When a LaRue businessman was looking to make a splash, Walter Lingo bought a National Football League franchise for $100 and hired a man called “the greatest athlete in the world” at the 1912 Olympics. Jim Thorpe won two gold medals and set a world record which stood for decades.
“It’s just like if [Lionel] Messi, the world soccer star, came to Marion,” said local historian Jim Anderson of LaRue.
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jim Thorpe is one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century and is described as “The Legend” who helped put the NFL on the map.
LaRue is the smallest town ever to have an NFL team. The Ohio Historical Marker outside LaRue calls the Oorang Indians “the NFL’s most colorful franchise.” Lingo, owner of Oorang Dog Kennels, used the team to promote his business and his King Oorang breed of Airedale terriers.
“He was the P.T. Barnum of the dog world,” Anderson said.
Thorpe played for the Canton Bulldogs from 1915-1920. He helped the team win three championships. Eventually, Lingo landed Thorpe and hired all American Indian players. Thorpe coached and occasionally played for the Oorang Indians for two seasons in 1922 and 1923. The team played just one home game at Lincoln Park on October 8, 1922. They defeated the Columbus Panhandles 20-6 and made NFL history.
“They were the first team in the NFL with two 100-yard rushers,” Anderson said. “Eagle Feather ran for 109 yards, 16 carries and one touchdown. Joe Guyon ran for 116 years and two touchdowns on 13 carries.”
Anderson said the team dined with President Warren G. Harding at the White House while they played in Washington, D.C. Harding was a fellow Marion native and Airedale dog owner.
The legacy of Thorpe and the local team lives on.
“We were thrilled to honor him at the Oorang Bang and celebrate the 100th year of the franchise,” said Barbara Stofcheck, past president of the LaRue Community Alliance, which organizes the annual festival.
Mann Made Rustics of Delaware created two hand-carved wooden Airedale dog statues to commemorate the team and its owner. The statues were installed entrance of the new park at 350 North High St., LaRue, on June 9, 2023.
Thorpe was the first president of the NFL (originally named the American Professional Football Association) in 1920. The dominant player took the field for six different teams over his career.
“He inspired respect in all who played against him. His contributions to the game led him to become the highest paid player in the league during its early years,” the Ohio History Connection states. “He made tremendous contributions to the modernization of the game and the professionalization of football during his lifetime, both on the field and off.”
Thorpe also played professional baseball with the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves. After he retired from sports, Thorpe was a speaker and advocate for American Indians.
“When he played in Marion, he couldn’t vote. Native Americans weren’t granted citizenship until 1924,” Anderson said. “He was an activist for Indian rights. He appeared in minor roles in films and spoke out against hiring non-Native Americans to play Indians.”
Thorpe struggled inside and outside of the athletic world. His Olympic medals were taken from him for playing for a semi-professional baseball team before the games. The record and medals were later reinstated.
“He had a hard life. People took advantage of him, which happens to a lot of professional athletes,” Anderson said.
The Associated Press named Thorpe “the greatest American football player” and the “greatest overall male athlete” in 1950. The Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him in its inaugural class in 1963. Thorpe was named the “Athlete of the Century” by ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
