Isaac Seneca
| Isaac Seneca | |
|---|---|
Isaac Seneca
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| Born |
October 7, 1874 Cattaraugus Reservation, Cattaraugus County, New York |
| Died | 1945 (aged 70–71) Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, New York |
| Resting place | United Missions Cemetery, Erie County, New York |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Carlisle Indian Industrial School |
| Known for | First Native American to be named a College Football All-American, 1899 |
| Spouse(s) | Rose Frass (m. 1904) |
Isaac Seneca, Jr. (October 7, 1874 – 1945) 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. He was born in 1874 on the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York.
Seneca was a member of the Seneca tribe 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:
"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 Seneca'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."
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