The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-24
ATHLETE
REVIEWS HISTORY
Bowl Teams Now No Better
Than Carlisle Eleven Of 80
Years Ago, He Says
BY Y TALBOT

NEW YORK, Dec.
dian Jim Thorpe, generally account
ed the greatest all-around athlete
who ever lived, refuses to concede
that football has improved a particle
since the days when he was carry
ing the ball for Carlisle more than
80 years ago.
"These bowl teams are not a bit
better than we WERE" he insists.
'"Those old Carlisle teams could play
against them today with exactly the
same success. I only wish I was
playing now against some Of these
funny defenses they rig up-five-
man lines and that sort of stuff. 1t
would be a cinch for me-"
Jim, after some hard years out on
the coast, is doing a lot better. He
has caught on as a lecturer and is
trodding the boards almost nightly,
telling the youngsters of a new gen
Grafton how he skinned the world at
the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 and
other assorted re%collections from his
amazing athletic career.
The peerless Thorpe. had balloon
ed about the middle, but his arms
and legs still are hard and his thick
hair still jet black. He entered
Carlisle in 1904 and played football
for % years. He never was hurt in
college, but the professionals "bruis-
ed me up a bit now and then" he
admits.
Jim likes to drop in on Eddie
Brannick, secretary of the New York
Giants, who was his pal when the
great Indian was trying unsuccess-
fully to hit curve balls for the late
John McGraw. According to Bran
nick, Thorpe was so strong in those
days he was an actual menace. He
liked to wrestle, especially in Pull
mans, and after he had tossed two of
the Giants leading stars. including
250-pound Jeff Tessreau, over a cou-
pie of seats, he was ordered by Nc
Graw never to touch another player
on pain of instant dismissal.
Thorpe enjoyed hearing Ed tell
about his FRANKS, including the time
Jim and Rabbit Maranville spent an
entire night in adjoining trees, pre-.
tending they were bobcats. But Jim
didn't get really warmed up until ii
was suggested, mildly, that present.
day football with it's deception and
fine blocking must be quite an eye
opener for a man who played in the
old "bone-crunching" days.
"Whadda va mean?" he demand.
ed. They haven't got a thing we
didn't have. and we had something
they haven't got now-sixty-min.
ute ball players. These kids now
train to play about six minutes al
a time. We were lucky to have one
good substitute.
When I was at Carlisle we used
spinners, ~laterals, huddles and 81.
lent signals. We used this new.
tangled IT. formation and the
double wingback, both. The crowc
didn't know where the ball was
half the time until the tackle was
made. Ask any guy who tried te
play against us.
"And don't think there's any
thing new about this blocking. They
gave me plenty of it. Only differ.
ence is that they block a little
higher nowadays.
MAYBE they play a little clean
er now, but it makes me tired te
go to a game and hear nothing
but the referees whistle all after,
noon. I loved it when the referee
stood back and let us go. I always
knew there were three or four
guys on the other side told off tt
get me out of the game. l woule
spot them after a couple of plays
and then 1 would fix them first
one at a time"
Those, Jim grinned, were the
happy days. He says Tommy Har.
mon is a. fine back and Frank
Reagan of Penn nearly on a par,
but he thinks they grew them just
as good 80 years ago.
Figuring that time probably has
healed a lot of wounds, Jim would
like to get back all those medals
and trophies that were taken away
from him after the 1912 Olympics
because he had played profession
a! baseball. But he doesn't know
where they are. Does anyone?