CARLISLE VS BROWN
NOVEMBER 27, 1912
After Jim Thorpe had compiled a football career at Carlisle filled with memorable performances, perhaps the greatest of all his outings there came in 1912 against Brown University in the final game of his college gridiron days. Yet this game has been virtually forgotten by college football’s written histories for some unfathomable reason.
On Thanksgiving Day of 1912 a crowd of approximately 8,000 fans made their way to Brown’s Andrews Field, everyone eager to see the great Thorpe who earlier in the summer had distinguished himself as the world’s greatest athlete by winning both the pentathlon and decathlon events at the Olympic Games in Stockholm. As the two teams lined up for the kickoff a driving snowstorm began coming down, and it would continue through the entire game. The snow covered field would soon become slippery and treacherous for everyone except the nonpareil Thorpe.
The game was barely underway when Thorpe broke loose on Carlisle’s first possession and swept around end for 30 yards before dragged down. This drive was soon checked and the teams then exchanged a couple possessions before the Indians recovered a Brown fumble at the Carlisle 36. On the next play Thorpe rolled around left end for a gain of 14, and three plays later he took a handoff off a criss-cross play and slashed up the field for a gain of 30 yards to Brown’s 20. There the march stalled, and Thorpe missed a field goal try from the 28 yard line to end the scoreless first period as the snow continued to fall.
The Carlisle attack got moving again early in the second quarter with Thorpe starting it as he sliced outside left tackle and weaved his way 32 yards to the Brown 33, past defenders slipping on the snowy field. The Indian backfield then took turns hammering the ball down the field until the march was capped off by Thorpe’s six-yard bolt into the end-zone for the touchdown and a 6-0 lead. Brown took the following kickoff and mounted its only serious scoring chance of the day as the Bears marched to the Carlisle two yard line before a penalty helped end the threat.
After the teams exchanged possessions, Carlisle took over the ball on its end of the field but that quickly changed when Thorpe broke into the clear around right end and sprinted to a 45-yard gain to the Brown 10 before finally tripped up. Three plays later Thorpe faked a run, but instead lobbed a 10-yard forward pass over the surprised Brown defenders to Joe Guyon for the touchdown and a 12-0 lead. The first half shortly came to an end, but not before Thorpe broke loose on another 47-yard dash.
Early in the third quarter the Carlisle attack was back in business and efficiently pounded the ball up the field on an 85-yard march, with Thorpe capping it off by trampling several Brown defenders on his blast into the end zone for the TD that extended the lead to 19-0. Then late in the period Thorpe got the Indians moving again as he broke off a dazzling 50-yard punt return that saw him sprint diagonally across the field as he eluded several potential tacklers, and then headed up the opposite sideline before finally dragged down at the Brown eight yard line. This scoring chance ended quickly though with a lost Carlisle fumble on the next play.
But with the action now moving into the fourth quarter while the snow continued, the Indians quickly got the ball back on their 30 yard line after a punt. The Carlisle offense then began smoothly moving up the field. The big play of the drive came at the Brown 40 when Arcasa rifled a pass up the middle to a wide open Thorpe, who slipped and fell in the snow after making the catch for a 22-yard gain. Four plays later Wheelock plunged in for the touchdown and it was 26-0 after Thorpe added the PAT.
With time running out Carlisle struck again after recovering a Brown fumble just 25 yards from paydirt, followed by Thorpe rifling a pass on the next play to Arcasa for a gain of 15 yards. Two plays later the incomparable Indian back Thorpe, with Brown tacklers hanging all over him, blasted right up the middle for the five yards to the final touchdown of the day and his brilliant football career at Carlisle. For the game Jim Thorpe had rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries in leading Carlisle to an impressive 32-0 victory in what may very well have been one of the very greatest of his brilliant days at the Carlisle Indian School.
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