Cherokee Wins Heisman

December 15, 2008

Recently a question was raised on this blog about American Indian leadership in athletics. Saturday’s action by the Downtown Athletic Club to award the Heisman Trophy to Sam Bradford may spread this discussion to a broader audience. The Oklahoma University quarterback, being 1/16th Cherokee, is enrolled in the tribe. Last year an ESPN announcer was unintentionally humorous when he stated that Bradford was “certified Cherokee.” The announcer was cut some slack because the enrollment process is very complicated.

Sam’s great-great-grandmother, Susie Walkingstick, was full-blood Cherokee. His father, former OU lineman Kent Bradford, is 1/8th blood Cherokee. It is appropriate that this Heisman winner plays for Oklahoma University because Oklahoma has the largest American Indian population of any state. Fellow Oklahoman Sac & Fox Jim Thorpe did not win the Heisman because that award wasn’t initiated until 1935 when the University of Chicago’s Jay Berwanger became the first recipient of the trophy with the famous pose. Jim Plunkett, being Mexican-American, was probably the first person with significant quantities of Indian blood to win the Heisman when he was named in 1970. Since then, it hasn’t been close. Not even fellow Cherokee Sonny Sixkiller who played quarterback for the Washington Huskies two decades later contended seriously.

A USA Today cover story http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/2008-12-09-bradford-cover_N.htm discusses the impact Bradford’s candidacy has already had on Indian children. Like Sixkiller, Bradford did not live on a reservation and grew up with little exposure to his Cherokee heritage. Anadarko, OK was home for College Football Hall of Famer Albert Exendine, star end at Carlisle. Anadarko is also the town in which Exendine, in the summer of 1911, encouraged Jim Thorpe to return to Carlisle. Alongside this history exists Riverside Indian School, a place where one would expect football to thrive. But that hasn’t been the case. Riverside dropped football a few years ago but, due to Bradford’s inspiration, fielded a team this year. Forty boys came out for the team – not bad for a school that has only 400 students who range in age from 4th grade to high school. The Braves only won one game but this was their inaugural season. The important question is: Are they running the single-wing?

USA Today photo of Sam Bradford with his Heisman Trophy

USA Today photo of Sam Bradford with his Heisman Trophy

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More Patents for Carlisle Students

December 12, 2008

Some time back I wrote about Nicholas Longfeather being granted a patent in 1912. Now I have stumbled across three more former Carlisle students accomplishing this feat. The Balenti brothers, John, George and Michael, attended Carlisle. The boys were the offspring of a soldier, Mike Balenti, who was originally from Austria. Balenti was stationed at Ft. Reno and married a 17-year-old Cheyenne girl who lived nearby. Before her marriage she went by Cheyenne Bell (sometimes Belle). She had six children, three of whom didn’t go to Carlisle. Those who did attend Carlisle were known as excellent students. Mike was also known as a very good football and baseball player. He had the misfortune of being a quarterback when Frank Mt. Pleasant and Louis Island also played that position. Back to the patents.

In 1915 Mike and George Balenti filed a patent application for an “Attachment for Jumping Standards.” Patent number 1,193,972 was awarded to the brothers on August 8, 1916. “This invention relates to standards used for determining the hight of high jumps, pole vaults, or analogous athletic endeavors, and the primary object of the invention is to provide an attachment for standards of this nature, which will accurately record substantially the exact height of the jump.” The patent application can be seen at http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT1193972&id=yLBGAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=mike+balenti.

In 1919 Mike and John Balenti applied for a patent for a “Pancake Machine.” The purpose of the machine was described as follows: “This invention relates to an improved pancake machine and the principal object of the invention is to provide a machine in which pancake dough may be mixed and held while being used, improved valve means and actuating means for the valves being provided for controlling passage of the pancake dough out of the outlet opening in the bottom of the receptacle or container.” The patent, which was awarded on December 28, 1920 can be viewed at http://www.google.com/patents?id=mQlDAAAAEBAJ&dq=mike+balenti&jtp=1.

The high jump standard attachment looks too complicated to be of practical use but I swear I’ve seen the pancake machine in use in restaurants.

 

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Premier at Carlisle Theatre

December 8, 2008

On Friday Antonio Banderas conducted the U.S. premier of his film, El Camino de los Ingleses (The English Road), titled Summer Rain in the U.S., at Carlisle Theatre. This was not the first movie to be premiered at this 1939 Art Deco picture palace. In August of 1951, Jim Thorpe returned to Carlisle to premier his film biography, Jim Thorpe: All American, in which he was portrayed by a young actor by the name of Burt Lancaster. Unfortunately, that film is now dated and needs to be remade, or better yet, an entirely new film needs to be made. Perhaps that will happen.

It seems that a filmmaker interested in shooting a film about Jim Thorpe, Pop Warner or the Carlisle Indian School breezes through town every couple of months gathering information for his or her next production. The most notable, perhaps, of those in recent years was announced in 2004 John Sayles was writing the script for Carlisle School for Walden Media. Nothing further has been seen about that film and that may be for the better. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Carlisle School, “follows a ragtag group of young Native Americans who achieve prolific victories on the football field that lead them to national prominence. The players, among them future sports legend Thorpe, attended the boarding school in Pennsylvania that, from 1879-1918, housed Native Americans from childhood through college.”

Anyone who knows anything at all about Carlisle Indian School is well aware that its teams were anything but ragtag. To the contrary, Carlisle was frequently criticized for being just the opposite. The recent books about Thorpe and Carlisle have not been the most accurate either. But better things may be in the offing. Kate Buford’s biography of Jim Thorpe is to be released in 2008 and there aren’t many days left in the year. Bob Wheeler is finishing up his audiobook on Jim Thorpe. This is something to look forward to. Thorpe’s Boswell is not just reading his landmark book on Thorpe, he is also including clips from the interviews he made decades ago of people, many of whom are now long dead. It will be great to hear Ike talk about playing against Thorpe in his own voice. I can’t wait.

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The Single-Wing May Be Off life Support

December 5, 2008

Jim Sweeney, the life-long Army fan who told me about the Sports Illustrated article, shared with me that on Thanksgiving Day he was able to watch, on ESPN2 no less, two Jesuit high schools from New York City play each other in an 85-year long Thanksgiving tradition. Xavier High played Fordham Prep at Fordham Field in the Bronx. Sweeney’s (also JoePa’s) alma mater, Brooklyn Prep, was, until it closed in 1973, the third Jesuit high school in the City. You probably already know that Joe Paterno played tailback in Brooklyn Prep’s double-wing and that his brother, George, was fullback. Something few of us know is that both Xavier and Fordham Prep are NOW running the single-wing. What a treat it must have been for Jim to watch these teams in the comfort of his living room.

Another result of the Sports Illustrated article or the fact that NFL teams are dabbling with the single-wing is that I was interviewed yesterday by the local NBC affiliate about the connection between the Wildcat formation and Carlisle Indian School. After interviewing me, reporter George Lettis visited Carlisle Barracks and shot part of his piece on Indian Field. WGAL’s website has an article on its website that can be found at http://www.wgal.com/sports/18199527/detail.html. The broadcast video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP9FogxDRII. In addition to footage of Lettis and me, portions of the documentary Tom McCue and I made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the single-wing are included. Narrator Lynn Myers’ voice comes through loud and clear.

It will be interesting to see how long NFL coaches run the Wildcat or other versions of the single-wing before they admit that the fundamental formation was developed a century ago by Pop Warner for the Carlisle Indians. Some think that NFL coaches will continue to obfuscate this point so as not to appear to be behind the times by 100 years.

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Posted in Carlisle Indian School, Pop Warner, Single-Wing | 4 Comments »

Single-Wing Article in Sports Illustrated

December 2, 2008

The December 1 issue of Sports Illustrated has an article on the single-wing. The writer, Tim Layden, first discusses the formation’s current use at Apopka High 15 miles northwest of Orlando and in the NFL by the Dolphins in their unexpected victory over the unsuspecting New England Patriots. Also mentioned is Todd Bross, organizer of the annual spring conclave at Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, PA. (It was Todd Bross and Ted Seay who urged me to research Pop Warner’s correspondence course in football that was first published in 1908). Layden discussed the renaissance the single-wing is undergoing but was apparently unaware that little Windber Area High School is running it as he was probably unaware of my documentary in which they were featured.

The article talks about viewing old films over Ed Racely’s garage on Cape Cod. Racely, now 80, has been studying the single-wing longer than anyone. Layden then goes into the single-wing’s history beginning with President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1905 threat to ban the game unless rule changes weren’t made to clean up the game. He goes on the mention that Pop Warner coached Carlisle Indian School from 1907 to 1914 and quotes Warner as having first used early incarnations of the single wing by the Carlisle Indians in response to the 1906 rule changes. He is apparently unaware of Pop’s earlier tenure at Carlisle (1899-1903) and of my research that uncovered Warner’s weeklong visit with the Carlisle coaches shortly before the start of the 1906 season. He made no mention of the revisions to Warner’s correspondence course between 1909 and 1911, nor did he mention my publication of the offense pamphlets from the correspondence course. The diagrams found those pamphlets represent the earliest known documentation of the single-wing. A 1924 newspaper interview of Warner was accompanied by a diagram of a formation that “The Old Fox” designed in 1902 to protect injured linemen Antonio Lubo, Martin Wheelock and Albert Exendine and to adjust for injured first-string center, Nikifer Schouchuk. It’s too bad that wingback diagram wasn’t made public a couple of decades earlier. The Sports Illustrated article can be found at:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1149161/index.htm

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Posted in Albert Exendine, Antonio Lubo, Carlisle Indian School, Football, Martin Wheelock, Pop Warner, Single-Wing | 5 Comments »

Carlisle Indians Had The Right Stuff

November 27, 2008

These days authors are supposed to have video previews of their books posted on the web for all to see. I was also instructed to make a video of me reading from my new book. Knowing full well that few would want to look at me reading for any period of time, I took a different approach. I read the words Pop Warner said in a 1924 interview in which he told of an episode that clearly shows what kind of stuff the Carlisle Indians were made of. After getting the thing started, I mostly disappear from view and am replaced by other footage and still photographs. Warner’s story is fascinating and, as best I can tell, is true. Because he told it over twenty years after it happened, he may have had some details confused. But the major things check out.

The story is a bit long but, when I’ve read it in book talks, audiences enjoy it because it is such a good story and, to my knowledge, hasn’t been told since the 1920s. YouTube.com enforces a strict time limit on videos that may be posted on their site, so it was necessary to split the story into two pieces. The first, and longer, part has been created and posted. The second and more interesting conclusion will be posted next week. “Carlisle Indians Had The Right Stuff” can be found at www.YouTube.com/TomBenjey. This is a chance to learn more about people such as Albert Exendine, Nikifer Schouchuk, Antonio Lubo, Martin Wheelock, James Johnson, Charles Williams and Richard Henry Pratt.

Feel free to make comments, either positive or negative.

 

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Posted in Albert Exendine, Antonio Lubo, Carlisle Indian School, Charles Williams, Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs, James Johnson, Martin Wheelock, Pop Warner, Richard Henry Pratt | Leave a Comment »

American Indian Heritage Month ending

November 24, 2008

This is the last week of American Indian Heritage Month and I have seen nothing locally that would inform residents that this commemoration even exists let alone doing anything to honor it. For that matter I haven’t seen anything in the national media either. There may have been something but I didn’t see it. What with the Carlisle Indian School having been in our midst, one would think it would have at least been mentioned. If it wasn’t for the trusty internet, I wouldn’t know a thing about it.

One good thing I’ve learned is that the politically-correct terms have been sorted out. American Indian is preferred over Native American and the specific tribe or nation is preferred over that. Native American is too broad a term and, worse yet, sounds too bureaucratic. A pet peeve of mine is the frequent mention of something being a Native American song or a Native American custom. To start with, this is silliness. Would we say golf is a European game? Of course not. We know the Scots invented it. Would we lump Scots and Italians together as if they had a common heritage? I think not.

There may be reasons other than ignorance or laziness for attributing something to Native Americans. For example, Chief Seattle is often quoted as having spoken eloquently about the environment. To start with he was not a chief and his name was See-ahth, which was difficult for white people to say and was likely bastardized into Seattle, something they could pronounce. See-ahth was born in 1786 and died in 1866. In addition to being a great speaker, he was a diplomat. He gave a speech in 1854 but it wasn’t the one he is so often credited with having made. That speech was written in 1971 by screenwriter Ted Perry. Perry’s speech didn’t paraphrase See-ahth’s words. It couldn’t because there were no buffalo within 600 miles of his home to see rot and railroads didn’t come to his area until years after his death.

Rather than providing references, I will leave to the reader the task of verifying what I have written. Fortunately, it is an easy task.

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Pete and Emil Hauser in the News

November 20, 2008

Last week Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs got a plug in The Kansan out of Newton, KS in an article covering a presentation by Carolyn Williams at the Halstead Historical Society. She explained that Halstead was more than the home of Adolph Rupp, Conrad Nightingale and Dennis Latimore. It was also the home of the Krehbiel Farm Indian School that the Hauser brothers, Pete and Emil, aka Wauseka, attended in the 1890s. I was aware that they had connections with Halstead, KS but didn’t know about the Krehbiel school. Constantly learning new things is one of the benefits of my job.

Christian Krehbiel emigrated from Germany in the mid-1800s and eventually settled on a farm near Halstead. He was also very active in the Mennonite Church. As part of his religious activity, he became involved with the missionary work among the Indians. In 1885 the Industrial School, Halstead, Kansas was formed by the Mission Board of the General Conference Mennonite Church and Halstead Seminary with 15 Indian children from Oklahoma for students. In 1887 the Indian School was moved to Krehbiel’s farm. Students lived on the farm with the Kriehbiels as a large family.Students studied academic subjects during the school year worked on the farm in summer. For the 1892-93 school year Krehbiel contracted with the government to take 30 students for $125 each. After the government ended its contract policy for Indian students in 1896, he organized the Orphan and Children’s Aid Society and started an orphanage on his farm. It’s likely that the Hausers were attending the school in its latter years.

 

The article about Carolyn Williams’ talk can be found at http://www.thekansan.com/sports/x1772948257/Hausers-a-lost-part-of-Halstead-history. More on Christian Krehbiel can be found at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/krehbiel_christian_1832_1909. More can be found on the school at http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/I533.html.

 

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Final Remarks on Cayou’s Abduction

November 17, 2008

The January 28, 1898 issue of The Indian Helper had something to say about the incident:

 

“Our Mr. Frank Cayou, ’96, has passed through some College Freshman trials this week.  On Tuesday night the Dickinson College Freshman held a class banquet.  On Sunday night as Mr. Cayou was coming from church with two of our ladies he was spirited away by the Sophomores.  A crowd of them was standing around the church door as the three came out.

 

“Before they knew it the ladies were left without escort, and were obliged to come out from town alone.  Not a ‘Soph’ offered to come with them.  It is said that Cayou fought like a lion for the honor of his class, but ten or a dozen Sophomores were too much for him.  They placed him in a buggy and drove him toward the mountains, and at this writing, Wednesday morning, he has not appeared.  The Sophomores tried to steal several more of the Freshmen so as to break up the banquet, but did not succeed.  Such things are so ‘funny’ that the Man-on-the-band-stand can scarcely write about them.  He would like someday to have a new kind of a joke to laugh at if the bright young college gentlemen could only THINK of something not quite so stale.

 

“  LATER:  Mr. Cayou has returned and tells a story of good treatment at the hands of the Sophomores.  His time was spent in the North Mountain, at Sterretts Gap Hotel, and at various other places.  Some of the time he was tied to a Sophomore so as to prevent the slightest chance for escape.  The Sophomores did not get the prize they thought they had, for Mr. Cayou was not toastmaster, as they surmised and had no part in the banquet program, and he was the only one absent.  There is considerable excitement among the college men at this writing and a strong class feeling exists.  All sorts of rumors are afloat as to what is to be done by those in authority, but we have nothing definite.”

The 1900 Microcosm included Dickinson College students’ takes on the affair in the Daily Chronicle section:

November 27th

Cayou goes to church alone.

Miss Beitzel goes to church alone.

January 14th

Cayou absent from chapel.

Miss Beitzel absent from chapel.

January 23rd

Docky warns Sophs to return Cayou.

(Apparently Docky was students’ pet name for President Rev. George Edward Reed)

Blanche Una Beitzel was listed as a Junior, a member of the class of 1900, with the motto:

‘Tis not that I love Dickinson less, but the Indian School more.

The football team photo on page 146 lists F. M. Cayou, but the player looks exactly like Ed Rogers. Cayou and Rogers were enrolled in Dickinson College proper and the law school, respectively at that time. Both played for Dickinson against Penn State in the Thanksgiving Day game held after the Indian School’s season ended.

One can only wonder how such a kidnapping would be viewed in 2008.

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The Kidnapping of Frank Cayou – Part II

November 13, 2008

Decades later Parson Decker, freshman president of the class of 1902, recalled that a “council of war” was convened after which a bus pulled by a team of four horses was engaged to search for and retrieve their captured classmate. Around midnight the bus loaded with a dozen or so men from the class set out for Boiling Springs and Mt. Holly Springs in near-zero-degree weather. Dispirited, they returned to Carlisle around dawn Monday and assembled at The Wellington Hotel, the site of the next day’s class banquet.

During the day various information and misinformation traveled through the grapevine that Cayou and his captors were holed up in the Mountain House atop Sterretts Gap on North Mountain. Armed with the search warrant, the “rangy and rugged classmen” and the bus headed up Sterretts Gap late that afternoon. Halfway up the mountain, the bus stopped, the occupants got out, and went to their appointed posts encircling the hill. At the signal they started moving upwards, tightening the noose on the abductors. The plan was executed perfectly and, once all the men were at the top, the process-server served the warrant on the innkeeper who informed them of their errors. First, he said that warrants could only be served in the daytime and, second, this was a Cumberland County warrant and the Mission House was located in Perry County.

Regrouping after their hopes were dashed a contingent headed off to Summerdale to acquire a proper warrant. Using the second floor of a nearby corncrib as a barracks, those left guarding the hotel rested after setting up a watch schedule. Sleet began to fall, but the guards made their appointed rounds using only blankets taken from the bus as cover.

The next morning the correct search warrant was served but nothing was found. A search of the premises revealed nothing because Cayou’s captors got wind of the expedition the previous night and hustled him down the mountainside where they took refuge in a woodman’s hut.

As the dejected men of the class of ’02 went down the hill their bus met another “black maria” heading up. Some men of ’02 grabbed the harnesses of the horses pulling ‘01’s bus up the hill. Others pulled Chambers and Odgers, classmates who had been kidnapped that morning, out of that bus and put them into that of their own class. Feeling a little less disappointed with the success of their mission, the posse returned to The Wellington where the entire class, less Cayou, stayed incommunicado the rest of the day to reduce further losses.

The banquet was held as scheduled, sans Cayou who was returned the next morning.

Next time The Indian Helper’s take on Cayou’s abduction

Black Maria

Black Maria

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