Salem has produced some good football players.
When I was in high school, there was more than one SCA defensive player who did not want to see Phillip Mercer running full speed toward them. My classmate John Tune stood about 6’8” and went on to play at Washington University in Saint Louis as an offensive lineman. Scott Jenkins won a statewide (or was it national?) punt, pass, and kick contest — and he didn’t even play on the football team. There were copious amounts of All-SCA, All-District, and even All-State honors. Too many to name.
Yes, Salem has produced some good football players.
But the best football player Salem ever produced is likely someone you never heard of.
His name?
John Orien Crow.
Orien Crow — history has shed him of the more given surname — was born on September 7, 1912 in Salem. Little is known of his early life. He was the youngest of eight children. Though he was born in Salem, he grew up in Commerce, Oklahoma and then attended the Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas. Now that may not sound like a big-shot school to you now, what with mega-sized state schools ruling the football universe these days.
But one must remember these were the days following Jim Thorpe’s incredible performance in the 1912 Olympics. Rivalry games between Indian schools were a big deal, and Crow was right in the middle of them. He earned the nickname “Young Bison” and was an outstanding athlete.
In 1933 a Boston businessman named George Marshall bought the Boston Braves football team. The baseball team went by the same name and Marshall didn’t want them to be confused. He changed the name of the football team to the Redskins.
In the same year, he drafted Orien Crow. Crow and two others were of native descent. In order to play off that connection, the three were made to wear war paint and costumes at certain events. Crow only played one season with the team and did not migrate with them to their new (and present-day) home in Washington D.C. Football Reference gives him credit for playing in 22 games, but only registers two catches for a grand total of 20 yards. That’s not great for a receiver, but Crow normally played center. While his stats were unimpressive, his contribution was much larger — Crow was a part of the integration of native players into professional football.
This, and not how many snaps he took in professional football, would lead to his legacy. President John F. Kennedy named him the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was instrumental in returning land to certain tribes and was honored for his service to the government.
Before his death, Crow was one of the oldest surviving NFL Players. He died in Phoenix, Arizona on June 21, 1994. It was not only a long life, but an interesting one — stretching from Phoenix to Washington D.C. to various tribal lands across the country advocating for native people. He played in Boston and other major cities in the east. Before that it was Lawrence, Kansas. Before that it was Commerce, Oklahoma. But the interesting path and important life of John Orien Crow started in a place we all know well. Way before there was an All-Conference or All-District to be named to, the best football player Salem ever produced was born in Salem.
And his name was John Orien Crow.
