Undefeated: List 3

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 "First Half" from "New Team"–"High Jump."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 19 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. upheaval
    a state of violent disturbance and disorder
    Most came from families that had endured decades of attack and upheaval.
  2. essential
    of the greatest importance
    They were far from home, stuck at a school designed to erase an essential part of who they were.
  3. behemoth
    someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful
    “Big human mountains were sought and valued by every coach, and it didn’t matter if the behemoths could navigate slowly or swiftly.”
  4. pueblo
    a Native American village in the southwestern United States
    Born in a Pueblo village in New Mexico, Hudson had been sent to Carlisle when he was just nine.
  5. consistently
    in a systematic or steady manner
    Now, in his last year at Carlisle, Hudson showed the new coach that he could drop-kick consistently from forty yards out. With either foot.
  6. wallop
    defeat soundly and utterly
    No need to get creative the following week, either, as Carlisle walloped Susquehanna University, 56–0.
  7. dominant
    exercising influence or control
    Penn had been absurdly dominant over the last five seasons, compiling a record of 67–2.
  8. blowout
    an easy victory
    They’d outscored Carlisle 112–15 in four blowout victories.
  9. punt
    kick the ball
    Again Carlisle tacklers dove through gaps in the mass to upend the runner, setting up a third down. The home team faced a choice. They could punt the ball to Carlisle, or they could go for it—try again to gain the needed yardage.
  10. conventional
    conforming with accepted standards
    The drive stalled with a third down at Penn’s thirty-four-yard line. Too far for a field goal attempt, said conventional wisdom.
  11. trounce
    defeat in a competition, race, or conflict
    Carlisle’s 45–0 trouncing of Columbia was a statement win, proof Carlisle now belonged among the country’s top teams.
  12. virtually
    slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
    CALIFORNIA VIRTUALLY TIES CARLISLE, blared the next day’s San Francisco Chronicle headline, INDIANS SCORE TWO POINTS ON A FLUKE.
  13. fluke
    a stroke of luck
    CALIFORNIA VIRTUALLY TIES CARLISLE, blared the next day’s San Francisco Chronicle headline, INDIANS SCORE TWO POINTS ON A FLUKE.
  14. blatantly
    in a completely obvious manner
    Even this blatantly biased headline was, in a way, a sign of respect.
  15. biased
    favoring one person or side over another
    Even this blatantly biased headline was, in a way, a sign of respect.
  16. crow
    brag openly or dwell on with satisfaction
    Losing to Carlisle by just two was seen as something to crow about.
  17. uncanny
    surpassing the ordinary or normal
    He fed animals, fixed fences, and gained a bit of local fame for his uncanny ability to break wild horses.
  18. corral
    a pen for cattle
    The first step was to herd a few of the 1,200-pound animals into a round corral.
  19. distinct
    clearly or sharply defined to the mind
    “Will you run away from this school?”
    Jim said, “I will not run away.”
    White got the distinct impression his newest pupil was choosing the lesser of two evils.
  20. confine
    restrict or limit
    The beauty of football, as he saw it, was that it toughened up America’s future leaders. “The rough play,” he commented, “if confined within manly and honorable limits, is an advantage.”
  21. portly
    fairly large
    “Portly politicians,” wrote the New York Sun, “who wouldn’t know a center rush from a flying wedge came to say a word for some applicants for office, and went away wondering what making a touchdown meant.”
  22. thrash
    beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight
    After that great 1899 season, Pop Warner’s team had gone 6–4–1 in 1900, with losses to Penn and Harvard, and a 35–0 thrashing at the hands of Yale.
  23. knack
    a special way of doing something
    Jimmie Johnson, a Stockbridge Indian from Wisconsin, had matured into a quick-thinking quarterback with a knack for in-game strategy.
  24. neutralize
    make ineffective by counterbalancing the effect of
    Warner had seen this before—muddy fields tended to neutralize Carlisle’s speed, giving an advantage to bigger teams.
  25. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    “We did, however, know that the play would work against Harvard and, at least, prove to be a good joke on the haughty Crimson players.”
  26. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    The huge crowd leaped to its feet, roaring and laughing, as Charlie Dillon, with surprising speed for a big man, sprinted down the field, arms pumping freely, a melon-shaped bump on his back. The Harvard men in front of Dillon couldn’t see the bump—one even dodged out of his way to avoid being leveled by what he assumed was a blocker.
  27. vanquish
    defeat in a competition, race, or conflict
    On each ball was painted the score of the game, and above each hung a flag of the vanquished opponent.
  28. muckraker
    one who spreads real or alleged scandal about another
    Muckrakers—journalists who investigated serious issues like political corruption and dangerous working conditions in factories—went after football as well.
  29. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Newspapers and magazines printed story after story with descriptions of gruesome injuries, photos of crumpled faces. “The players go on the field expecting to be hurt,” said the Columbia team doctor, “and are glad if they come off with nothing worse than a broken bone.”
  30. scoff
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    Some writers suggested the solution was to put more referees on the field to watch for dirty play. Harvard president Charles Eliot scoffed. “A game which needs to be so watched is not fit for genuine sportsmen.”
  31. hearty
    without reservation
    “I have a hearty contempt for him if he counts a broken arm or collarbone as of serious consequence, when balanced against the chance of showing that he possesses hardihood, physical address, and courage.”
  32. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    But hearty contempt could go only so far. Football needed to change, or schools were going to start banning it.
  33. mince
    make less severe or harsh
    “Mr. President, I will tell you exactly what happened without mincing words,” Reid said.
  34. withstand
    stand up or offer resistance to somebody or something
    The real problem was that human heads and necks are not designed to withstand impact with moving walls of massive men. The real problem was the physics of collisions.
  35. cerebral
    of or relating to the brain
    The refs began pulling people up. Moore lay facedown, motionless. A fan drove his automobile onto the field, and Moore was rushed to a nearby hospital. He died that night from a cerebral hemorrhage.
  36. hemorrhage
    the flow of blood from a ruptured blood vessel
    The refs began pulling people up. Moore lay facedown, motionless. A fan drove his automobile onto the field, and Moore was rushed to a nearby hospital. He died that night from a cerebral hemorrhage.
  37. stance
    a rationalized mental attitude
    Roosevelt privately called Eliot’s anti-football stance a “baby act,” but Eliot was not alone.
  38. chancellor
    the honorary or titular head of a university
    “One human life is too big a price for all the games of the season,” said Syracuse University chancellor James Day.
  39. wiry
    lean but strong
    He’d grown strong and broad-shouldered, nearly six feet tall, a wiry 140 pounds.
  40. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    For years, Jim lived off meager bowls of oatmeal, bean stew, and a mysterious dish called “hash.”
Created on Sun Jul 07 16:43:42 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Jul 08 17:47:03 EDT 2024)

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