up the rules regarding the quarterback sneak in Spalding’s Official Football Guide for 1906, I came across more evidence to support the position James Sweeney took in There Were No Oysters, his critique of Sally Jenkins’ assertions in her 2007 book about Carlisle Indian School football. In his piece, Football in the Middle States, George Orton of the University of Pennsylvania wrote:
Carlisle fell a little below the high standard of former years, though the brilliant games they put up against Pennsylvania, Harvard and West Point proved that the Indians were yet very much to be feared in any company. They played the same style of game as in previous years in spite of their new coach; good punting, end running and tricky open play being their main source of strength.
Orton completely contradicts Jenkins’ claim that Carlisle abandoned its open style of play under Coach George Woodruff in 1905. It might have been that Woodruff preferred old-style play but that isn’t what the team actually did on the field games as documented by this observer. Orton even thought the Indians played brilliantly on the soft field against Harvard where Jenkins lambasted Woodruff for unimaginative play. She covered the 1905 season more extensively than most—through the Harvard game—but made no mention of the game with Army the following week or the late-season road trip west. This is most curious because, as Sweeney documented so well, the Indians beat Army in the two teams’ first meeting ever in a game that received wide coverage, particularly because of the large number of dignitaries present for the contest.
A writer with Jenkins’ pedigree and credentials could hardly have been unaware of the 1905 game given the research she did for her book. One wonders how she could have had so much wrong about the 1905 Carlisle Indians. After all, these were the young men who finally got to settle the score, metaphorically speaking, with the “long knives” on a field of battle. The 1912 Carlisle Indians were a great team, but it was their 1905 predecessors who actually did the deed.
Tags: Carlisle vs. Army, George Orton, George Woodruff, James Sweemey, Sally Jenkins
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football | Leave a Comment »
May 23, 2011
We interrupt the coverage of Carlisle’s 1903 post-season trip to the West Coast to ask for a little help with another topic dear to our hearts. Coverage of that trip should continue with the next post. David Neft discovered some 1919 newspaper articles that list Lone Star Dietz as having played pro football. Of course, we’re dying to know more about this. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to get copies of these articles. So, we’re asking anyone who has access to the newspapers in question, probably on microfilm, to send us scans of the articles.
Mr. Neft found that the Detroit Free Press had Dietz playing halfback for the Detroit Maroons on October 26 and November 9, 1919. The article also had three other Carlisle players in the Maroons’ lineup, including tackles Big Bear and Chief Cloud.
Other research has found listings of Dietz playing three games for the Columbus Panhandles in 1920 at guard and tackle, but no photos have been found to substantiate those claims. Dietz was 35 in 1919, an old age for athletes at that time, a factor that argues against him playing pro football in 1919 and 1920. On the other hand, his exact whereabouts in the 1919 and 1920 football seasons are not known and he is belied to have been broke and out of work at that time. Previous conjectures have him working in the motion picture industry at that time, but he was also available to play football. Any assistance would be most appreciated.
November 9
Tags: David Neft, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Maroons
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, Lone Star Dietz | Leave a Comment »
May 17, 2011
My blog will be less regular from now to the end of summer as I deal with some other things. Keep the ideas coming; some of my best blogs come from researching questions readers submit. Now, back to Carlisle’s 1903 postseason trip to the West Coast.
One of the questions I was asked was why did Pop Warner pick the University of Utah as an opponent. My guess is that Utah was located in a location that was convenient and that they had the potential of drawing a large enough crowd of ticket payers to make stopping for the game worthwhile. A basic reason for a having a game somewhere between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean was to keep the players sharp and to keep them off the train for awhile and give them some physical activity. Some other western colleges and universities met these criteria, too. What think made the difference was that Salt Lake City was a regional rail hub through which the team would likely be passing anyway. The question was, which team should Warner choose to play?
The only viable choices were Utah and Utah State because Brigham Young was not yet fielding college-level football teams at that time. Utah had had a pretty nice run from 1900 to 1902 but had lost to all of its college-level opponents in 1903. Utah State, on the other hand, had a poor record from 1900 to 1902 but had beaten both its college-level opponents in 1903 and one of them was Utah! The issue of how large a crowd Utah State could draw in Salt Lake City was probably asked. Utah State is located in Logan, 82 miles from Salt Lake City, so its supporters could make the game. But would Salt Lake City residents turn out? The thought was probably that they wouldn’t turn out as well as they would for a game with Utah and State probably wouldn’t bring enough people from Logan to offset this difference. Shock! Shock! Money probably played a role in the decision.
To be continued….
Tags: Brigham Young, University of Utah, Utah State
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, Pop Warner | Leave a Comment »
May 5, 2011
Coach Holmes wasn’t wasting any time in preparing for the Carlisle Indians because, as The Salt Lake Herald reported the next day, December 12, the varsity was out for signal practice the day before and would be practicing again that day. As predicted, Fred Bennion and “Fat” Robbins had joined the team for the big game. Benny was a fleet-footed halfback, and one supposes, a relative of Fat Robbins.
Holmes also shared with the press that Pop Warner had written him the previous day informing him that a game had been arranged with Reliance Athletic Club on Christmas Day in San Francisco. A third game was mentioned—a New Year’s Day game in Los Angeles—but the Indians’ opponent was not mentioned by name.
A friend of Holmes who lived in the east wrote him that he had seen Carlisle play that year and that they would be a formidable opponent. He pointed out their use of the tackles-back and wing-shift formations. The latter formation was used more often and confused the defenders. No Utah team had used this puzzling formation and it was expected to cause Utah’s varsity a lot of trouble.
The next day, The Herald reported that Warner had telegraphed Holmes the day before that the Indians would arrive in Salt Lake on Friday morning and would remain there to Monday. Warner and Superintendent Pratt both felt that travel was a broadening experience for their students and had them take in as much as possible when traveling for games. Carlisle players didn’t just come into town at the last minute and leave as soon as the game was over. They availed themselves of the cultural opportunities that existed wherever they were playing.
Warner also requested that the game consist of two 30-minute halves. In those days, football games didn’t have a standard length. Sometimes, the two halves were even of different lengths. The Utah players were enthusiastic about meeting the Indians and said they would be perfectly happy if they could just score on them.
To be continued….
Tags: Benny Robbins, Coach Holmes, University of Utah
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, Pop Warner, Richard Henry Pratt | Leave a Comment »
May 3, 2011
The Friday, December 11 Sporting section of The Salt Lake Herald was more definitive as it led with “Date Settled for Big Game.” Other headings included, “Carlisle and University to Meet One Week from Tomorrow,” Varsity Will Strengthen,” and “Holmes Picks Several Stars to Play with team.” The article started “The big football game between the Carlisle Indians and the state university will come off one week from tomorrow on Cummings Field. This was definitely settled yesterday, when Coach Holmes received a telegram from Coach Warner stating that it would be agreeable for the Indians to play on this date and that they would probably arrange a game for Christmas to be played in San Francisco.” The reporter mentioned that this news was received well by University of Utah students because those who planned on going home for Christmas would then have the opportunity to see the famous Carlisle Indians play the local squad.
The rest of the article dealt with Coach Holmes’s plans to strengthen his team for the game against Carlisle. His Utah team had only gone 3-4 for the regular season. Wins were over Ogden High School, the Fort Douglas soldiers, and the 12th Infantry. Losses were to the four college teams they played that year: Colorado, Utah State, Denver and Colorado State. These results did not portend good things for them against the Indians. To give Carlisle a little better competition, Holmes added “Fat” Robbins, Utah’s greatest center to that time, Fred Bennion the old line-smashing fullback, Paul Nelden a high school tackle, and Joe Anderson former University tackle.
An article titled “Why Not Play Christmas?” appeared further down the page. In it, Coach Gay of the 12th Infantry team was reported as saying that he was going to Logan to arrange a game with Utah State in Salt Lake City on Christmas Day now that the date was open. He thought the local fans would enjoy seeing the 3-0-0 championship team play. That game did not materialize as the Christmas edition of The Salt Lake Herald mentioned Carlisle’s game to be played that day on the West Coast but was silent about any local game.
To be continued….
Tags: 12th Infantry, Coach Gay, Coach Holmes, Cummings Field, Fat Robbins, Fort Douglas, Fred Bennion, Joe Anderson, Paul Nelden
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football, Pop Warner | Leave a Comment »
April 28, 2011
The article went on to say, “It is the intention of Carlisle to play in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day, or one week after the Salt Lake game. Denver, and it is understood San Francisco, tried to land the game with the Indians for Christmas day, but Utah drew the lucky prize.” The rest of the article dealt with Carlisle’s perceived strength that year and how Utah would field an all-star team rather than the varsity’s regular starters. Even with that, the reporter expected Carlisle to win easily.
The December 4 issue of The Red Man & Helper remained silent regarding post season play but wasn’t a bit quiet about the recent victory over Northwestern. Although that game was played on a Thursday, the celebration of it was held on Saturday, after the team returned home and after The Red Man & Helper had gone to press for the week. So, reports on the night-shirt parade, fireworks, giant bonfire, drumming and dancing to celebrate the Indians’ best season to date were published almost a week after the fact. Also reported on was a performance that night by the Dunbar Male Quarter and Hand Bell Ringers, a favorite on the Chautauqua circuit. In addition to playing songs, they recited “There Once Was a Young Lady Named Hannah” (clean version, most likely) with a special verse added as an encore:
There were some men from Carlisle
Who went out west for a tour in style.
They played some football
In Chicago this fall,
And they beat the Northwestern a mile.
That brought down the house.
On December 10 the Deseret News announced that the date of the Carlisle-Utah game might be changed: “Game With Carlisle Indians Likely to be Played Soon.” According to the article, Utah’s varsity players wanted to be home for Christmas rather than in Salt Lake City playing football and that Carlisle was willing to play the Saturday before Christmas. Anticipating that the date shift would happen, the Utah team began practicing in earnest. The next day’s edition of The Red Man & Helper said nothing about the upcoming trip west.
To be continued….
Tags: Dunbar Male Quartet and Hand Bell Ringers, Northwestern University, There once was a young lady named Hannah, University of Utah
Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Football | Leave a Comment »
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