The world’s greatest athlete, Jim Thorpe, a member of Oklahoma’s Thunder Band of the Sac and Fox, participated in one of the world’s most remarkable college football games in November 1912.

That’s how it happened.

One of the best college football teams in 1911 was West Point Academy in West Point, New York. It included the best young American men who would go on to fight in both world wars.

On the 1911 West Point team was Dwight David Eisenhower, the general who would lead the Allied forces to defeat the power of Hitler and Mussolini. Also on the team was General Omar Bradley, who led the U.S. armed forces in the invasion of Normandy and, by the end of the war, was field commander of the largest U.S. force in the history.

The West Point cadets were competing against a small college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, called Carlisle Indian Industrial School. It was supposed to be the model for all Indian boarding schools.

It’s National Native American Heritage Month and an appropriate time to refresh our memories about boarding schools. They were supposed to bring the Indian out of the Indian.

Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, founder of a residential school in 1879, said the goal was to “kill the Indian, save the man.” Pratt and his followers calculated that if Indians could be assimilated into the white world, it would take away their culture from the natives and they would become “whiter.”

To accomplish this change, the Indians were not allowed to speak their language. Their hair was cut short and they all had to dress the same.

There have been few success stories at Carlisle. However, one success story was that of Charles Albert Bender (Chief Bender), pitcher for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics.

Bender achieved Baseball Hall of Fame status. He pitched three complete games in a single World Series and invented a pitch known as the “slider”, commonly used today in the major leagues.

Another achievement was that of Jim Thorpe, who at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics easily won the pentathlon, finishing first in four of five events, and he set a world record of 8,412 points in the decathlon.

It was the first time anyone had won both events and probably never will again. He also finished fourth in the individual high jump and seventh in the long jump.

By the way, Billy Mills, another Native American from the Oglala Sioux tribe, was the first American to win the 10,000 meter gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and set a world record. He remains the only American to win a gold medal in this event.

Within walking distance of West Point grounds is the George Armstrong Custer Obelisk. Custer was last in his class at West Point, but first in fighting the Indians, although he was still last at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Thorpe not only ran the ball, but he also punted and placed kicks and played defense and offense, which was common practice in the early days of football. It is said that he could kick the ball from one end zone to the other end zone.

In the first four games, Carlisle outscored its opponents by a score of 194 to 7. West Point, which has always fielded an exceptional team, would not be a walk in the park. The first quarter was scoreless.

As one author says, “The Indians outdid the whites.”

At the end of the first half, Carlisle led 7-6.

In 44 games Jim Thorpe played for Carlisle, he threw 53 touchdowns. He would finish that season with 25 touchdowns and 198 points; unthinkable totals for the day. The final score of the match was 27-6 in favor of Carlisle.

As one writer said, “It was a massacre in every sense of the word,” and it occurred within a short distance of Custer’s grave. On Thorpe’s team was Joe Guyon, also an All-American, of the White Earth Nation.

In 1912, soccer fields were shortened by 10 yards to 100, and soccer fields were increased from three to four. Another interesting note about this game was that Dwight Eisenhower’s football career was to end due to a broken knee.

Jim Thorpe became the first president of the American Professional Football Association. This association subsequently changed its name to the National Football League.

In elementary school, I first learned about Jim Thorpe when I saw a movie starring Burt Lancaster, who played Thorpe. In the early days of cinema, it was common to cast white people in the roles of Native Americans.

The film inspired me and I will never forget the amazing and truly incredible story of the world’s most remarkable athlete: Jim Thorpe.

The Native American name for Thorpe was Wa-Tho-Huk, meaning “Bright Path.” Knowing its history is truly a bright path not only for Native Americans, but for all of us who believe in the impossible dream.

(Note: Some information in this article comes from “Path Lit By Lightning” by David Maraniss, copyright 2022.)

Riddle: Why did the coach go to the bank? (Answer: To get your quarterback.) Playing sports is a great investment.

I would like to thank Red Lake Schools for allowing me to work with their 10th and 11th grade students.

John R. Eggers of Bemidji is a former university professor and regional director. He is also a writer and speaker.