Walter Lingo, Jim Thorpe, and the Oorang Indians

How a Dog Kennel Owner Created the NFL's Most Famous Traveling Team

Inbunden, Engelska, 2017

749 kr

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At the beginning of the Roaring Twenties the NFL was just a footnote within the landscape of American sports. The early pro game was played on dirt fields by vagabond athletes who would beat up or punch out their opponent for fifty dollars a game. But one team was different than the rest: the Oorang Indians. Comprised entirely of Native Americans and led by star athlete Jim Thorpe, the Oorang Indians were an instant hit in almost every city they visited.In Walter Lingo, Jim Thorpe, and the Oorang Indians: How a Dog Kennel Owner Created the NFL's Most Famous Traveling Team, NFL historian Chris Willis tells the story of this unique and fascinating part of professional football history. In 1922 Walter Lingo, a dog kennel owner from tiny La Rue, Ohio, joined forces with Jim Thorpe, the country’s greatest athlete, to create the Oorang Indians. Willis recounts how Lingo used the football team, the star attraction of player-coach Thorpe, and the all Native-American squad to help advertise his kennel and sell dogs, putting the small town of La Rue on the map. With the complete cooperation of the Lingo family and unlimited access to family photos and archives, Walter Lingo, Jim Thorpe, and the Oorang Indians provides an up-close and behind-the-scenes view into the making of this little-known team. It is a remarkable story that will be enjoyed by football fans and historians alike.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2017-05-05
Mått159 x 236 x 27 mm
Vikt599 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor310
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781442277656

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Chris Willis is the Head of the Research Library at NFL Films, a position he has held since 1996. He is the author of multiple books on pro football, including The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr (2010), Dutch Clark: The Life of an NFL Legend and the Birth of the Detroit Lions (2012), and A Nearly Perfect Season: The Inside Story of the 1984 San Francisco 49ers (2014), all published by Rowman & Littlefield. In 2002 Willis was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the HBO Documentary “The Game of Their Lives: Pro Football in the 1950’s.” Willis was awarded the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Ralph Hay award for lifetime achievement in pro football research and historiography in 2012.

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPART I: WALTER LINGO, LA RUE, OHIO, AND THE OORANG KENNELSChapter 1: The Lingo FamilyChapter 2: Walter LingoChapter 3: The Oorang Kennels and the Rise of the Oorang AiredalesChapter 4: A Genius of PromotionChapter 5: World War IChapter 6: Putting La Rue on the MapPART II: THE FOOTBALL TEAM: THE OORANG INDIANSChapter 7: The National Football LeagueChapter 8: The Great Jim ThorpeChapter 9: “The Idea”: Creating the NFL’s Most Famous Traveling TeamChapter 10: The Oorang IndiansPART III: THE FOOTBALL SEASONS, 1922–1923Chapter 11: Training Camp in La RueChapter 12: The 1922 NFL SeasonChapter 13: The 1923 NFL SeasonChapter 14: A Two-Year Experiment EndsPART IV: THE AFTERMATH FOR WALTER LINGO, JIM THORPE, AND THE OORANG INDIANSChapter 15: Athlete and Sportsman MagazineChapter 16: The Lingorue and the Demise of the Oorang KennelsChapter 17: Walter Lingo Rebuilds His Business and Good-bye to Jim ThorpeChapter 18: The Passing of the King of DogsChapter 19: Commemorating the Oorang IndiansChapter 20: The Legacy of Walter Lingo, Jim Thorpe, and the Oorang IndiansAPPENDIXES:A: Oorang Indians Game ResultsB: Oorang Indians All-Time Roster (1922–1923)C: Oorang Indians Box Scores (1922–1923)NotesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

Expanding on a chapter in his first book, Old Leather: An Oral History of Early Pro Football in Ohio, 1920–1935), Willis, the head of the research library at NFL Films, thoroughly explores the life and times of a short-lived, all–Native American football team led by the legendary Jim Thorpe. Willis explores LaRue, Ohio, the town where the team was founded, and interviews a number of descendants of players and other personnel involved with this ‘barnstorming’ and groundbreaking team. Previously a living legend when he agreed to lead the team, Jim Thorpe was completely compliant with owner Walter Lingo’s intention to use this team to promote his main business—a dog kennel that sold specially bred Airedales. Thorpe and his Native American teammates turned out to be enormously popular in the two years they played in the National Football League (1922–3), traveling all over the country to entertain and promote Lingo’s dogs more than to win. They gave the budding and little-noticed NFL a publicity boost that helped propel the league into the public eye, paving the way for the future success of professional football.Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.