Undefeated: List 1

by Steve Sheinkin
This nonfiction narrative focuses on Sac and Fox Nation member Jim Thorpe, a 1912 Olympic gold medalist, who led Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian Industrial School's football team to victorious seasons that redefined the sport and immortalized his coach, Pop Warner.

This list covers "Tryout" and "First Half" from "The Star"–"The Team."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 412 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lanky
    tall and thin and having long slender limbs
    Jim Thorpe looked ridiculous and he knew it—like a scarecrow dressed for football, he’d later say. The borrowed pants barely reached his knees. The grass-stained jersey hung loose on his lanky frame.
  2. flush
    turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame
    Warner’s square face flushed raw-beef red.
  3. agility
    the gracefulness of a quick and nimble person or animal
    He twisted through tackles and shoved defenders out of the way, faking some guys out and flat-out blowing by others. It was a combination of power, agility, and speed Pop Warner had never seen in one player—and never would again.
  4. innovative
    introducing new ideas or creative methods
    Carlisle had the game’s most innovative coach in Pop Warner, and, in Jim Thorpe, the greatest star the sport had ever seen.
  5. aptitude
    inherent ability
    After a lifetime in the sport, Warner would say, “No college player I ever saw had the natural aptitude for football possessed by Jim Thorpe.” But what the coach called “natural aptitude” was really something richer, a mix of outrageous athletic talent and a force of will hard-earned from a childhood that would have broken most boys.
  6. necessarily
    in such a manner as could not be otherwise
    President Andrew Jackson explained the objective in bluntly racist language. Native Americans were surrounded by what Jackson called “a superior race” and needed to get out of the way. “They must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances,” he said, “and ere long disappear.”
  7. allotment
    distribution according to a plan
    Pressured by land-hungry settlers, Congress passed the General Allotment Act in 1887, stating that Native American families would be “given” 160-acre plots. The remaining land in Indian Territory would be stripped from Indian control and opened up to new settlers.
  8. overwhelm
    overcome by superior force
    Jim’s first hero was Black Hawk, the famous Sac leader who had led his people in a desperate fight to hold on to their ancestral land in the 1830s. Thousands of well-armed US soldiers and volunteers—including militia member Abraham Lincoln—overwhelmed Black Hawk’s much smaller force.
  9. feat
    a notable achievement
    Jim grew up hearing stories of Black Hawk, of his legendary feats of running and swimming and wrestling, of his pride and defiance, even in the face of defeat.
  10. pelt
    cast, hurl, or throw repeatedly with some missile
    Born in 1871, seventeen years before Jim Thorpe, Glenn was a shy kid, awkward and chubby, a boy who lived in fear of his classmates. They pelted his broad backside with beans shot through straws, and pebbles launched from slingshots.
  11. trudge
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    One winter afternoon, when Glenn was ten, he was trudging home when one of the class bullies grabbed his hat, tossed it into a slushy puddle, and stomped on it.
  12. prestigious
    having an excellent reputation; respected
    After graduating from high school, he took the entrance exam for West Point, the prestigious US Military Academy.
  13. burly
    muscular and heavily built
    Now twenty-one, Glenn was a burly six foot two, with curly brown hair.
  14. choreograph
    plan and oversee the development and details of
    Modern players memorize binders full of intricately choreographed plays. This was not the sport Warner learned. Early-day football was simple, repetitive, and—believe it or not—much more violent than today’s game.
  15. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    But the play still wasn’t over. It wasn’t over until the man with the ball quit moving. So while he squirmed and wriggled forward, more defenders piled on, and plays ended in massive, writhing mounds, inside of which guys would throw elbows and knees, scratch and bite, spit and choke, until the refs could untangle the heap.
  16. dampen
    lessen in force or effect
    It was hardly enough to dampen Warner’s growing enthusiasm. “After I had gotten used to having my face pushed in and my head tramped on, I began to take an interest in the game.”
  17. interim
    serving during an intermediate interval of time
    “My first play as an interim coach proved to be a successful one,” Warner would later recall, “but I put the wrong player—me—in the game to run with the ball.”
  18. infirmary
    a health facility where patients receive treatment
    They pulled the cart to the school infirmary. Pratt helped lift Matlock, who howled as they carried him up the steps and into the building. They set him down on a table. The school doctor came to inspect Matlock’s leg, though medical expertise was hardly required to make a diagnosis: beneath the knee, two ugly lumps poked into purple, swollen skin.
  19. strive
    attempt by employing effort
    Pratt, who strived for total control over his students’ lives, feared football was becoming a dangerous distraction—and not at all what he’d envisioned when he founded this school.
  20. aborigine
    an indigenous person who was born in a particular place
    Pratt was part of the effort—he was an Indian fighter, with no regrets. “I had concluded,” he’d later confess, “that as an army officer I was there to deal with atrocious aborigines.”
  21. thriving
    very lively and profitable
    Native Americans could no longer live in their traditional ways; they didn’t have access to the land or resources anymore. Yet they were not part of the thriving economy of the West, either. Stuck on isolated chunks of land settlers didn’t want, they lived far from cities and industries and jobs.
  22. assimilate
    become like one's environment
    Pratt’s answer to the “Indian problem” was to treat Native Americans as if they were immigrants to the United States. His answer was to help young Indians—if necessary, to force them—to assimilate into white American culture.
  23. immerse
    cause to be submerged
    “I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization,” he declared, “and when we get them under, holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked.”
  24. bigoted
    blindly and obstinately attached to some creed or opinion
    He seems to have genuinely believed he was helping the people, but he began with the bigoted conviction that white American civilization was superior to all others.
  25. barrack
    a building or group of buildings to house military personnel
    Pratt approached the government with his idea for an Indian school. He was given permission to use Carlisle Barracks, an abandoned military base in central Pennsylvania.
  26. wary
    openly distrustful and unwilling to confide
    “The white people are all thieves and liars,” he said. “We do not want our children to learn such things.”
    Other men in the room murmured in agreement. They had reason to be wary.
  27. ultimatum
    a final peremptory demand
    The government gave the Lakota an ultimatum: move onto smaller reservations or the army will force you to move.
  28. ensuing
    following immediately and as a result of what went before
    When the Lakota refused to leave, American soldiers rode in. The ensuing war included the famous Battle of Little Bighorn, at which General George Armstrong Custer attacked a Lakota and Cheyenne camp and was killed along with all 210 of his men.
  29. refurbish
    improve the appearance or functionality of
    The old military barracks were refurbished, largely by the students themselves, into an attractive campus, with whitewashed buildings lining a grass-covered parade ground.
  30. jar
    affect in a disagreeable way
    The clothes, the climate, the food, even the sounds—clanging bells and clinking silverware—were new and jarring.
  31. susceptible
    yielding readily to or capable of undergoing a process
    Weakened bodies were especially susceptible to contagious diseases like tuberculosis, which spread quickly in crowded dorms.
  32. vocational
    of or relating to an occupation
    Students spent the rest of the morning in the classroom, learning reading, writing, history, and math. Afternoons were for vocational training—which explains the “Industrial” in the school name. The boys learned carpentry, tailoring, printing, baking; girls practiced cooking, canning, sewing, child care.
  33. defiance
    an act boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    Where did football fit in with Pratt’s vision? It didn’t. “I was not especially pleased to encourage it,” he recalled.
    But many of the students loved the sport. In defiance of Pratt, they pooled their money to buy a ball, and organized games between workshops—tailors vs. blacksmiths, bakers vs. printers.
  34. perseverance
    persistent determination
    He then made the case in favor of competitive football. The sport was popular at the best colleges. It was a game of strength, discipline, teamwork, perseverance.
  35. elite
    selected as the best
    Professional football and the National Football League were still decades away. College football was football, and the sport was totally dominated by elite eastern universities. These schools recruited the biggest players and pounded their way to victory after victory.
  36. scrimmage
    practice play between two teams
    Carlisle’s first official game, played on November 11, 1893, was a scrimmage with Harrisburg High School.
  37. maul
    injure badly
    They were mauled by Lehigh University, Navy, and Bucknell.
  38. novelty
    originality by virtue of being refreshingly new
    Describing the Carlisle team as a cute little novelty act, the Washington Post attributed the big turnout to mere curiosity.
  39. attribute
    explain or regard as resulting from a particular cause
    Describing the Carlisle team as a cute little novelty act, the Washington Post attributed the big turnout to mere curiosity.
  40. inspiration
    the act of arousing to a particular emotion or action
    They sat in the bleachers, cheering the visiting team with what the Washington Times called “obvious delight.” It was an early indication that Native Americans from all over the country might one day look to this Carlisle team for hope and inspiration.
Created on Sun Jul 07 16:43:25 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Jul 08 15:14:35 EDT 2024)

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