当秋天凉爽的空气开始沉淀下来, one thing many people look forward to is the American football season. Whether it’s high school, college, or NFL many people have allegiance to their favorite teams. Current American football evolved from a mix of rugby and soccer and was initially played at many Ivy League schools. 在19世纪末, the Carlisle Indian School football program became an emerging force in the Ivy League dominated sport and the game was never the same.

Student body assembled on the Carlisle Indian School Grounds.

卡莱尔印第安人学校位于卡莱尔, 宾西法尼亚, 一个废弃的军营被改造成了一所学校吗. 创始人，Ct. 理查德·亨利·普拉特, had an idea to “Americanize” the Native people by teaching them trade skills that they could bring back to their people or integrate into American society. 普拉特著名的座右铭“杀死印第安人”, save the man” exemplified the sentiment that Native culture was inferior or obsolete and should be eliminated. 在到达时, 学生们的头发被剪短了, 他们被取了美国/基督教的名字, and corporal punishment was instituted for speaking Native languages or practicing any form of Native culture or religion. The school operated from 1879 to 1918 and enrolled nearly 10,000 Native students from many Indian nations including Lakota, Ojibway, 塞内加, 切罗基族, 夏安族, 和阿拉斯加原住民.

In 1893, the Carlisle School began playing football competitively with other schools. The Carlisle football players were often smaller than the other school’s players. 在那个时候, football was played in a V-shaped formation where large bodied players that formed the “V” pushed their way through the opposing team’s formation. Since Carlisle players couldn’t compete with the larger players, they used strategic plays and quickness to maneuver through the larger opposing line formation. This often caught the opposing team off-guard and helped establish Carlisle as a powerhouse in collegiate football.

Carlisle, under the coaching of Pop Warner, invented the overhand spiral throw and the hand-off fake. 在1903年和哈佛的比赛中, Carlisle hid the football under a player’s jersey and they were able to run it in for a touchdown. 尽管他们输了, newspapers nationwide spoke of how the Carlisle Indians outwitted the Harvard players. The Carlisle Indians would continue their dominance in collegiate football, including the tenure of 一个年轻的 player that would eventually become one of the greatest American athletes of all time.

吉姆·索普身穿卡莱尔制服，c. 1909. Jim was one of the greatest football players and athletes in modern history. 他是俄克拉何马州萨克和福克斯民族的成员. He won Olympic gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, 打美式橄榄球(大学和职业), 还打过职业棒球和篮球.

In 1907, 一个年轻的, scrawny boy named Jim Thorpe—who was a Carlisle track star and champion ballroom dancer—begged to try out for the football team. 觉得他太小了，甚至不适合卡莱尔队, the administration was hesitant as they didn’t want to potentially hurt their track star. 他们最终让他参加了选拔. When Thorpe arrived there were 30-40 Carlisle players on the field and Coach Warner threw the ball to Thorpe and told him to run. 整个卡莱尔团队都在追杀他, 索普冲, 伪造, 整个校队都被耍得团团转. Shocked, Warner threw the ball to Thorpe and told him to do it again. This time he ordered the varsity team to “tackle him so hard that he wouldn’t get up to do it again.索普又把球传给了整个校队, 不用说, 赢得了在球队的一席之地.

Thorpe’s debut in collegiate football would come on October 26, 1907, at a highly anticipated game between the undefeated 宾西法尼亚 Quakers and the undefeated Carlisle Indians. 整个赛季都没有人对贵格会队得分. Within the first few plays Carlisle scored against the Quakers by using the forward pass. The forward pass was rarely used and often thought of as elementary. The Carlisle Indians used their speed and the forward pass to dominate the Quakers in a 26-6 win. This shocked the nation as an Indian school beat a more established school.

Carlisle player and football great Jim Thorpe (right) receives the ball.

The Thorpe-led Carlisle Indians would extend their domination of college football through the next few seasons with upsets that included Harvard and the 军队. An 军队 player named Dwight Eisenhower—who would eventually become president—recalled playing with Thorpe.

“Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. 我想起了吉姆·索普. 他一生中从未练习过, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw.”

推荐阅读:
《伟德体育app登录》——萨利·詹金斯(2007)
卡莱尔对. 军队——拉尔斯·安德森(2008)

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