Sunday, January 20, 2013

Oorang Indians

Many major sports leagues had franchises in small towns in their early years, but LaRue, Ohio may have been the smallest when it was home to the Oorang Indians between 1922 and 1923. The franchise existed to promote a dog kennels in LaRue which was famous for oorang airedales. The breed continues to this day as a larger than normal airedale.

As for the Oorang Indians, they had the star status of Jim Thorpe and not much else. Despite having him as an amazing athlete, the team won only two games during its existence. The tiny town of LaRue only hosted one of the team's games. Most were played in nearby county seat Marion, Ohio.

The town of LaRue is still a quiet small town today. Its main street has a pizza place, a bank, a post office, and a number of small shops. It probably is not much changed from that one day when the great Jim Thorpe took the field.

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