November 9, 1912: Carlisle Upsets Army

Jim Thorpe. In this case, the C doesn't stand

for his college team, the Carlisle Indians,

but for his pro team, the Canton Bulldogs.

The picture is colorized, but otherwise real.

November 9, 1912, 100 years ago: The biggest upset that college football had ever seen to that point takes place. In hindsight, though, it shouldn't have been considered an upset.

The football team at the United States Military Academy, at West Point, New York, usually called just "Army" in the newspapers, played their home games on The Plain, essentially a parade ground, which it still is. It would take until 1924 before they built a proper football facility, Michie Stadium.

But they were one of the top teams in the country, along with Ivy League schools Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania; and Midwestern schools Michigan, Minnesota, and the University of Chicago.

Not considered one of the top teams in the country was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, established in 1879 as America's top boarding school for Native American teenagers. One of these was a member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma, named Wa-Tho-Huk. No, that doesn't mean what it sounds like. It means "Bright Path." His "white man's name" was Jim Thorpe.

Thorpe was the greatest athlete in America. He had already showed his prowess on the football field at Carlisle, taking them to an 11-1 record in 1911, their only loss a 12-11 defeat away to Syracuse. They had beaten Harvard, Penn, Brown, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Before the 1912 season, he went to Stockholm for the Olympic Games, and won the Gold Medal in the decathlon and the pentathlon. When the Games' host, King Gustav V of Sweden, gave him his medals, he said to Thorpe, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." Thorpe said, "Thanks, King." Ever since, the winner of the Olympic decathlon has been granted the unofficial title of "the world's greatest athlete."

In 1912, Carlisle went into their game away to Army at 10-0-1, having beaten Pittsburgh again, avenged their defeat to Syracuse, and come away with just one blemish on their record, a 0-0 tie against Washington & Jefferson University.

No one expected them to beat Army at West Point. But they did, 27-6. Thorpe scored 3 touchdowns, and kicked 3 extra points, missing 1.

It was called the biggest victory of Indians over the U.S. Army since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Legend has it that Dwight D. Eisenhower, later the leading General of World War II and the 34th President of the United States, broke his leg trying to tackle Thorpe in this game. It's not true: He played in Army's next game, against Tufts University, and that's when he sustained the injury that ended his playing career -- though, fortunately, not his Army career.

Ironically, just 7 days after their greatest victory, Carlisle would suffer their greatest defeat, losing their undefeated season by losing to Penn 34-26 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Army would also lose at Franklin Field that season, to Navy, and had already done so the previous season.

Thorpe, already the greatest track & field athlete in the world, became the 1st great player in pro football. He also played Major League Baseball, famously getting the only hit in the only MLB game whose 1st 9 innings had no hits, the "double no-hitter" by Fred Toney of Cincinnati and Jim "Hippo" Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs in 1917, won as Thorpe singled home a run for the Reds in the top of the 10th inning. And he played in an early pro basketball league.

But it was discovered that he had played minor league baseball under an assumed name, and the International Olympic Committee took his medals away. In 1950, the Associated Press named him the greatest athlete of the 1st half of the 20th Century. He died in 1953. In 1982, the IOC restored his medals to his family.

The Army would get its revenge on Carlisle in only 6 years. In 1918, with America having gotten into World War I, the federal government, which already ran the school, closed it, and transferred control from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which since its creation has run "Indian Affairs," to the U.S. Department of War (renamed the Department of Defense in 1947). The property is now part of the U.S. Army War College.