Tom Benjey's Weblog

While preparing the 1901 Spalding’s Guide for printing, I noticed that some future Carlisle players could be found in two photos on page 167. The first photo was of the 1900 Haskell Institute team but was mislabeled as being “Haskell Indian College,” in much the same way as Carlisle Indian Industrial School was often referred to as Carlisle College. Perhaps the whites who elevated these government Indian schools to collegiate status felt embarrassed that the Carlisle and Haskell Indians routinely defeated teams from the elite schools with players who had less education, money or experience playing football.

The first names to register with me were Archiquette and Guyon. I already knew that Chauncey Archiquette, captain of the 1900 Haskell team had played for Carlisle prior to coming to Haskell. He again played for Carlisle after returning from Haskell a few years later. I also knew that Charles Guyon played for Carlisle after enrolling there in 1905. However, as a joke, he went by the name Wahoo.

The list of players’ names under the photo included some other familiar ones but they weren’t Carlisle stars; they were Haskell players who battled against Carlisle in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair game and later transferred to the eastern school. Steckbeck identified DuBois as another Haskell player who transferred to Carlisle along with several others who were on the 1904 team but not on the 1900 team. However, there were some players on the 1900 Haskell team that were also on the 1904 edition: Oliver, Felix, and Payer (or Payor).

Immediately below the Haskell photo is the Fort Shaw Indian School team photo. The person sitting in the first row, far left is Burd. Sampson Bird, captain of the great 1911 Carlisle team attended the Fort Shaw school before coming east, so this is probably him in the photo. An Indian agent probably spelled the name with a “U” instead of an “I” because the Burd family name was known to many.