Gridiron Gypsies: How the Carlisle Indians Shaped Modern Football

by Tom Benjey

Overview

After pleading with Superintendent Pratt to be allowed to play football against other schools, the small complement of students old enough competed against college men from coast to coast. Some had never seen a real football before and most were learning English. Located in a small town in Southcentral Pennsylvania, they traveled considerable distances to play all their important games on the road, but still won most of them. Learn why the Carlisle Indians are still talked about today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936161089
Publisher:	Tuxedo Press
Publication date:	10/29/2022
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Previous books by Tom Benjey:
Keep A-goin': The Life of Lone Star Dietz
Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs
Oklahoma's Carlisle Indian School Immortals
Glorious Times: Adventures of the Craighead Naturalists
Prostate Cancer and the Veteran

Editorial Reviews

Benjey reveals a fascinating, little-known slice of American history with this exhaustive examination of the football team at the Carlisle Indian School, a federally funded Pennsylvania boarding school for Native Americans that opened in 1879—and, before its closure in 1918, shocked the nation with its sports teams' athleticism and competitive spirit. Those qualities are exemplified by the football program's most famous alumnus, Jim Thorpe, a three-time All-American at Carlisle.

Booklife

If there was ever a book that should be a mainstay in collections strong in Native American history, culture, and issues, or early civil rights efforts, it should be Gridiron Gypsies. The story is about far more than sports, tackling the subject of integration and Native American rights in an era when most would rather have killed than educate them.

Midwest Book Review - Diane Donovan