Isaac Seneca
Encyclopedia
Isaac Seneca, Jr. was an All-American football
player for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
. He was selected as an All-American halfback
on the 1899 College Football All-America Team
. He was the first Carlisle player and the first American Indian to be selected as an All-American.
who grew up on the Cattaraugus Reservation
in western New York State. Seneca played football for Carlisle from 1896 to 1899 and 1901. The first Carlisle football team was formed in 1895, and Seneca was the school's first All-American—nearly a decade before Jim Thorpe
began playing for the school.
In 1896, Carlisle played games against college football's "Big Four" (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Penn) and nearly defeated Yale. The New York Times reported on a run by Seneca that nearly won the game against Yale:
Isaac Senca's brother, Victor Seneca, also played for Carlisle. On the train returning from a game against the University of Pennsylvania
in 1897, Victor was killed when he put his head out the window of the train and was struck by a telegraph pole.
In 1899, Glenn "Pop" Warner was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at Carlisle. In Warner's first season at Carlisle, the Carlisle team faced a difficult schedule, playing games against top opponents and traveling to games in New York (twice), Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Francisco. The 1899 Carlisle team posted an 8-2 record and was ranked fourth in the nation. Carlisle defeated Columbia 42-0 in a game played in Manhattan on Thanksgiving Day 1899 with 10,000 fans in attendance. Seneca was the star of the game, having two runs of 30 yards and another of 40 yards. A press account of the game said: "The Indians were in prime physical condition and bore through the Columbia line and skirted the ends at will. At least eight times the Carlisle backs got around the ends for runs of thirty to sixty yards. Most of these runs were made by Seneca and Miller."
At the end of the 1899 season, Seneca was elected as captain of the 1900 team (though he would opt to play professional football rather than return in 1900). After the regular season, the Carlisle team accepted an invitation to play the University of California
in San Francisco on Christmas Day. Carlisle won the game, 2-0. The Carlisle school newspaper wrote the following about Seneca after his return from California in January 1900:
After the 1899 season, Seneca was also honored by being named a first team All-American—the first Carlisle player and the first American Indian
to be so honored. He was later named by Athlon Athletics to the All-Time American Indian College Football Team.
In a 1960 feature article about the Carlisle Indians, Sports Illustrated noted that the accomplishments of Seneca and Thorpe created an "ageless myth" for the American Indians:
in Greensburg, Pennsylvania
. In an October 1900 game against Altoona, Seneca made several substantial gains, including a 25-yard run and a 50-yard touchdown run. During a game against Latrobe in 1900, a fight broke out between Seneca and Latrobe's quarterback, Al Kennedy. The crowd of 2,000 spectators joined in what one historic account has called "a general donnybrook."
near Ponca City, Oklahoma
. A 1928 article notes that Seneca is now "in the government service".
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School was an Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1879 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the school was the first off-reservation boarding school, and it became a model for Indian boarding schools in other locations...
. He was selected as an All-American halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
on the 1899 College Football All-America Team
1899 College Football All-America Team
The 1899 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams for the 1899 college football season...
. He was the first Carlisle player and the first American Indian to be selected as an All-American.
All-American for Carlisle
Seneca was a member of the Seneca tribeSeneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
who grew up on the Cattaraugus Reservation
Cattaraugus Reservation, Cattaraugus County, New York
Cattaraugus Reservation is an Indian reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 314 at the 2010 census. The majority of the residents are of the Seneca Nation....
in western New York State. Seneca played football for Carlisle from 1896 to 1899 and 1901. The first Carlisle football team was formed in 1895, and Seneca was the school's first All-American—nearly a decade before Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
began playing for the school.
In 1896, Carlisle played games against college football's "Big Four" (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Penn) and nearly defeated Yale. The New York Times reported on a run by Seneca that nearly won the game against Yale:
"Seneca was given the ball to go through the centre. He got through with one or two Yale men hanging on to him. Then he squirmed and shook off the Yale men, dodged a man or two, and, making a splendid run down the field, made what was thought to be a touchdown. Nearly all on the grounds shouted themselves hoarse. Men waved their hats in the air, pretty gals clapped their hands ..."However, the referee waved off the touchdown, ruling that Seneca was "down" when the Yale players hung on to him. The New York Times wrote the next day that the referee had made the wrong call and that Carlisle had been robbed of a touchdown, but the game went into the record books as a 12-6 win for Yale.
Isaac Senca's brother, Victor Seneca, also played for Carlisle. On the train returning from a game against the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
in 1897, Victor was killed when he put his head out the window of the train and was struck by a telegraph pole.
In 1899, Glenn "Pop" Warner was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at Carlisle. In Warner's first season at Carlisle, the Carlisle team faced a difficult schedule, playing games against top opponents and traveling to games in New York (twice), Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Francisco. The 1899 Carlisle team posted an 8-2 record and was ranked fourth in the nation. Carlisle defeated Columbia 42-0 in a game played in Manhattan on Thanksgiving Day 1899 with 10,000 fans in attendance. Seneca was the star of the game, having two runs of 30 yards and another of 40 yards. A press account of the game said: "The Indians were in prime physical condition and bore through the Columbia line and skirted the ends at will. At least eight times the Carlisle backs got around the ends for runs of thirty to sixty yards. Most of these runs were made by Seneca and Miller."
At the end of the 1899 season, Seneca was elected as captain of the 1900 team (though he would opt to play professional football rather than return in 1900). After the regular season, the Carlisle team accepted an invitation to play the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
in San Francisco on Christmas Day. Carlisle won the game, 2-0. The Carlisle school newspaper wrote the following about Seneca after his return from California in January 1900:
"Isaac Seneca, the newly elected Captain, felt it an honor to be chosen as Captain for such a team. He never had an idea that he would see the Pacific Ocean. In that trip he had learned more of the geography of the country than he could have learned from books. When he used to play on the scrub teams for amusement, he never had an idea that he would reach the first team, and now that he was chosen captain he felt the great responsibility and honor of his position. He paid Mr. Thompson tribute as an excellent athletic teacher."
After the 1899 season, Seneca was also honored by being named a first team All-American—the first Carlisle player and the first American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
to be so honored. He was later named by Athlon Athletics to the All-Time American Indian College Football Team.
In a 1960 feature article about the Carlisle Indians, Sports Illustrated noted that the accomplishments of Seneca and Thorpe created an "ageless myth" for the American Indians:
"There was an element of grandeur, something almost mythological, in the rise of the Carlisle Indians to national and then to world fame ... And the Indians had an incentive to save their people as poignant as any in history. Isaac Seneca, for instance, came from a New York tribe that was down to 2,700 survivors. There were only about 600 left in the Oklahoma tribe to which Jim Thorpe belonged. Their tribes were perishing, and the epic striving of the Carlisle Indians was a last great effort to reach the unattainable ..."
Professional football
After leaving Carlisle, Seneca briefly played professional football for the Greensburg Athletic AssociationGreensburg Athletic Association
The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played from 1890 until 1900. The team began as an amateur football club in 1890 and was composed primarily of locals before several professional players were added for the 1895 season...
in Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...
. In an October 1900 game against Altoona, Seneca made several substantial gains, including a 25-yard run and a 50-yard touchdown run. During a game against Latrobe in 1900, a fight broke out between Seneca and Latrobe's quarterback, Al Kennedy. The crowd of 2,000 spectators joined in what one historic account has called "a general donnybrook."
Later years
Information on Seneca's later years is lacking, though a 1917 publication noted that a Carlisle graduate named Isaac Seneca was the head of the blacksmithing department at the Chilocco Indian Agricultural SchoolChilocco Indian Agricultural School
Chilocco Indian School was an agricultural school for Native Americans located in north-central Oklahoma from 1884 to 1980. It was located approximately 20 miles north of Ponca City, Oklahoma and seven miles north of Newkirk, Oklahoma, near the Kansas border....
near Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City is a small city in Kay and Osage counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which was named after the Ponca Tribe. Located in north central Oklahoma, it lies approximately south of the Kansas border, and approximately east of Interstate 35. 25,919 people called Ponca City home at the...
. A 1928 article notes that Seneca is now "in the government service".
See also
- 1899 College Football All-America Team1899 College Football All-America TeamThe 1899 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams for the 1899 college football season...
- Benjey, Tom (2008). Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs: Jim Thorpe & Pop Warner's Carlisle Indian School football immortals tackle socialites, bootleggers, students, moguls, prejudice, the government, ghouls, tooth decay and rum, pp.314-317. Tuxedo Press, ISBN 978-0-9774486-7-8.