Andrew Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian from Old Town, Maine, won second
place in the Boston Marathon of 1912.  Though he did not win the race,
young Sockalexis's accomplishment was an important victory.  Faced with
poor living conditions and little opportunity, young Native Americans
living at the turn of the century found athletics a path to success.  The
Carlisle Indian School sponsored four Native American runners in the 1912
marathon, including Louis Tewanima.  Sockalexis and Tewanima were chosen
to re present the United States at that year's Olympic games in Stockholm,
Sweden, where Jim Thorpe, another Native American, also proved is athletic
ability.