The relationship between the Indian School and Dickinson

History 204 | History of Indian Education | The Public Relationship Between Dickinson and the Indian School | Collective Biography of Indian Dickinson Students | Insitute to Institute: Dickinson College and Carlisle Indian School | Essays | Bibliographic Information

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The Relationship Between the Carlisle Indian School and Dickinson College Football Teams Written by Jared Burns, Dickinson College Class of 2009

In 1890 an unofficial college football game was played between two cross town teams. The immediate result was a broken leg of a player and a cancellation of a program, but in the long run a rivalry was born. In the early years of the Carlisle Indian program the two teams had a great relationship. They played against each other tough and fair and many great games were played. However, after 1902, a few incidents between the teams occurred and the relationship became strained. Eventually in 1910 the two teams resumed good relations and continued to play games annually. The Dickinson and the Carlisle community, for the most part, did not treat the Indians poorly. There were a few instances but they were minor and few. The Carlisle community loved to watch the Indians play football and Dickinson liked having them as competitors. Many other teams treated the Indians poorly when they played against them. Although Dickinson and the Indian School’s football teams started out with good relations, the relationship became strained due to particular incidents that occurred between the two teams.

In the late 1880s students at the Carlisle Indian School began playing football games against each other. They would have different teams and try to crown one of them champion of the school. Then one fall afternoon in 1890 the Carlisle Indian School organized an unofficial football game against Dickinson College. This was the first ever meeting in athletics between Indians and whites. During the game Stacy Matlock, an Indian player, broke his leg badly and the Indian players had to carry him the two miles back to the barracks. Upon hearing this Pratt outlawed football for the Indians. Then in 1893 a group of Indians lobbied Pratt to allow them to play football. Pratt reinstated football under two conditions: one that the Indians never swing at another player. The second was that in three or four years that they beat the best team in the country, which they did . In 1893 the Indian team only played two official games, one of which was against Harrisburg High school. The following year, the Indians played a full schedule, which included Dickinson College. On October 13, 1894 the first official game was played between the Indians and Dickinson. The Indians jumped out early and were winning twelve nothing at the half. Dickinson however came storming back in the second half, which left the game tied at twelve .

The relationship between the two schools became a good one. The teams played every year from 1896 to 1901. The early years of the rivalry, those years from 1884 to 1901, were ones of much more competition then strictly the games between the two. They were cross town rivals and each would want to be the best team in Carlisle, but the two teams also helped each other. They would frequently have practice games against each other. “The Dickinson- Indian game always proved to be a thriller. The reason for the intense rivalry was the fact that the two teams were always engaged in practice games of one sort or another. The Carlisle championship was at stake and everyone in town and the Indian school turned out for the game” . The game was big for both teams, even though, except for the first game that resulted in a tie, the Indians seemed to dominate the contests. During the early years the rivalry was clean and fair. There were no racial remarks or unfair calls during the game that occurred in some of the other events for the Indians. In the 1896 game against Yale many people, both Indian and white believed that the officials had called it unfairly against the Indians . The games between Dickinson and Carlisle were fair. Unfortunately when the Indians had to play against other teams, they had to withstand dirty play as well as racial remarks. Each team respected the other as a formidable opponent.

The Town of Carlisle saw both the Indian School football team and the Dickinson College football team as two of their own. The townspeople during the Indian School era would go and watch these teams play, especially if they were playing each other. This was the case on September 26, 1900 as the Carlisle Evening Sentinel reported it: "A game between Carlisle's star football teams is no small event in the local sporting world. Yesterday's game was a magnificent exhibition, both teams working hard” . The townspeople would love to go and watch Dickinson play the Indian school. There would sometimes be over ten thousand fans, especially when Jim Thorpe played. These masses of fans would cheer for both teams. The Indians did receive some special treatment from the town, especially the police force. Alcohol had been abandoned at the Indian School, but every once and a while someone would give the Indian football players some alcohol, occasionally it was even Pop Warner. If an Indian football player was arrested Coach Warner would pay the police and let them out of jail. The Indians received many perks, and the team became the first big business team in college football history. The Indians had a special dorm at the School and were even given money for playing. The Indian School received money from playing teams on the road via admission profits. People from all over wanted to see the Indians play as was the case in Carlisle. Dickinson College seemed to help out their neighboring team as they would practice against each other. This good relationship would not last forever.

The relationship between the two teams soon became strained due to bad weather and a disagreement. On October 4, 1904 the Dickinson College football team and Carlisle Indian School football teams were scheduled to play each other in a regular season game. The week had seen a lot of rain and the field was not in very good condition. The fans from town and Dickinson marched to the Indian field where the game was supposed to be played. The two teams were there and then the captains met to decide on the length of halves, a common occurrence for football in those days. The Dickinson College Captain, Stanton, wanted to play a twenty and fifteen minute halves because of the poor condition of the field. Coach Warner, of the Indian School, however, wanted to play two thirty minute halves. The game was not played. The Dickinsonian commented on the situation hoping that the two teams could resolve this issue, “It is to be hoped that these differences may be amicably settled and that contests in the future may proceed as before” . This situation, although not to drastic, began a four year drought of games between the teams. It was the start of what would become a long period of the two teams not playing each other.

The disagreement on lengths of halves was did not necessarily ruin the relationship between the two teams. That situation could have been easily fixed if the two teams had simply played the next year, or even if they had continued to play clean games. It was the next time these two teams faced off that caused the friendly relationship between the two teams to turn sour. In 1905 the two teams traveled to Park Island field in Harrisburg for the game. Before the game an incident occurred, that although at the time seemed to be in good fun, actually ruined the relationship the two teams had with each other. Steckbeck commented on the incident: “A Dickinson student dressed as a cowboy appeared on the field, followed by an Indian. In the course of their play acting the Indian was scalped by the cowboy. The Redskins, not to be outdone, had a student of theirs trundle out a dummy representing a Dickinson football player. He remained on the field and every time the Indians scored a touchdown, an additional arrow was shot into his breast” . Steckbeck goes on to say that this incident was taken good–naturedly by both sides, yet the way the game was played wouldn’t appear so. The Dickinson team, for the first time in the series against the Indians, was warned for using unfair tactics, and some players were even thrown out of the game for slugging. The Indians went on to crush the Dickinson team by a score of thirty six to zero.

The once great relationship of cross town rivals was no longer intact. The two teams, who used to practice against each other frequently, did not even play each other for five years. In a time span from 1902 to 1910 they only played one game, which had both teams and their fans acting in bad taste. The two teams did eventually begin to repair their old relationship. They resumed contests on October 5, 1910 when the Indians won by a score of twenty four to zero. This game was very important towards restoring relations between the two teams. Steckbeck commented on the Indians’ attitudes heading in to the game: “Relationships between the two Carlisle teams had been saved for various reasons, and the Indians were admonished to be on their best behavior so that the good relations with the college might be continued” . By 1911 the teams once again were beginning to play each other regularly. That year they played a good clean game. “The spirit was fine, the rivalry great but friendly, and there was no ‘personal rooting’ and only the best feeling prevailed” . The two teams, from this point on, restored their rivalry. They played five out of the next six years, but sadly in 1918 the Indian school was disbanded and along with it the once great football team. Dickinson and Carlisle played their last game on November 13, 1915.

“A Disappointment.” Dickinsonian 15 October 1902. VII, no. 1.

“Indians 24 Dickinson 0.” Dickinsonian. 5 October 1910. VII, no 1.

“Indian Game.” Dickinsonian. November 1894. XXII, no 2.

“Indians Win.” The Carlisle Evening Sentinel. 27 September 1900.

“Indians Win Meet.” Dickinsonian. 10 May 1905. XXXII, no. 27.

Lars, Anderson. Carlisle vs. Army. New York: Random House Publishing, 2007.

Steckbeck, John. Fabulous Redmen. Harrisburg: J Horace Publishing Co., 1951.