Nicholas Anthony Lassa, more popularly referred to as Long Time Sleep, was a professional American football

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 from the Flathead Indian Reservation

Flathead Indian Reservation

The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes - also known as theConfederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation...

 in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. He was Native American

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...

 and a member of the Blackfoot

Blackfoot

The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 tribe, however some sources have him listed as a Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 or a Flathead

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes. The Flatheads lived between the Cascade Mountains and Rocky Mountains. The Salish initially lived entirely east of the Continental Divide but established their...

. He was given the name, Long Time Sleep, by his teammates because he was so hard to wake up in the morning. Lassa attended and played college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at the Carlisle Indian School and Haskell Indian Nations University

Haskell Indian Nations University

Haskell Indian Nations University is a tribal university located in Lawrence, Kansas, for members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States...

. Lassa eventually played in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 in 1922 with the Oorang Indians

Oorang Indians

The Oorang Indians were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio . The team was named after the Oorang dog kennels. It was a novelty team put together by the kennels' owner, Walter Lingo, for marketing purposes. All of the players were Native American, with Jim Thorpe as...

.

The Oorang Indians were an all-Native American football team based in La Rue, Ohio

La Rue, Ohio

LaRue is a village in Marion County, Ohio, United States. The population was 775 at the 2000 census.-Geography:LaRue is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all of it land....

 and formed by Walter Lingo

Walter Lingo

Walter Lingo was a Airedale breeder from La Rue, Ohio. During the 1920s, he owned the Oorang Dog Kennels. As a way of promoting his kennels, Lingo financed a National Football League franchise, called the Oorang Indians in 1922.-Dog breeder:...

 in 1922 to help promote his Airedale

Airedale

Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley of the River Aire . The valley stretches from the river's origin in Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Keighley and Bingley, through Leeds and Castleford and on to join the Humber...

 kennel. The team was organized by 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...

, who served the team as a player-coach

Player-coach

A player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. The term can be used to refer to both players who serve as head coaches, or as assistant coaches....

. When the team formed, Lassa was the first player to arrive in La Rue.

Aside from football, Lassa enjoyed wrestling

Wrestling

Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

. He would make up to $50.00 for wrestling matches throughout the area. In fact he is most remembered for wrestling a bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

 as part of a halftime show

Halftime show

A halftime show is a performance given during halftime, the period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of divisions , or for sports that do not have an extended...

 of one of the Indians' games. Lassa would usually win between 10-20 dollars per match and that money would allow the whole team to go out drinking all night.

After the folded in 1923, Lassa stayed near LaRue, earning his living as a professional wrestler and strongman

Strongman (strength athlete)

In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or circus performers of similar ilk who displayed feats of strength such as the bent press , supporting large amounts of...

. He also stayed on working for Lingo and several of the other farmers in the area. He finally left the area in the early 1930s. He reportedly gave up drinking, raised a family, and became a respected member of his community.