Today's Tidbit... Halftime Entertainment Reaches Olympian Levels
Apparently, some people did not like the Super Bowl's halftime entertainment. It wasn't my cup of tea either, but my best dancing and musical days are behind me, and the kerfuffle pales compared to other challenges facing this country.
But as long as people are complaining about halftime entertainment, I thought we could look back at examples of odd halftime entertainment from days gone by. A bonus is that each story has a connection to the Olympics.
1920s Oorang Indians
The oddest franchise in NFL history was likely the Oorang Indians, a team led by Jim Thorpe and comprised solely of Native Americans. Given the star-studded cast available from Carlisle, Haskell, and other Indian School football teams of the time, the fact that the team existed was not particularly odd. Rather, it was the fact that the Oorang Dog Kennel in La Rue, Ohio, sponsored the team to promote their Airedale dogs.
The team went 4-16 during its two years on the field, but it was better known for entertaining crowds when it was not playing football. Halftime shows included Thorpe giving punting exhibitions, while Nick Lassaw, aka Chief Long Time Sleep, performed snake dances, as did other team members and elements of their traveling party. A key feature at halftime was tricks performed by the Airedales at the instruction of team members.
The free preview ends here. Read the rest of this article and the 1,200 articles in the archives with a paid subscription ($5/month or $50/year).
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Football Archaeology to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.