[26] He then accepted an appointment to West Point in 1911.[26]

Eisenhower (third from left) and Omar Bradley (rightmost) were members of the 1912 West Point football team.
At West Point, Eisenhower relished the emphasis on traditions and on sports, but was less enthusiastic about the hazing, though he willingly accepted it as a plebe. He was also a regular violator of the more detailed regulations and finished school with a less than stellar discipline rating. Academically, Eisenhower's best subject by far was English. Otherwise, his performance was average, though he thoroughly enjoyed the typical emphasis of engineering on science and mathematics.[27]
In athletics, Eisenhower later said that "not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life, maybe my greatest".[28] He made the varsity football team[29][30] and was a starter at halfback in 1912, when he tried to tackle the legendary Jim Thorpe of the Carlisle Indians.[31] Eisenhower suffered a torn knee while being tackled in the next game, which was the last he played; he reinjured his knee on horseback and in the boxing ring,[3][14][32] so he turned to fencing and gymnastics.