Carlisle versus Army 1912 Part 2

We started the story a few days ago in part one, and now in this edition we cover the game between Army and Carlisle in 1912 that was a contest that helped make leaders and legends.

In our part 1 segment of this story of the 1912 meeting of the Army Cadets and the Carlisle Indians we used the author of the book Carlisle vs. Army, Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story, Lars Anderson's format to set the stage for the big game of the 1912 season. Anderson masterfully scripted the parrallel bios on the key people from the title of his book, namely Warner, Thorpe and Eisnehower. As a reader we grew up through the maturiti process of either being players like Thorpe and Ike or as a coach in Warner's case. 

The 1912 season had this improtant game poised to be played on November 9, 1912 at West Point, New York. So far inthe season Army had a record of 3-1, their only loss was a 0-6 falling to Yale. Carlisle on the other hand was 9-0-1, blemished slightly with a scoreless tie at Washington and Jefferson. Mr. Anderson has a great couple of sentences about what was going through Pop Warner's mind the week before the game with Army.

"The Army game for Warner was personal. Years earlier, when he was still a young man, Warner had taken the West Point entrance exam, hoping that one day he could become a cadet and have a career in the armed forces."

Yes I am sure there had to be a little bit of a chip on Pop's shoulder, as this was the first time one of his teams faced the Cadets of Army on the football field. He as as Anderson says pushed away as a teenager by the Miliatary Academy  and didn't plan on getting knocked off course again by them. The other pressing thing had to be that he was so close to the National Title that he could taste it. Army was only one of four games that remained and winning this one along with the contests at Penn, at the Springfield YMCA and at Brown, should put Carlisle in a very good place indeed. He had to I am sure keep focussed on one game at a time though no matter how tempting it was to look ahead.

Lars Anderson inhis book Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle, used the minutes right before the game started to reflect on what he beleives each  of the key figures was thinking annd saying.

He started with the Army football team and their fans. They looked at the Carlisle team that was favored to beat them in disbelief. Amy out sized the Natives by almost four incehs and 20 some odd pounds per man!  Certainly a high school team showed up instead of the college age varsity squad.

Photo of the Yale Army game played earlier in 1912, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons taken by the Bain News Service

Warner knew that this was his chance to prove his gridiron genuis and coaching prowess.  He wanted to prove that his new finesse style of play was better than the physical power run game of Army, and that brains and speed to out duel brawn. Pop pulled out everything from the pregame coaching playbook too. He told his players that the Cadets were the sons of the soldiers that slaughtered their people at Wounded Knee a few decades earlier. This was the time that these men could avenge the losses of their tribes. Being inside the miliatary compound of West Point an watching row after row of precise marching columns of cadets made their awareness even more sensatized and heightened the frenzy they were being worked into. Carlisle had other future hHall of Fame players besides Jim Thorpe. The Indians also featured Joe Guyon, and Gus Welch. The strategy worked because to a man each of the Indian players knew there was some truth to what Warner was saying. Talk about a pep talk, these boys were fired up to the tenth power before kick off.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was solely focussed on  being the best football player he could be. He spent years preparing his body and increasing his footspeed just to make the team. These last few months he had sharpened his mind with even further determination to succeed on the field of gridiron battle. Ike played the dream scenario over and over in his mind. He wanted to have the opportunity to face Jim Thorpe one on one and then lay a lick on the star player that would knock him out of the game. The Army team was at home, they had the cheering columns of gray clad soldiers in the stands cheering them on and they outsized their opponents by a fair measure.

Jim Thorpe was fired up not only because of Pop Warners pregame rah rah speech, but also because he knew after receiving accolades over the past few months that he was the greatest athlete int he world after his Oympic endeavors, he had to truly prove his athletic prowess against  a mighty Goliath foe in the cadets.

All the pieces were in place for this much anticipated showdown of these two top tier teams of 1912.

Carlisle's 1912 offense, Thorpe is shown in the back on the far right. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Carlisle received the opening kick, and Thorpe returned it to just over the thirty yard line. Army's defense headed out to the filed anticpating Warner's single-wing offense that he unleashed about five years earlier. Other teams that they had faced had been using the now popular formation and Army knew that with their size and diciplined play that they could shut down the strategy.

Warner knew this two so he had prepared his men for weeks with a new concept that could put Army back on their heels. The Indian team set up in formation and then shifted into a formation never seen before, the double-wing! The Cadets were confused and in the panic the real brilliance of the formation came about after the ball was snapped. Players turning, pivoting, pitches, hand-offs and reverses were what was in store for the Army defense to face. And all the while the speed and agililty that made Carlisle such a dangerous foe.

The Indians moved the ball with ease deep into enemy territory. Thorpe again ran around the end, dodging tacklers and then near the five yard line only Ike Eisenhower stood in the way. Dwight had his moment that he envisioned and hoped for. The Cadet linebacker lunged at Thorpe with all he had and laid a whallop into the runner. It was so ferocious that the ball flew from Jim Thorpes hands as he crashed to the ground. Army recovered the ball and Thorpe was laying in agony! The promising drive now looked like a train wreck. The officials urged Warner to get Thorpe off of the field so that the game could commence once again. But the star lineman and Army team captain, Leland Devore asked the refs to give the Carlisle player some time to get up. Thorpe at once rose to his feet, he felt insulted by Devore's comments. Though he was still realing from the hit he was now revived with anger.

The Army team eventually put together a bludgeoning drive of runs up the middle and took the lead 6-0. Carlisle roared back with a score of their own to take the lead 7-6 before the half. If it wasn't for a holding call on an amazing punt return by Thorpe the score would have been even more in favor of the visitors.

At the half linebackers of Army including Eisenhower devised a plan to take Thorpe out of the game. He was much better that what they had heard and read about him. The second half brought more misery to Army's cause when Devore, the best blocker on the team was ejected for a malicious cheap shot, and later Eisnehower and a teammate collided when Thorpe avoided a tackle. The collision knocked both Army stars from the game.  Thorpe really had his way after these three key figures were out of the game and Carlisle won the match up 27-6.

The great book by Lars Anderson titled: Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle . 

The banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and is of the GEORGETOWN-CARLISLE GAME football game, played earlier in the season. Taken by Harris & Ewing, photographer