William Gardner was a Turtle Mountain Chippewa from North Dakota, born in 1884. He attended Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania and excelled in academics and athletics. He was on the famed "Carlisle Indians" football and track teams with Jim Thorpe, future Olympic legend. From 1904 to 1908, Carlisle defeated top football teams including Yale, Harvard, Princeton and Pennsylvania State.
The bi-monthly Carlisle Arrow noted, "We are all glad that William Gardnergave us a new half-mile record. During the absence of Miss Wood, James T. Thorpe acted as the teacher for the Freshman Class. He makes a fine teacher." The two all-around star athletes were frequently mentioned in the school paper.
Gardner and another outstanding teammate, Exedine, remained on the Carlisle campus after graduation while they attended the Dickinson School of Law. Gardner graduated from law school and was admitted to the bar in Kentucky. He also worked as a coach and athletic director at University of the South at Sewanee and other colleges.
Gardner enrolled in Officers Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and served in the U.S. Army during World War I, commissioned at the rank of captain in 1917, serving with the 388th infantry.
On this date in 1918, Gardner began his overseas duty which had lifelong consequences. He was gassed in the trench warfare campaign and was discharged in 1919 with a Surgeon's Certificate of Disability, 10%.
In the 1930s he was a federal Prohibition agent in Chicago. Gardner was among the first nine "Untouchables," a squad of special agents picked by Elliot Ness as "bribe-proof." From 1930 to 1932, the squad was assigned to end the criminal empire of gangster boss Al Capone.
Gardner was prominently mentioned in Ness's memoir of the investigation, The Untouchables. Although Gardner's time with the Untouchables was brief, he inspired the fictional Native American character depicted in books, movies and TV over decades. The Untouchables TV series, based on the book by Elliot Ness, ran from 1959-1963 with a recurring Native character called Bill Youngfellow. In 1993, actor Michael Horse played the character George Steelman in a syndicated TV series based on The Untouchables.
Gardner died in 1965 and was interred in the National Cemetery at Prescott, Arizona.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- THE INDIANS—OUR FAMOUS FOOTBALL SQUAD. Opinions of the Press. The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), November 16, 1906, Page 1
- ATHLETICS. The Elmira Track Meet. The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), May 22, 1908, Page 2
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), November 3, 1904, Page 2
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), May 11, 1905, Page 11
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), May 25, 1905, Page 1
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), May 25, 1906, Page 2
- INDIANS NATURAL LBORN ATHLETES. Sports at Carlisle Prove Redmen Are Equal to Pale Face Brothers. TEAMS MAKE FINE RECORDS. GENTLEMANLY CONDUCT MARKS THEIR GAMES.The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City [Utah]), January 7, 1906, Page 7
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), November 22, 1907, Page 2
- The Arrow (Carlisle, Pa.), January 3, 1908, Page 2
- Sally Jenkins. The Real All Americans (New York: Doubleday, 2007). Pages 226, 306, 390
- William Jennings Gardner. https://military history.fandom.com/wiki/William_Jennings_Gardner Williams Jennings Gardner, 1884-1965. Prescott National Cemetery.
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3989852/william_jennings-gardner
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untouchables_(1959_TV_series)
- Williams Jennings Gardner, 1884-1965. Prescott National Cemetery. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3989852/william_jennings-gardner
