Walter Lingo, Jim Thorpe, and the Oorang Indians
Source: 75 Seasons
LaRue couldn’t be mistaken for Los Angeles or New York City but there exists a common link between the two largest cities in the United States and this little Ohio village.
All three have been team franchise members of the National Football League. In fact, LaRue was first, beating New York to the punch by three years and Los Angles by 24.
How did LaRue obtain a pro football franchise? it was the clever idea of a man named Lingo. Walter H. Lingo was a remarkable man.
He parlayed a boyhood love of dogs and hunting into an immensely successful business: the raising and training of airedale dogs at his Oorang Kennels in LaRue, Ohio.
The Kennels became synonymous with the “best airedales in the world” and in its peak year, thousands were sold. The famous were among the customers - Ty Cobb and Jack Dempsey to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
“People believe the word ‘Oorang’ is the name of an Indian tribe, but it’s not,” says Merle Lingo, Walter’s brother. “The word doesn’t mean a thing. Walter made it up. Walter was a promoter and he was full of ideas to promote his dogs. And he could sell anything.”
So Walter Lingo, always on the lookout for ideas to promote his airedales, chose football.
In the early 1920s, professional football was not the popular game it is today - in fact, no one was sure that the professional game would last. The American Football League had disbanded in 1921. The game needed a strong, stabilizing force to exist, and George Halas was that force. He organized the National Football League, drew up a charter, and Walter Lingo was one of the first members for a fee of $100.
It’s a bit strange that Walter would get involved in professional football. He had no interest in the game. His passions were his airedales and hunting.
Walter deeply admired the hunting prowess of Native Americans and he was attracted, too, “by their way with animals.” Jim Thorpe, the great Indian athlete, had hunted with Lingo in LaRue. It was due to one such expedition that Walter Lingo, always looking for new ways to publicize his airedales, hatched his best promotional brainstorm.
It was simple. Jim Thorpe would assemble and coach a football team comprised of Native Americans - the Oorang Indians. The team would practice and play a schedule, but also help train and “show” the dogs. Thus, LaRue, with a population of about 700 and no football field, became an original, bona fide member of the National Football League. Yes, it was that simple. It also was unreal.
There is no doubt that by 1922 Jim Thorpe had finished his best days as a player. His true age was a mystery, even to Jim himself. Different accounts placed it anywhere from thirty-four to thirty-more.
However, Jim wasn’t quite ready to give up the ghost. He could still play and, on occasion, play superbly.
Merle Lingo remembers Jim this way: “He wasn’t a huge man - six feet tall and, I’d say, 190 pounds - but he was tremendously strong. He would lay on one shoulder and challenge the others to pin him. They couldn’t do it.
People in Marion and LaRue who remember the Oorang Indians always mention Long Time Sleep; he stayed in the LaRue area for several years after the team disbanded. More stories are told about him than any of the others. Some of the stories are true; some probably not. Some of the tales are unprintable.
The facts are that his real name was Nick Lassa and that he was only part Indian. His Indian name was given him by the others when it was discovered that his waking time didn’t match theirs by a couple of hours.
He was a large and tremendously strong individual. He would wrestle the strongmen, and beat them when the carnival circuit hit Marion. Kids were in awe of him. If the accounts of some of his sprees are true, a little fear would have been more appropriate.
“Nick passed through here fifteen or so years ago,” remembers Merle. “He always claimed he was a chief and I never believed him. But, now I’ve heard he was.”
"Another of the Indians, quarterback Leon Boutwell, moved to Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and edited a daily newspaper. Pete Calac became a policeman in Canton.”
It’s reported that the Oorangs practiced five hours a day and then ran the dogs for a couple of hours in the evening. Another version has it that the Indians didn’t take football too seriously: they were more intent on having fun.
Whatever the truth is, it would be fitting to report that the Oorangs ran rough-shod over opponents. Fitting, perhaps, but it just wasn’t so.
The Oorang team won 2 and lost 6 their first year and were 1 and 10 in the second. There was no third year.
Walter Lingo had had enough. The promotional stunt was not paying anymore and the team was disbanded after the 1923 season.
The trouble was the team had only three first-rate ballplayers: Jim Thorpe, Joe Guyon, and Pete Calac. The three had been stars on the professional Canton Bulldogs prior to coming to LaRue and went on to star on other teams. Guyon and Thorpe are both members of the Football Hall of Fame.
The rest of the team didn’t measure up. They beat the champion Buffalo Bisons in one game. And they were responsible for bringing pro football to LaRue and Marion.
The Indians, except for exhibition against area semi-pro teams played only one home game. The single home contest was played at Lincoln Park in Marion on October 8, 1922, against the Columbus Panhandlers with their star Frank Nesser.
In comments the week prior to the game, both coaches announced that their charges were hard at work, and both predicted victory. As an added sidelight, Nesser challenged Thorpe to a pregame kicking contest. No one seems to remember what the outcome was, or even if it was held.
Twelve hundred people paid the sum of $1.25 each for the privilege of watching. A good time was had by all the local fans. Playing one of their better games before the home crowd, the Oorangs won 20-6.
Joe Guyton was the Indians’ star as he scored two touchdowns on runs of 10 and 55 yards and also intercepted a pass. Eagle Feather, a newcomer to the team, scored the other touchdown on an eight-yard gallop. Jim Thorpe didn’t play because of an injury.
The Indians didn’t win many games, but they provided a focal point for professional football. Until then the college game was considered real football. The Indian team helped change that.
Fans paid for the chance to see the great Jim Thorpe in action. Pro football was given a chance to survive and grow and the Oorang Indians were, in part, responsible for that growth.
Source: 75 Seasons
The Rest of the Story
Jim Thorpe, 1912 Olympic Games, Stockholm, Sweden
Jim Thorpe (1887-1953)
Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1887 near Prague, Oklahoma. A member of the Sac and Fox tribe, he was called Wa-tho-huck, which means “Bright Path.” HIs father, Hiram, was a farmer and his mother, Charlotte, was a descendant of the great chief Black Hawk. Jim’s twin brother, Charlie, died at the age of nine.
Thorpe began his athletic career in 2004 at Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania starring in football and track. In the 1912 Olympics, Thorpe won both the pentathlon and the decathlon, setting records that stood for many years. His gold medals, however, were taken away when it was discovered he had violated amateur rules by playing semipro baseball - a common practice during those days. In 1983, the International Olympic Committee restored the records of Jim Thorpe in the pentathlon and decathlon events. His Olympic gold medals were restored to his family.
Thorpe continued to play professional football and baseball for several years. While still playing, he was named the first president of the Professional Football Association, the forerunner of the National Football League. In 1950, Jim Thorpe was selected by Associated Press polls as the Greatest Football Player of the Half-Century and the greatest athlete of the Half-Century. Thorpe was also inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, one of seventeen players in the charter class.
1912 Olympics
After his amazing performance in the 1912 Olympics, Jim Thorpe recalls that King Gustav of Sweden crowned him with the laurel wreath and said, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world. That was the proudest moment of my life.” - from Jim Thorpe’s Scrapbook
Jim Thorpe is featured on the reverse of the 2018 Sacajawea dollar - US Mint
Walter Lingo
Some historians credit Walter Lingo with inventing halftime entertainment. During the intermission, the Oorang players put on a show with the Airedales. A halftime highlight was Thorpe’s demonstration of drop-kicking. In addition to his kennels and the football team, Lingo wrote a monthly column, Those Good Dogs, for the magazine Outdoors for more than 25 years. He also ran a mail-order business for dog care products. Walter Lingo passed away in December 1966.
President Harding with his airedale, Laddy Boy, referred to as the first Celebrity Dog. Laddy Boy was a gift from another kennel, not the Oorang Kennels. Top right, the caption reads “Gary Cooper and his beloved Airdale, Rusty. He hails from the Oorang Kennels in Ohio, is seven years old and weighs 85 pounds. After all, who doesn't love to have an airedale around.” (Bottom picture) Walter Lingo (center) and Jim Thorpe (right) with several airedales.
Merle Lingo
We interviewed Merle Lingo, the brother of Walter Lingo, for our story, which appeared in 1978. Merle was a longtime businessman in LaRue. He owned and operated the Handy Hardware store. He passed away in September 1986.
After the Oorang Indians disbanded . . . .
Nick Lassa (Long Time Sleep) stayed near LaRue for many years and was a respected member of his community. Lassa died on September 4, 1964. Pete Calac became a policeman in Canton, Ohio. Leon Boutwell put his training from Carlisle as a printer to work, eventually owning and operating The Daily Telegram in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Joe Guyon (pictured below), who played with Jim Thorpe at Carlisle, went on to have an illustrious playing career. He was elected to both the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Football League Hall of Fame.
Author Robert Whitman
Robert Whitman has written two books about Jim Thorpe. “The Thorpe family liked the way I wrote the first book, so they asked me to write the official Thorpe biography,” Whitman said. Whitman has donated many Thorpe-related materials to the Jim Thorpe Museum in Oklahoma and to the National Football Hall of Fame. But he wanted the Oorang material to stay in Marion County. He presented that collection to the Marion County Historical Society in 2015.
The Oorang Indians’ only home game
On Sunday, Oct. 8, 1922, The Oorang Indians beat the Columbus Panhandles at Marion’s Lincoln Park. Joe Guyon's two touchdown runs -- one a 55-yard dash -- led the Indians to a 20-6 win over the hapless Columbus Panhandles at Marion. Eagle Feather's line plunges, the main feature of the Oorang attack, accounted for a third tribe TD. Pete Calac played a strong defensive game at end for the tribe. Twelve hundred spectators were in attendance.
- Source: professional footballresearchers.org
