Pedro "Pete" Calac (May 13, 1892 – January 30, 1968) was a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who played in the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct p ...

and during the early years of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Over the course of his 10-year career he played for the Canton Bulldogs,

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

, Washington Senators, Oorang Indians and the Buffalo Bisons.

Biography

Early life

Calac was born on May 13, 1892, to Felicidad Calac and listed Francisco Calac as Pete's father on his enrollment at Carlisle. Some are confused since his grandfather was also named Francisco Calac but there were 3 Francisco Calacs on the census of Rincon at the time of his birth, all of

Valley Center, California Valley Center is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 10,087 at the 2020 census, up from 9,277 at the 2010 census. History In the late 1860s, the area now known as Valley Center was ...

. Two of Pete's brothers had died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

and he had a brother and two sisters living in 1908. A Mission Indian, he was born on a reservation and attended Sherman Indian School in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. He ran from Sherman home to the reservation two consecutive years. The third year he was taken to Riverside and put on a train to Carlisle Indian School.

Carlisle Indian School

Calac came to the Carlisle Indian School located across the country in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...

on November 16, 1908, at the age of 15. He came to the school via the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

with only a third-grade education. Calac left Carlisle in June 1911 and returned to California. He asked to return to Carlisle and was re-enrolled September 22, 1912. At the school, he played competitive football. In 1914 and 1915, he was captain of the football team. He was first elected as the team's captain in 1914 when the team's current captain, Elmer Busch, was forced to resign. Until attending the school, Calac had never played football before and had no knowledge of the game. Calac recalled in Robert W. Wheeler's book, ''Jim Thorpe: World's Greatest Athlete'', that the other players took an interest in him because of his large size. It was then that

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...

, who would later be recognized as being one of the top athletes of the 20th Century, took him as an acolyte. Thorpe and Calac soon became friends and would later play professional football with the Canton Bulldogs and the Oorang Indians.

US Army

After attending West Virginia Wesleyan, Pete returned to California for a visit to family and tribe and enlisted in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. He served with the 91st Division, known as the "Wild West Division," in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He returned from the war without a wound. He later stated that "I guess I dug in too much". However, in an article by the

Professional Football Researchers Association The Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional American football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by w ...

, Calac was reported to have suffered career threatening wounds during the war but was back at the top of his game by 1922.

Football career

Canton Bulldogs

In 1916 with Calac and former Carlisle teammate

starring, Canton went 9–0–1, won the

championship, and was acclaimed the pro football champion. The Bulldogs had a repeat of their 1916 season, by winning the 1917 Ohio League championship. Then in 1919 Thorpe and Calac were joined in the backfield by future Hall of Famer Joe Guyon and won their third Ohio League Championship.

Union Quakers

Calac and Guyon joined the backfield of the Union Quakers over the 1921

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

weekend for the games against the Conshohocken Athletic Club and the pre-NFL version of the Frankford Yellow Jackets. The 1921 Quakers team won the Philadelphia City Championship.

Washington Senators

The Washington Senators franchise spent only one season in the NFL. Once the team left the league at the end of the 1921 season, only three of the team's players would play in the NFL following the very next season. Those players were Benny Boynton, Guyon and Calac.

Oorang Indians

In the winter of 1921, Walter Lingo, an Airedale terrier breeder, brought Thorpe and Calac, to his plantation in LaRue, Ohio to hunt for

possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum ...

. During that meeting, Lingo decided to purchase a franchise in the National Football League. Called the Oorang Indians. The team was composed only of Native Americans and was mostly used as tool to for Lingo to promote his Airedales. The team was not considered to be very good, despite having two future Hall of Famers in the lineup. Lingo was more interested in selling his dogs instead of quality football. As a result, the Indians became more of a novelty act, known for their

halftime In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

shows instead of a football team. Calac played the team's halfback for both years of the Indians existence.

Buffalo Bisons

After the Indians folded in 1923. Calac was left in need of a team. He was scooped up by the Buffalo Bisons, who were previously known as the Buffalo All-Americans. The team was sold to a group led by local businessman Warren D. Patterson and Tommy Hughitt, the team's quarterback, for $50,000. The new owners changed the name of the team to Bisons, and committed themselves to signing big name players in an effort to improve performance both on the field and in attendance. As part of this big name spending spree, Calac was offered a contract to serve as the team's fullback. The combination of Hughitt, Boynton, Eddie Kaw, and Calac gave Buffalo the most potent offensive backfield in the league. In a 13–0 opening day victory over the

Columbus Panhandles The Columbus Panhandles were a professional American football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The club was founded in 1901 by workers at the Panhandle shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad. They were a part of the Ohio League from 1904 before foldi ...

, managed by future NFL President

Joe Carr Joseph Benedict Carr (22 February 1922 – 3 June 2004) was an Irish amateur golfer. Early life Carr was born in Inchicore, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, to George and Margaret Mary "Missie" Waters (the fifth of seven children). At 10 days ol ...

, Calac was knocked out of the game with a broken nose. While with the Bisons, the team had to travel to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

for a game against the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Philadelphia, being a large metropolitan area, was unfamiliar territory for several of the rural players. That night several players including Calac and rookie Jim Ailinger (best known as being the last surviving player from the NFL's early era) went out to a restaurant for dinner. According to Ailinger, he was unfamiliar with what to order in a restaurant, so he sat right next to Calac, who was a veteran player. The waiter asked Pete what he wanted and he said, "A lot of meat and a lot of potatoes."

Family

Pete and his wife were reported to have been married since 1924. They had a son, 2 daughters and 7 grandchildren. Their son, following in Pete's footsteps, played high school football in Canton. Afterwards he became a member of the police force. According to his obituary, Pete Calac died on January 30, 1968.

Legacy

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880 – July 13, 1954) was an American sportswriter and poet known as the "Dean of American Sports Writers". He coined the famous phrase that it was not important whether you “won or lost, but how you playe ...

, Dean of American Sportswriters, once wrote, "I believe an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, All-Indian Football team could beat the All-Time Notre Dame Team, the All-Time Michigan Team, or the All-Time anything else. Take a look at a backfield like Jim Thorpe, Joe Guyon, Pete Calac and

Frank Mount Pleasant Franklin Pierce Mount Pleasant Jr. (June 13, 1884 – April 12, 1937) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American American football, football player, track and field athlete, and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He p ...

References

Additional sources

What's an Oorang?
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calac, Pete 1892 births 1968 deaths Buffalo Bisons (NFL) players Canton Bulldogs players Canton Bulldogs (Ohio League) players Carlisle Indians football players Cleveland Indians (NFL) players Oorang Indians players People from Valley Center, California Washington Senators (NFL) players Union Quakers of Philadelphia players United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army soldiers Players of American football from San Diego County, California Native American players of American football Native American United States military personnel