Army Vs. Carlisle

Carlisle Vs. Armyt: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, {And the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle}, Lars Anderson, Random House, New York, 2007


He ignores the general distaste for Carlisle and suggests it was a positive thing for most.

Carlisle was a positive thing for the view of Indians because it showed the "savage race" playing the "white man's game" and playing it well, they were the underdogs in size and numbers yet won many, many games. People started cheering for the Indians.

Thorpe in the Olympics brought attention to Carlisle and resulted in positive media attention.
He and another Indian did well which brought them huge followings of fans.

After Carlisle beat Pittsburgh 45-8

"After the final whistle blew, the fans gave Thorpe and the rest of the Indians thunderous applause. Thirty-three years after the founding of Carlisle, the school's football team had helped transform the public's attitude toward Indians. No longer feared and reviled, the Carlisle Indians had become almost mythological figures in Warner's eleventh year at the school, symbolizing a last chance at greatness for a dying race. Thorpe's Sac and Fox tribe in Oklahoma, for instance, had only six hundred members left, and every time Thorpe touched the ball it was as if time had been turned back and the Indian people were again flourishing. This was the myth they were creating, and white fans couldn't turn their eyes away from the Carlisle boys, the ultimate underdogs." (p. 268, speaking of the 1912 season)

The team traveled a lot, including to the West Coast to play...and "upset" California. As they toured people flocked to see them. Thus awareness was at a high level...and they became sympathetic figures.