Omaha daily bee., 1910-10-23
RED NAN IN MODERN SPORT
Strength and Skill Win Success on
Athletic Fields.
FLEET RUNNERS FROM TRIBES
Di-tinsuished IN base Ball, Root bali
and Motor Raees-Charaeter
istics Noted IN various
Contests.


rivalry, 70 less deadly, is no less keen than
IL was in the days OF yore. ON this new
field OF battle the uualiies that made the
savage Indian 50 dreaded a Zoe make his
twentieth century grandson a rival who
must be respected. Endurance. pertinaoity.
subtle craft keenness OF eye, swiftness OF.
limb, sureness Of touch, are inherited quail
tiles no less useful in modern sport than
in frontier warfare.
The long train and the woody ambus-
cade. where formerly the Indian sought 10
entrsp and xiii his enemy, are now repre-
scented by the chalk-mHrked foot ball field.
the ctnder-strewn running path, the green
sward baseball field and latest OF all. the
oil soaked road OF the automobile course.
From the reservations have come the
fleet-footed runners that have often made
slower white men run in the dust from
their heels. Out OF the Indian schools
principally Carlisle, have come the sturdy
foot ball teams that BY Drawn and by
cunning have humbled their white broth.
rem before the gaze Of multltudes. From
off the plains Of the west have come still
another redman. who, at the wheel Of a
powerful automobile, has striven with skin
and daring against the white man In terri
Tying, death-defying races. And the crafty
Indians have more than once humbled
their white brethren on the base ball field.
The Indian warrior OF today is the brave
of three generations back, merely In a diff
ferent environment. Nothing was more
natural than that the red men should turn
to the most strenuous forms OF athletic
exercise as an outlet for the fierce energy
and the restless spirit that had been Dent
up since they were despoiied of their wild
patrimony. into these sports OF the white
people the Indians have brought many OF
their racial characteristics, and there are
many sports which we owe to the Indians,
features of which their players had never
thought until the red men introduced
them.
Warriors ON the Diamond.
| What base ball fan is not now familiar
with tho fame OF Chief Bender, pitcher OF
the Philadelphia Athletics, whose speed
and skill won the first Of the worlds
championship games in shibe park, last
| Monday. Year afber year has Bender
gone along pitching remarkable ball,
| achieving success quite as much by his
shrewdness and strategy as by brute force
1 and strength. Those who have watched
the marvellous Bender have noted above
an else his perfect disregard OF the tauuts
and jeers, the shouts and cheers Of the
throngs about him, With the same stole
Indifference for which the Indians have
over been noted he has gone along with
/ 9 pertinacity similar to that OF his an
cestors trailing wild game through track
less forest
! Then there is Big Chief Meyers, the
| catcher on the New York Giants More
| than one OF his white opponents have
fallen a victim to his cunning when by a
sudden, unexpected throw to the base he
has caught a rash runner and put him
out. Time after time has a swiftly thrown
ball, suddenly DETECTED by the bat OF the
batsman, manned and torn me fingers and
! hands Of Meyers. yet with the stolid in.
difference Of his race he has given no sign
Of the pain he must have suffered
! IR the Foot Rail- Field.
! IL Is at the Carlisle Indian school, the
most famous institution of its kind in the
world, that the Indian of today displays
most conspicuously the traits Of his race
No game enjoyed by white people ap-
pealed TO the nature OF the Indian lads
IN the school more than foot ball, and FOL
years their teams have proven worthy op-
ponents for the best of the white elevens
In their foot ball more than an any other
game the Indians found opportunities e
display these characteristics that Cooper
delighted to portray in the Leather Stock
ing Tales" Hurts and bruises that sent
his white opponents 10 the side lines failed
completely TO dampen the Indians spirits
or 20 impair his efficiency. a or years the
Carlisle lads played g greater number OF
games than any other team in the ooun-
try. Beginning at the very opening Of the
season, they have gone, along meeting OBJ
ponent after opponent weeks after other
elevens have Deen willing and ready tc
stop for The year.
stoioal indifference 10 pain has, how
ever. not been the most prominent char
acteristic of the Indian in foot pail. Rather
has # been ias strategy rhe cunning
craft that made him so dreaded q foe for
the white man when the possession OF ,ae
plains was at stake have made him just
as worthy a foe now that the prize is but
the glory OF victory.
II is not likely that those who saw the
game nor those who participated In IL will
ever forget the Harvard Carlisle match OF
1908, Victory seemed destined first 70 crown
the standards OF Harvard and later those
OF the Indians Then a turn Of luck put
the white boys in the lead. The time TOT
play was drawing 10 close, That the
Indians with all their skin and all theli
perseverance were doomed to defeat seemed
| certain. And then came a play that vii
never be forgotten. The Indians got tbs
ball They were Tar from their opponent
goal and the time vas brief The two
teams lined NJ. Suddenly the bail wa,
snapped 10 one Of the Indians The other,
gathered about him for an instant and ther
scattered to every part OF the field. Tn,
Harvard players, confused. stopped still
for the bali was nowhere IN sight. sud
denly, of to one side Of the field dark
skinned little man VAS seen running al
top speed toward the Harvard goal. Tn,
Crimson players dashed Off la pursuit bu
too late TO prevent the touchdown. ia,
Indian Dillon was his name. had eonceale,
the ball beneath his jersey. When brut,
strength had failed the red men had wor
! by strategy.
Swift nunneFs,
The historic fame Of IKE Indians as swif
runners has been fully borne out by In,
performances OF tne present day Long
boat Aeoose and Red Hawk OF this gen
GRAFTON ana Dcerfoot OF the last have tim,
after time run on and on until their whit,
opponents dropped painting aud breathles
py the Wayside.
IL Is ttue that In the last Vanderbilt cul
race ne hymel the FIRST indian ever L
enter such contest, did not win This
however, vas no fault OF the man bu
Hnf