Carlisle Indian School and Haskell Institute
(now Haskell Indian Nations University) in Lawrence, Kans., were connected for decades as students and staff shuttled back and forth between these two government Indian board- ing schools. When Carlisle was closed in 1918, the Indian sports mantle passed to Haskell. The Carlisle System began in the early 1920s with the hiring of Richard Hanley, a Dietz protege. He capped his career at Haskell by leading the Fightin’ Indians to a 12-0-1 season in 1926. Although Haskell built the fi rst lighted sta-
dium in that region of the country to honor that team, their football fortunes waned until Dietz took the reins in 1929 and turned in a 9-2-0 record. He was dubbed “Miracle Man” for accomplishing what many considered impossible. Like Carlisle, whose teams were referred to as “gypsies of the gridiron” because most of their games, especially the big ones, were played on the road, Haskell also traveled widely, even after building the stadium. Dietz exposed Haskell students to nation-
ally known fi gures such as Knute Rockne and Warner; both visited the school and addressed the student body, greatly inspiring many stu- dents. Unfortunately, economic pressure from the Great Depression caused government funding for Haskell to be cut and the ath- letic department to be slashed. Dietz left for the National Football League after the 1932 season, taking four Haskell stars with him. Haskell looked back to Carlisle to replace him. Welch followed Dietz again after coaching
at Randolph-Macon College and the Univer- sity of Virginia, but scant resources prevented him from repeating Haskell’s earlier success. The once-proud Haskell football tradition was over. In 1937, Welch accepted the head coaching position at victory-starved Ameri- can University in Washington, D.C., but its administration mercifully terminated his contract after the 1938 season. During World War II, Welch coached the Georgetown Prep School team, served as athletic director for the Naval Torpedo Station and conducted a specialized training program for the Army at Georgetown University. Long ago the sporting world acknowledged
that Carlisle and Notre Dame were the lead- ing sources of players for the early pro game. Now it is time to recognize Carlisle’s place in preparing coaches and the great impact these men had in winning respect for the modern American Indian. X
Tom Benjey is the author of Keep A-goin’: The Life of Lone Star Dietz and Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs. He is a leading researcher of the Carlisle athletic program and lives near Carlisle, Penn.
$60.00, Cloth, 978-1-934691-45-8 • $30.00, Paper, 978-1-934691-46-5 2011. 224 pp., 61 color plates, 70 fi gures, notes, references, index, 10 x 8.5
School for Advanced Research Press • Post Offi ce Box 2188, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504 • (888) 390-6070 •
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“Infl uencing Thought, Creating Change” SARPRESS SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 49
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