When College Football Was An Olympic Sport

In 1905, Harold Moore of Union College died from injuries he received in a football game against NYU. Football, which had already caused much public outcry because of the dangers, stood at the brink of being abolished. Even President Teddy Roosevelt, a great proponent of manly endeavors of sporting, was concerned. By 1906, he called for the reform of the game and the adoption of new rules that would change the complexion of the sport forever. Just before this page of history turned, college football was displayed on an international stage: the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri.

The St. Louis games were the third modern Olympics and first international sporting event to be held in the Western Hemisphere. The Olympics had originally been scheduled for Chicago, IL, but the venue changed with the coming of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. In 1899, Professor Sylvester Waterhouse of Washington University in St. Louis proposed the idea of a Louisiana Purchase centennial celebration to be held on the 100th anniversary of 1803 transaction. In 1904, his dream was realized as the exposition, with the backing of President Roosevelt, became a reality. The Exposition, also known as the 1904 World’s Fair, took place from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Construction for the Exposition included Francis Field, a sports complex on the Washington University campus. The stadium, built in 1902, was named for former Missouri Governor, US Secretary of Interior and Ambassador, David R. Francis, who had been instrumental in bringing the events to St. Louis. It was Francis who had also been able to also land the 1904 Olympics to be held during the Exposition. It was decided that, holding the games at St. Louis would guarantee a much larger audience and avoid competition between the two events.

The 1904 Olympics are officially considered to have been held from August 29 to Saturday, September 3, 1904. But, the truth is, the sporting events of the Exposition transpired from July through 23 November 1904 as part of the Physical Culture Section of the Exposition. They actually began on May 14, 1904, with an opening ceremony and the Missouri State High School Championships of track and field for 1904. Almost every sporting event held during the Exposition was deemed an “Olympic” event. The sporting events actually ended with a college football game on November 26, 1904.

Gate at Francis Field

During the run of the World’s Fair, a college football season transpired. Games were played at Francis Field, thus before a world audience. Both Washington and St. Louis University played their entire seasons before Exposition audiences. The Purities (as Washington was then known) posted a 4-7 record at the World’s Fair.

The Spaulding Athletic Almanac of 1905 had this remark:

“The (Olympic) Department knew perfectly well that it would be unable to have an Olympic Foot Ball Championship, though it felt incumbent to advertise it. Owing to the conditions in American colleges it would be utterly impossible to have an Olympic foot ball championship decided. The only college that seemed absolutely willing to give up its financial interests to play for the World’s Fair Championship was the St. Louis University and there is more apparently in this honor than appears in this report. There were many exhibition contests held in the Stadium under the auspices of the Department wherein teams from the St. Louis University and Washington University took part and competed against other teams from universities east and west of the Mississippi River. The Missouri-Purdue game was played in the Stadium on October 28….. The Olympic College Foot Ball Championship was won by St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., by default.”

Besides Wash U., other schools competed in the stadium under the eyes of the Fair crowds. Missouri and Purdue played on October 28, with Purdue winning 11-0. But, the most ballyhooed game and the game that is forever associated with Olympics of 1904 and the game that can now truly be viewed as the Olympic Championship was the match held on Saturday, Nov. 26 between the Carlisle Indian School of Pennsylvania and Haskell Institute of Kansas. The two schools were Native American institutes. Both boasted very powerful programs and they had never met in their histories. Carlisle, considered among the top ten in college football, would soon produce the great Jim Thorpe. Haskell was a power in the Midwest with victories over the likes of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma State. When the Army-Navy game could not be arranged, the nation’s focus turned to a showdown between the two Indian powers of the era.

The significance of the game being held at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics must be underscored. Besides the fact that the “Indian” showdown would occur during he celebration of the Louisiana Purchase, a symbol for America’s quest for manifest destiny, these are the notorious Olympic Games which are famous for giving the world “Anthropology Days”. Anthropology Days displayed persons from “primitive” nations competing in native sports. Foreign participants engaged in “primitive” sports like spear throwing and pole climbing. By Olympic standards, their performances were poor which convinced the spectators of the physical superiority of Anglos, and especially American whites. The games became a The impact was such that the American public became fascinated with sports, a fact of life that has not abated since that time. The US had recently occupied the Philippines and the Fair reinforced US expansionism and imperialism and justified the need to “civilize” countries seen backward.

A meeting between the two great Indian institutions fit nicely within the rather racist program agenda for these games. The players for both schools arrived decked out in traditional native dress.  But, the game itself was a far cry from being viewed as a exhibition of “primitives”. It was serious football and the nation knew it and respected that.  Carlisle, coached by the legendary Pop Warner, warmed up for the showdown by stopping off at Columbus, Ohio. It’s second team crushed the Ohio State Buckeyes, 23-0 on Thanksgiving Day. Carlisle lost in ’04 only to Eastern powers Penn and Harvard. Meanwhile, Haskell, which was undefeated and had beaten Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska and Dr. John Outland’s Washburn, arrived in St Louis early for a Thanksgiving Day game with Washington University. The Wash U. game was no contest, with Haskell’s second team winning 47-0 in a dominating performance.

The showdown between Haskell and Carlisle took place before 12,000 fans, international dignitaries and a large contingency of the press from throughout the country. The weather was beautiful. President Roosevelt was slated to attend and special seating was arranged for him, but he did not show up. He was, however, at the Exposition.

The first 3 ½ minutes of the game seemed an ominous forewarning for Carlisle as Haskell showed incredible speed, driving to the Carlisle 18 before kicking a field goal, which was worth 4 points. But from that point on, it was all Carlisle. Although the two teams were farily well matched weight-wise, Carlisle completely dominated the game at the line. Not only were they able to move the ball with ease on offense, but appeared to be moving Haskell backwards on defense.

Carlisle ripped off three straight scores (worth 5 points each) and the three PAT’s made the score 18-4 at the half. The second half was a duplication of the first. Carlisle scored on each possession of the 2nd half, except one. Haskell, outmanned and running out of steam, made a tremendous goal line stand in the third period holding Carlisle inside the one. Carlisle scored three second half touchdowns and added a safety late in the game for a 38-4 victory.

For Haskell, it was a stunning defeat. They had played perfectly in 1904 against the best the Missouri Valley

region had to offer. They had crushed Wash U. on their home field two days before. The game left the press wondering if Haskell had just been under-prepared or if Eastern football was truly that superior. It was a

coronation for Carlisle. The Indians, as they had thought all along, were the best Indian school football program in the land. The Jim Thorpe days were just around the corner. But, Carlisle would close in 1918 and Haskell would

assume the mantle of the “Indian” football factory.

It is one of American sports’ true ironies that, against the backdrop of an Olympic competition that promoted racist ideology to bolster a nations self-image, two Native American football programs would decide the championship. The echoes of this game could be clearly heard in Berlin when Jesse Owens stole the show in 1936.