Nov 9, 1907: Only a Game? Not Today
Eleven times, the Carlisle Indians have traveled to Boston to take on the Harvard Crimson. Eleven times, they’ve gone home defeated.
Before the game, here’s what Coach Pop Warner told the Indians:
Boys, today you face the sons and grandsons of the men who conquered your people. They are the descendants of the white men who ordered the ruination of your tribes. And now, the sons and grandsons of your conquerors want their turn to fight the tribe that has risen against them: the Carlisle Indians. But this time, unlike the wars of the past, the contest between red men and white will be waged on equal terms. This time, the playing field is level and you’re going to beat ’em at their own game! This war is yours to win!
A Boston reporter described the game:
It was a game spectacular to such a degree as never has been seen on Soldiers’ Field, and the 30,000 people, most of them giving lusty voice in their sympathy for the warriors from Carlisle, watched a struggle to which was all excitement from the moment it began until the Indians, triumphant, rushed off the field surrounded by thousands of spectators who had poured over the walls of the stadium.
That night, Carlisle carried their first Harvard game ball home to Pennsylvania with the result emblazoned on it: Carlisle 23 – Harvard 15. With a record of 8 and 1, Carlisle was now #3 in the nation.
