Flip to The Carlisle Indian School football team with their Harvard victory ball, November, 1911.
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Credit: Courtesy of the Cumberland County Historical Society
In the early 1900s, the Carlisle Indian School used football games and track meets to showcase how well it Americanized its students. In 1912, Carlisle would send two students to the Stockholm Olympics, Hopi Indian Louis Tewanima (1888 -1969) who won a silver medal in the 10,000 meters and Jim Thorpe (sitting with legs crossed), whose gold medal performance in the decathlon would remain unbeaten for more than two decades.