Jim Thorpe
First Native American Olympic gold medalist and one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports.
via Wikipedia: Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania · see source
James Francis Thorpe (May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, he was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, Thorpe won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics (one in classic pentathlon and the other in decathlon).
Quick Facts
- Nickname
- The Switzerland of America; The Gateway to the Poconos
- Founded
- 1818
- Leader
- Eric Cinicola
- Area (km²)
- 38.64
- Population
- 4507
Lore & Background
Thorpe lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the contemporary amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored Thorpe's Olympic medals with replicas, after ruling that the decision to strip him of his medals fell outside of the required 30 days. Official IOC records still listed Thorpe as co-champion in decathlon and pentathlon until 2022, when it was decided to restore him as the sole champion in both events. Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Indian Territory (what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma). As a youth, he attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a three-time All-American for the school's football team under coach Pop Warner. After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, Thorpe added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union. In 1913, Thorpe signed with the New York Giants, and played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships. He later played for six teams in the National Football League (NFL). Thorpe played as part of several all-American Indian teams throughout his career, and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of American Indians. From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. Thorpe struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. He suffered from alcoholism and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. Thorpe was married three times and had eight children – including Grace Thorpe, an environmentalist and Native rights activist – before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953. Thorpe has received numerous accolades for his athletic accomplishments.
Reader's Guide
Information about Thorpe's birth, name, and ethnic background varies widely. He was baptized 'Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe' in the Catholic Church. Thorpe was born in Indian Territory of the United States (later Oklahoma), but no birth certificate has been found. The Jim Thorpe Museum lists his birth date as May 28, 1887, but others have listed it as May 22, 1887, near the town of Prague. Thorpe said in a note to The Shawnee News-Star in 1943 that he was born May 28, 1888, 'near and south of Bellemont – Pottawatomie County – along the banks of the North Fork River … hope this will clear up the inquiries as to my birthplace.' May 22, 1887, is listed on his baptismal certificate. Thorpe referred to Shawnee as his birthplace in his 1943 note to the newspaper. Thorpe's father, Hiram Thorpe (Sac and Fox), had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox mother. His mother, Charlotte Vieux, was the daughter of Citizen Potawatomi Nation members Elizabeth and Jacob Vieux, and was a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. Thorpe was raised in the Sauk, or Thâkîwaki, culture, and his Sauk name was Wa-Tho-Huk, which translates as 'Bright path the lightning makes as it goes across the sky', often shortened to 'Bright Path'. Thorpe's parents were both Roman Catholic, a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his adult life. Thorpe attended the Sac and Fox Indian Agency School in Stroud, with his twin brother, Charlie. Charlie helped him through school until he died of pneumonia when they were nine years old. Thorpe ran away from school several times. His father sent him to the Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas, so that Thorpe would not run away again. When Thorpe's mother died of childbirth complications two years later, he became depressed. After several arguments with his father, Thorpe left home to work on a horse ranch. In 1904, the 16-year-old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There his athletic ability was recognized and he was coached by Glenn Scobey 'Pop' Warner, one of the most influential coaches of early American football history. Later that year he was orphaned when his father Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning, after being wounded in a hunting accident. The young Thorpe again dropped out of school.
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