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An excerpt from
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia
From the Lakeland Times
Volume 2
by: Joyce Laabs
copyright 1980

Tales of Lac du Flambeau

The whistle blew and the teams lined up for the kickoff. The year was 1923 and the teams on the field in Chicago for the NFL game were the Native American Oorangs and the Chicago Bears. The Oorangs have long since been forgotten, for they only played in the NFL for two seasons; but a record was set in this game that is still on the books. We will get to that in a minute, but first we must tell you how the Oorangs came into being.

It all started in 1921 when a man named Walter Lingo started to recruit a team to promote the sale of his Oorange Airedales. Now when Walter wasn't raising Airedales, he was studying Indian lore; so it wasn't surprising that the members of his team were all native Americans. He did most of his recruiting in Wisconsin and Minnesota and most of his Indian players had their gridiron experience at either Carlisle or Haskell, two Indiana schools operated by the government. In addition to the famous Jim Thorpe, three members of the Lac du Flambeau tribe were chosen. They were Alex Bobidosh, Tom St. Germaine and George Vetterneck.

Lingo made Thorpe his coach and the team went into action in 1922, playing their home games in Marion, Ohio, which was about 15 miles from LaRue, Ohio, the site of Lingo's kennels. During their two seasons in the NFL they won only three games and lost 16.

But back to the Nov. 4, 1923 game when the record was set; even though it isn't a record that the Oorangs could point to with pride. In this year George Halas was the owner, coach and star end of the Chicago team. When Gray Horse of the Oorangs fumbled, Halas scooped up the ball and ran 98 yards for a touchdown, setting the record for the longest touchdown run with a fumble.

In an interview many years later, Halas still remembered the run. "Ninety-eight yards, Hell!! It seemed to me it was more like 198 yards, because Jim Thorpe was the guy pursuing me. He had the habit of throwing a high cross-body block into the small of an opponent's back. I wasn't about to let big Jim do that to me. I never ran faster in my life. I could feel Thorpe in the small of my back all the way."

When the financial losses became too great, Lingo disbanded the team and returned the franchise to the NFL...but the Oorangs had had their moment of glory.

This is just one of the many stories that remain to be told about Lac du Flambeau and its people during the "early years."

Thanks to:
Joyce Laabs & The Lakeland Times
for this excerpt from:
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia
From the Pages of the Lakeland Times Volume 2

Check out:
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia From the Pages of the Lakeland Times Volume II
for this story and for more stories like these!