Jim Thorpe
Encyclopedia
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk)
: Wa-Tho-Huk, translated to "Bright Path") (May 28, 1888 – March 28, 1953)* Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28
* "World-Class Athlete Jim Thorpe Was Born May 28, 1888," americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American
athlete of mixed ancestry (Caucasian and Native American). Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic
gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon
and decathlon
, played American football
(collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball
and basketball
. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
Of Native American
and European American
ancestry, Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox
nation in Oklahoma
. He 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.
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. Thorpe suffered from alcoholism
, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty.
, but no birth certificate
has been found. Thorpe was generally considered born on May 28, 1888, near the town of Prague
, Oklahoma
. He was christened "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church.
Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish
father and a Sac and Fox
Indian mother. His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French
father and a Potawatomi
mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. Thorpe was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name was Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lighted by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path". As was the custom for Sac and Fox, Thorpe was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. 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
, Oklahoma, with his twin brother Charlie. Charlie helped Jim through school, but died of pneumonia
when they were nine years old. Thereafter, Thorpe ran away
from school on several occasions. Hiram Thorpe then sent him to the Haskell Institute
, an "Indian" boarding school
in Lawrence
, Kansas
, so that he would not run away again. When his mother died of childbirth complications two years later, Thorpe became depressed. After several arguments with his father, the teenaged Thorpe left home to work on a horse ranch.
In 1904, the sixteen 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, Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene
poisoning after being wounded in a hunting accident. Thorpe again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years and then returned to Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Thorpe reportedly began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 when he walked past the track and beat the school's high jump
ers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump while still wearing street clothes. His earliest recorded track and field
results are from 1907. He also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse and even ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 inter-collegiate ballroom dancing championship.
Reportedly, Pop Warner
was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in a physical game such as football. Thorpe, however, convinced Warner to let him participate in some plays against the school team's defense; Warner assumed he would be tackled easily and give up the idea. Thorpe "ran around past and through them not once, but twice." He then walked over to Warner and said, "Nobody is going to tackle Jim," while flipping him the ball.
Thorpe gained nationwide attention for the first time in 1911. As a running back
, defensive back
, placekicker
, and punter
, Thorpe scored all of his football team's points—four field goals and a touchdown—in an 18–15 upset of Harvard, a top ranked team in those early days of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . His team finished the season 11–1. In 1912, Carlisle won the national collegiate championship largely as a result of his efforts - he scored 25 touchdown
s and 198 points during the season.
Carlisle's 1912 record included a 27–6 victory over Army
. In that game, Thorpe's 92-yard touchdown was nullified by a teammate's penalty; the next play, Thorpe scored a 97-yard touchdown. Future President Dwight Eisenhower, who played against him that season, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:
Thorpe was awarded All-America
n honors in both 1911 and 1912.
Football was—and would remain—Thorpe's favorite sport. He competed only sporadically in track and field. Nevertheless, track and field became the sport in which Thorpe gained his greatest fame.
in Stockholm
, Sweden
, two new multi-event disciplines were included, the pentathlon
and the decathlon
. A pentathlon based on the ancient Greek event had been organized at the 1906 Summer Olympics
. The 1912 version consisted of the long jump
, the javelin throw
, 200-meter dash, the discus throw
and the 1500-meter run.
The decathlon was a relatively new event of modern athletics, although it had been part of American track meets since the 1880s and a version had been featured on the program of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics
. The events of the new decathlon differed slightly from the American version. Both events seemed appropriate for Thorpe, who was so versatile that he alone had constituted Carlisle's team in several track meets. He could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds, the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds. He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault
11 feet, put the shot
47 ft 9 in, throw the javelin
163 feet, and throw the discus
136 feet.
Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for both the pentathlon and the decathlon. He won the awards easily, winning three events, and was named to the pentathlon team, which also included future International Olympic Committee
(IOC) president Avery Brundage
. There were only a few candidates for the decathlon team, and the trials were cancelled.
His schedule in the Olympics was busy. Along with the decathlon and pentathlon, he competed in the long jump and high jump. The first competition was the pentathlon; Thorpe won four of the five events and placed third in the javelin, an event in which he had not competed before 1912. Although the pentathlon was primarily decided on place points, points were also earned for the marks achieved in the individual events. He won the gold medal. The same day, Thorpe qualified for the high jump final. He placed fourth and also took seventh place in the long jump.
Thorpe's final event was the decathlon, his first—and as it turned out, only—Olympic decathlon. Strong competition from local favorite Hugo Wieslander
was expected. Thorpe, however, easily defeated Wieslander by more than 700 points. He placed in the top four of all ten events. Thorpe's Olympic record of 8,413 points would stand for nearly two decades. Overall, Thorpe won eight of the 15 individual events of the pentathlon and decathlon.
As was the custom of the day, the medals were presented to the athletes during the closing ceremonies of the games. Along with the two gold medals, Thorpe also received two challenge prizes, which were donated by King Gustav V of Sweden for the decathlon and Czar Nicholas II of Russia
for the pentathlon. Several sources recount that, when awarding Thorpe his prize, King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King."
Thorpe's successes had not gone unnoticed at home, and he was honored with a ticker-tape parade
on Broadway
. He remembered later, "I heard people yelling my name, and I couldn't realize how one fellow could have so many friends."
Apart from his track and field appearance, Thorpe also played in one of two exhibition baseball games at the 1912 Olympics
, which featured two teams composed of U.S. track and field athletes. It was not Thorpe's first try at baseball, as the public would soon learn.
, in Queens, New York (where he had qualified four months earlier for the Olympic Games), to compete in the Amateur Athletic Union
's All-Around Championship. Competing against Bruno Brodd
of the Irish American Athletic Club
, and J. Bredemus of Princeton University
, he won seven of the ten events contested, and came in second in the remaining three. With a total point score of 7,476 points, Thorpe broke the previous record of 7,385 points set in 1909, (also set at Celtic Park), by Martin Sheridan
, the champion athlete of the Irish American Athletic Club. Sheridan, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, was present to watch his record broken, and approached Thorpe after the event. He shook his hand saying, "Jim my boy, you're a great man. I never expect to look upon a finer athlete." Sheridan told a reporter from The New York World, "Thorpe is the greatest athlete that ever lived. He has me beaten fifty ways. Even when I was in my prime, I could not do what he did today."
In late January 1913, U.S. newspapers published stories announcing that Thorpe had played professional baseball. It is not entirely certain which newspaper first published the story; the earliest article found is from the Providence Times, but the Worcester Telegram is usually mentioned as the first. Thorpe had indeed played professional baseball in the Eastern Carolina League
for Rocky Mount
, North Carolina
, in 1909 and 1910, receiving meager pay; reportedly as little as $2 ($ today) a game and as much as $35 ($ today) a week. College players, in fact, regularly spent summers playing professionally, but most used aliases, unlike Thorpe.
Although the public did not seem to care much about Thorpe's past, the Amateur Athletic Union
(AAU), and especially its secretary James Edward Sullivan, took the case very seriously. Thorpe wrote a letter to Sullivan, in which he admitted playing professional baseball:
His letter did not help. The AAU decided to withdraw Thorpe's amateur status retroactively and asked the International Olympic Commission (IOC) to do the same. Later that year, the IOC unanimously decided to strip Thorpe of his Olympic titles, medals, and awards, and declared him a professional.
Although Thorpe had played for money, the AAU and IOC did not follow the rules for disqualification. The rulebook for the 1912 Olympics stated that protests had to be made within 30 days from the closing ceremonies of the games. The first newspaper reports did not appear until January 1913, about six months after the Stockholm Games had concluded. There is also some evidence that Thorpe's amateur status had been questioned long before the Olympics, but the AAU had ignored the issue until being confronted with it in 1913.
The only positive element of this affair for Thorpe was that, as soon as the news was reported that he had been declared a professional, he received offers from professional sports clubs.
at the major league level during the era of the reserve clause
, and thus had a choice of baseball teams for which to play. In January 1913 Thorpe turned down a starting position with the American League bottom dweller
Saint Louis Browns, choosing instead to join the 1912 National League champion
New York Giants
. The Giants, with Thorpe participating in 19 of 151 games, would repeat as the 1913 National League champion
. Immediately following the Giants October loss of the 1913 World Series
, Thorpe and the Giants joined the Chicago White Sox
for a world tour. Barnstorming across the United States and then around the world, Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour. Thorpe's presence increased the publicity, attendance and gate receipts
for the tour. He met with Pope Pius X
, Abbas II Hilmi Bey
(the last khedive
of Egypt
), and played before 20,000 people in London including King George V
. While in Rome
, Thorpe was filmed wrestling with another baseball player on the floor of the Coliseum. No copy of that film is known to exist.
baseball club in 1913 and played sporadically with them as an outfielder for three seasons. After playing in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers
in 1916, he returned to the Giants in 1917 but was sold to the Cincinnati Reds
early in the season. In the "double no-hitter
" between Fred Toney
of the Reds and Hippo Vaughn
of the Chicago Cubs
, Thorpe drove in the winning run in the 10th inning. Late in the season, he was sold back to the Giants. Again, he played sporadically for the Giants in 1918 and was traded to the Boston Braves
on May 21, 1919, for Pat Ragan
. In his career, he amassed 91 runs scored, 82 runs batted in and a .252 batting average
over 289 games. He continued to play baseball with teams in the minor leagues
until 1922.
But Thorpe had not abandoned football either. He first played professional football in 1913, as a member of the Indiana-based Pine Village Pros, a team that had a several-season winning streak against local teams during the 1910s. By 1915, Thorpe had signed with the Canton Bulldogs
They paid him $250 ($ today) a game, a tremendous wage at the time. Before Thorpe's signing, Canton was averaging 1,200 fans a game; 8,000 showed up for his debut against Massillon. The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Thorpe reportedly ended the 1919 championship game by kicking a wind-assisted 95-yard punt from his team's own 5-yard line, effectively putting the game out of reach. In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the National Football League
(NFL) two years later. Thorpe was nominally the APFA's first president; however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton and a year later was replaced by Joseph Carr
. He continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, Thorpe played for the LaRue, Ohio, (Marion County
, Ohio
) Oorang Indians
, an all-Native American team. Although the team's record was 3–6 in 1922, and 1–10 in 1923, Thorpe played well and was selected for the Green Bay Press-Gazette's first All-NFL team in 1923 (the Press-Gazette's team would later be formalized by the NFL as the league's official All-NFL team in 1931).
Thorpe never played for an NFL championship team. He retired from professional football at age 41, having played 52 NFL games for six teams from 1920 to 1928.
Until 2005, most of Thorpe's biographers were unaware of his basketball career. A ticket discovered in an old book that year revealed his career in basketball
. By 1926, he was the main feature of the "World Famous Indians" of LaRue, which sponsored traveling football, baseball, and basketball teams. "Jim Thorpe and His World-Famous Indians" barnstormed for at least two years (1927–28) in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Marion, Ohio
. Although pictures of Thorpe in his WFI basketball uniform were printed on postcards and published in newspapers, this period of his life was not well documented.
In 1926, Thorpe married Freeda V. Kirkpatrick (b.September 19, 1905, d. March 2, 2007). She was working for the manager of the baseball team for which he was playing at the time. They had four sons: Carl, William, Richard and John "Jack". William, Richard and Jack survived their mother, who divorced their father in 1941 after 15 years of marriage.
Lastly, Thorpe married Patricia Askew, who was with him when he died.
in particular, Thorpe had various jobs, among others as an extra for several movies, usually playing an American Indian chief in Westerns. He also worked as a construction worker, a doorman (bouncer)
, a security guard
, and a ditch digger, and he briefly joined the United States Merchant Marine
in 1945. Thorpe was a chronic alcoholic during his later life.
By the 1950s, Thorpe had no money left. When he was hospitalized for lip cancer
in 1950, he was admitted as a charity case. At a press conference announcing the procedure, Thorpe's wife Patricia wept and pleaded for help, saying, "[W]e're broke.... Jim has nothing but his name and his memories. He has spent money on his own people and has given it away. He has often been exploited."
, while eating dinner with his wife Patricia in their home in Lomita, California
. He was briefly revived by artificial respiration
and was able to speak to those around him, but lost consciousness shortly afterward and died on March 28 at the age of 64.
While Thorpe attended Carlisle, students' ethnicity was used for marketing purposes. A photograph of Thorpe and the 1911 football team emphasized the racial differences between the competing athletes. The inscription on the football reads, "1911, Indians 18, Harvard 15." Additionally, the school and journalists often categorized sporting competitions as conflicts of Indians against whites. Newspaper headings such as “Indians Scalp Army 27–6” or “Jim Thorpe on Rampage” made stereotypical journalistic play of the Indian nature of Carlisle's football team. The first notice of Thorpe in The New York Times
was headlined "Indian Thorpe in Olympiad.; Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team"; his accomplishments were described in a similar racial context by other newspapers and sportswriters throughout his life.
, rebuffed several attempts, with Brundage once saying, "Ignorance is no excuse." Most persistent were the author Robert Wheeler and his wife, Florence Ridlon. They succeeded in having the AAU and United States Olympic Committee
(USOC) overturn its decision and restore Thorpe's amateur status prior to 1913.
In 1982, Wheeler and Ridlon established the Jim Thorpe Foundation and gained support from the U.S. Congress. Armed with this support and evidence from 1912 proving that Thorpe's disqualification had occurred after the 30-day time period allowed by Olympics rules, they succeeded in making the case to the IOC. In October 1982, the IOC Executive Committee approved Thorpe's reinstatement. In an unusual ruling, they declared that Thorpe was co-champion with Bie and Wieslander, although both of these athletes had always said they considered Thorpe to be the only champion. In a ceremony on January 18, 1983, the IOC presented two of Thorpe's children, Gale and Bill, with commemorative medals. Thorpe's original medals had been held in museums, but they had been stolen and have never been recovered.
and from the stadium in which he won his Olympic medals.
Thorpe's achievements received great acclaim from sports journalists, both during his lifetime and since his death. In 1950, an Associated Press
poll of almost 400 sportswriters and broadcasters voted Thorpe the "greatest athlete" of the first half of the 20th century. That same year, the Associated Press
named Thorpe the "greatest American football player" of the first half of the century. In 1999, the Associated Press placed him third on its list of the top athletes of the century, following Babe Ruth
and Michael Jordan
. ESPN
ranked Thorpe seventh on their list of best North America
n athletes of the century.
Thorpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1963, one of seventeen players in the charter class. Thorpe is memorialized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rotunda with a larger-than-life statue. He was also inducted into halls of fame for college football, American Olympic teams, and the national track and field competition.
President
Richard Nixon
, as authorized by U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 73, proclaimed Monday, April 16, 1973 as "Jim Thorpe Day" to promote the nationwide recognition of Thorpe.
In 1986, the Jim Thorpe Association established an award with Thorpe's name. The Jim Thorpe Award
is given annually to the best defensive back
in college football
. The annual Thorpe Cup
athletics meeting is named in his honor.
were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with officials. The towns bought Thorpe's remains, erected a monument to him, merged and renamed the newly united town in his honor, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
. Thorpe had never been there. The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story.
In June 2010, Thorpe's son, Jack, filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of Jim Thorpe, seeking to have his father's remains returned to his homeland and re-interred near other family members in Oklahoma. Citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
, Jack Thorpe is arguing to bring his father's remains to the reservation in Oklahoma. There Thorpe's remains would be buried near his father, sisters, and brother, and would be one mile away from the place he was born. Jack Thorpe says the agreement between his stepmother and borough officials was made against the wishes of other family members. They want him buried in Native American land.
, where it was called Man of Bronze.
Thorpe was memorialized in the Warner Bros.
film Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951) starring Burt Lancaster
, with Billy Gray
performing as Thorpe as a child. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz
. Although there were accusations that Thorpe received no money from the movie he was paid $15,000 by Warner Bros. plus a $2,500 donation towards an annuity for him by the studio head of publicity.
This historical athlete appeared as a ghost in the 1994 television film Windrunner: A Spirited Journey, portrayed by Russell Means
.
Fox language
Fox is an Algonquian language, spoken by around 1000 Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo in various locations in the Midwestern United States and in northern Mexico...
: Wa-Tho-Huk, translated to "Bright Path") (May 28, 1888 – March 28, 1953)* Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28
* "World-Class Athlete Jim Thorpe Was Born May 28, 1888," americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
athlete of mixed ancestry (Caucasian and Native American). Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon
Pentathlon
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five different events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente and -athlon . The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games...
and decathlon
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
, played American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
(collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
Of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
ancestry, Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox
Sac and Fox Nation
The Sac and Fox Nation is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sac and Meskwaki Native Americans. They are located in Oklahoma and are predominantly Sac....
nation in Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. He 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.
He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Thorpe struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. Thorpe suffered from alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty.
Early life
Information about Thorpe's birth, name, and ethnic background varies widely. He was born in Indian TerritoryIndian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
, but no birth certificate
Birth certificate
A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a child. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuing registration of that birth...
has been found. Thorpe was generally considered born on May 28, 1888, near the town of Prague
Prague, Oklahoma
Prague is a city in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,138 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Prague is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. He was christened "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church.
Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
father and a Sac and Fox
Sac and Fox Nation
The Sac and Fox Nation is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sac and Meskwaki Native Americans. They are located in Oklahoma and are predominantly Sac....
Indian mother. His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
father and a Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. Thorpe was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name was Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "path lighted by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path". As was the custom for Sac and Fox, Thorpe was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. 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
Stroud, Oklahoma
Stroud is a city in Creek and Lincoln counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,758 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Stroud is located at ....
, Oklahoma, with his twin brother Charlie. Charlie helped Jim through school, but died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
when they were nine years old. Thereafter, Thorpe ran away
Truancy
Truancy is any intentional unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term typically describes absences caused by students of their own free will, and usually does not refer to legitimate "excused" absences, such as ones related to medical conditions...
from school on several occasions. Hiram Thorpe then sent him to the Haskell Institute
Haskell Indian Nations University
Haskell Indian Nations University is a tribal university located in Lawrence, Kansas, for members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States...
, an "Indian" boarding school
Native American boarding schools
An Indian boarding school refers to one of many schools that were established in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to educate Native American children and youths according to Euro-American standards...
in Lawrence
Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, so that he would not run away again. When his mother died of childbirth complications two years later, Thorpe became depressed. After several arguments with his father, the teenaged Thorpe left home to work on a horse ranch.
In 1904, the sixteen year old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School was an Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1879 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the school was the first off-reservation boarding school, and it became a model for Indian boarding schools in other locations...
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
. There, his athletic ability was recognized and he was coached by Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner , most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American football player and coach...
, one of the most influential coaches of early American football history. Later that year, Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
poisoning after being wounded in a hunting accident. Thorpe again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years and then returned to Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
College career
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
ers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump while still wearing street clothes. His earliest recorded track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
results are from 1907. He also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse and even ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 inter-collegiate ballroom dancing championship.
Reportedly, Pop Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner , most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American football player and coach...
was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in a physical game such as football. Thorpe, however, convinced Warner to let him participate in some plays against the school team's defense; Warner assumed he would be tackled easily and give up the idea. Thorpe "ran around past and through them not once, but twice." He then walked over to Warner and said, "Nobody is going to tackle Jim," while flipping him the ball.
Thorpe gained nationwide attention for the first time in 1911. As a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
, defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
, placekicker
Placekicker
Placekicker, or simply kicker , is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points...
, and punter
Punter (football position)
A punter in American or Canadian football is a special teams player who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts the football to the opposing team so as to limit any field position advantage. This generally happens on a fourth down in American football and a...
, Thorpe scored all of his football team's points—four field goals and a touchdown—in an 18–15 upset of Harvard, a top ranked team in those early days of the National Collegiate Athletic Association . His team finished the season 11–1. In 1912, Carlisle won the national collegiate championship largely as a result of his efforts - he scored 25 touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s and 198 points during the season.
Carlisle's 1912 record included a 27–6 victory over Army
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
. In that game, Thorpe's 92-yard touchdown was nullified by a teammate's penalty; the next play, Thorpe scored a 97-yard touchdown. Future President Dwight Eisenhower, who played against him that season, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:
Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw.
Thorpe was awarded All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n honors in both 1911 and 1912.
Football was—and would remain—Thorpe's favorite sport. He competed only sporadically in track and field. Nevertheless, track and field became the sport in which Thorpe gained his greatest fame.
In the spring of 1912 he started training for the Olympics. He had confined his efforts to the jumps, the hurdles and the shot-put but now he undertook the pole vault, the javelin, discus, the hammer and the fifty-six-pound weight. In the Olympic trials held at Celtic Park in New York, his all-round ability stood out in all these events and so he riveted a claim to a place on the team that went to Sweden.
Olympic career
For the 1912 Summer Olympics1912 Summer Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 5 May and 27 July 1912. Twenty-eight nations and 2,407 competitors, including 48 women, competed in 102 events in 14 sports...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, two new multi-event disciplines were included, the pentathlon
Pentathlon
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five different events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente and -athlon . The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games...
and the decathlon
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
. A pentathlon based on the ancient Greek event had been organized at the 1906 Summer Olympics
1906 Summer Olympics
The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece. They were at the time considered to be Olympic Games and were referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games in Athens" by the International Olympic Committee...
. The 1912 version consisted of the long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
, the javelin throw
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
, 200-meter dash, the discus throw
Discus throw
The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...
and the 1500-meter run.
The decathlon was a relatively new event of modern athletics, although it had been part of American track meets since the 1880s and a version had been featured on the program of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics
1904 Summer Olympics
The 1904 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the III Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States from 1 July 1904, to November 23, 1904, at what is now known as Francis Field on the campus of Washington University...
. The events of the new decathlon differed slightly from the American version. Both events seemed appropriate for Thorpe, who was so versatile that he alone had constituted Carlisle's team in several track meets. He could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds, the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds. He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
11 feet, put the shot
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
47 ft 9 in, throw the javelin
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
163 feet, and throw the discus
Discus throw
The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...
136 feet.
Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for both the pentathlon and the decathlon. He won the awards easily, winning three events, and was named to the pentathlon team, which also included future International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) president Avery Brundage
Avery Brundage
Avery Brundage was an American amateur athlete, sports official, art collector, and philanthropist. Brundage competed in the 1912 Olympics and was the US national all-around athlete in 1914, 1916 and 1918...
. There were only a few candidates for the decathlon team, and the trials were cancelled.
His schedule in the Olympics was busy. Along with the decathlon and pentathlon, he competed in the long jump and high jump. The first competition was the pentathlon; Thorpe won four of the five events and placed third in the javelin, an event in which he had not competed before 1912. Although the pentathlon was primarily decided on place points, points were also earned for the marks achieved in the individual events. He won the gold medal. The same day, Thorpe qualified for the high jump final. He placed fourth and also took seventh place in the long jump.
Thorpe's final event was the decathlon, his first—and as it turned out, only—Olympic decathlon. Strong competition from local favorite Hugo Wieslander
Hugo Wieslander
Karl Hugo Wieslander was a Swedish athlete, who competed in combined events. He set the inaugural world record in the pentathlon in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1911 with a score of 5516 points. He was born in Ljuder....
was expected. Thorpe, however, easily defeated Wieslander by more than 700 points. He placed in the top four of all ten events. Thorpe's Olympic record of 8,413 points would stand for nearly two decades. Overall, Thorpe won eight of the 15 individual events of the pentathlon and decathlon.
As was the custom of the day, the medals were presented to the athletes during the closing ceremonies of the games. Along with the two gold medals, Thorpe also received two challenge prizes, which were donated by King Gustav V of Sweden for the decathlon and Czar Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
for the pentathlon. Several sources recount that, when awarding Thorpe his prize, King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King."
Thorpe's successes had not gone unnoticed at home, and he was honored with a ticker-tape parade
Ticker-tape parade
A ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in a built-up urban setting, allowing large amounts of shredded paper to be thrown from nearby office buildings onto the parade route, creating a celebratory effect by the snowstorm-like flurry...
on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
. He remembered later, "I heard people yelling my name, and I couldn't realize how one fellow could have so many friends."
Apart from his track and field appearance, Thorpe also played in one of two exhibition baseball games at the 1912 Olympics
Baseball at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Baseball had its first appearance at the 1912 Summer Olympics as an exhibition sport. A game was played between the United States, the nation where the game was developed, and Sweden, the host nation. The game was held on Monday, 15 July 1912 and started at 10 a.m...
, which featured two teams composed of U.S. track and field athletes. It was not Thorpe's first try at baseball, as the public would soon learn.
All-Around Champion
After his victories at the Olympic Games in Sweden, on September 2, 1912, Thorpe returned to Celtic Park, the home of the Irish American Athletic ClubIrish American Athletic Club
The Irish American Athletic Club was an amateur athletic organization, based in Queens, New York at the beginning of the 20th Century.-Early years:...
, in Queens, New York (where he had qualified four months earlier for the Olympic Games), to compete in the Amateur Athletic Union
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
's All-Around Championship. Competing against Bruno Brodd
Bruno Brodd
Bruno Brodd was an American track and field athlete, born in Finland, who specialized in the javelin throw. He competed for the Irish American Athletic Club and the Kaleva Athletic Club.-1910 American Javelin Champion:...
of the Irish American Athletic Club
Irish American Athletic Club
The Irish American Athletic Club was an amateur athletic organization, based in Queens, New York at the beginning of the 20th Century.-Early years:...
, and J. Bredemus of Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, he won seven of the ten events contested, and came in second in the remaining three. With a total point score of 7,476 points, Thorpe broke the previous record of 7,385 points set in 1909, (also set at Celtic Park), by Martin Sheridan
Martin Sheridan
Martin John Sheridan was "one of the greatest athletes [the United States] has ever known" according to his obituary in the New York Times. He was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland and died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, a very early casualty...
, the champion athlete of the Irish American Athletic Club. Sheridan, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, was present to watch his record broken, and approached Thorpe after the event. He shook his hand saying, "Jim my boy, you're a great man. I never expect to look upon a finer athlete." Sheridan told a reporter from The New York World, "Thorpe is the greatest athlete that ever lived. He has me beaten fifty ways. Even when I was in my prime, I could not do what he did today."
Controversy
In 1913, strict rules regarding amateurism were in effect for athletes participating in the Olympics. Athletes who received money prizes for competitions, were sports teachers, or had competed previously against professionals, were not considered amateurs and were barred from competition.In late January 1913, U.S. newspapers published stories announcing that Thorpe had played professional baseball. It is not entirely certain which newspaper first published the story; the earliest article found is from the Providence Times, but the Worcester Telegram is usually mentioned as the first. Thorpe had indeed played professional baseball in the Eastern Carolina League
Eastern Carolina League
The Eastern Carolina League was a minor league baseball affiliation which operated in the Eastern part of North Carolina. The league had two distinct periods of operation: 1908-1910 and a revival of the league in 1928-1929. It was classified as a "D" league....
for Rocky Mount
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Rocky Mount is an All-America City Award-winning city in Edgecombe and Nash counties in the coastal plains of the state of North Carolina. Although it was not formally incorporated until February 28, 1867, the North Carolina community that became the city of Rocky Mount dates from the beginning of...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, in 1909 and 1910, receiving meager pay; reportedly as little as $2 ($ today) a game and as much as $35 ($ today) a week. College players, in fact, regularly spent summers playing professionally, but most used aliases, unlike Thorpe.
Although the public did not seem to care much about Thorpe's past, the Amateur Athletic Union
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
(AAU), and especially its secretary James Edward Sullivan, took the case very seriously. Thorpe wrote a letter to Sullivan, in which he admitted playing professional baseball:
His letter did not help. The AAU decided to withdraw Thorpe's amateur status retroactively and asked the International Olympic Commission (IOC) to do the same. Later that year, the IOC unanimously decided to strip Thorpe of his Olympic titles, medals, and awards, and declared him a professional.
Although Thorpe had played for money, the AAU and IOC did not follow the rules for disqualification. The rulebook for the 1912 Olympics stated that protests had to be made within 30 days from the closing ceremonies of the games. The first newspaper reports did not appear until January 1913, about six months after the Stockholm Games had concluded. There is also some evidence that Thorpe's amateur status had been questioned long before the Olympics, but the AAU had ignored the issue until being confronted with it in 1913.
The only positive element of this affair for Thorpe was that, as soon as the news was reported that he had been declared a professional, he received offers from professional sports clubs.
Baseball free agent
Because the minor league team that last held Jim Thorpe's contract had disbanded in 1910, he found himself in the rare position of being a sought after free agentFree agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
at the major league level during the era of the reserve clause
Reserve clause
The reserve clause is a term formerly employed in North American professional sports contracts. The reserve clause, contained in all standard player contracts, stated that, upon the contract's expiration the rights to the player were to be retained by the team to which he had been signed...
, and thus had a choice of baseball teams for which to play. In January 1913 Thorpe turned down a starting position with the American League bottom dweller
1912 St. Louis Browns season
The 1912 St. Louis Browns season involved the Browns finishing 7th in the American League with a record of 53 wins and 101 losses.- Regular season :...
Saint Louis Browns, choosing instead to join the 1912 National League champion
1912 New York Giants season
The New York Giants season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Giants winning the National League pennant. However, they were beaten by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series...
New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
. The Giants, with Thorpe participating in 19 of 151 games, would repeat as the 1913 National League champion
1913 New York Giants season
The 1913 New York Giants season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Giants winning the National League pennant for the third consecutive year. Led by manager John McGraw, the Giants dominated the NL and finished 12½ games in front of the second place Philadelphia Phillies...
. Immediately following the Giants October loss of the 1913 World Series
1913 World Series
In the 1913 World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics beat the New York Giants four games to one.The A's pitching gave the edge to a closer-than-it-looked Series in 1913...
, Thorpe and the Giants joined the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
for a world tour. Barnstorming across the United States and then around the world, Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour. Thorpe's presence increased the publicity, attendance and gate receipts
Gate receipts
Gate receipts is the sum of money taken at a sporting venue for the sale of tickets.Traditionally, gate receipts were largely or entirely taken in cash. Today, many sporting venues will operate a season ticket scheme, which will mean they allocate a proportion of season ticket moneys when...
for the tour. He met with Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X
Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...
, Abbas II Hilmi Bey
Abbas II of Egypt
HH Abbas II Hilmi Bey was the last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan .-Early life:...
(the last khedive
Khedive
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
), and played before 20,000 people in London including King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. While in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Thorpe was filmed wrestling with another baseball player on the floor of the Coliseum. No copy of that film is known to exist.
Baseball, football, and basketball
Thorpe signed with the New York GiantsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
baseball club in 1913 and played sporadically with them as an outfielder for three seasons. After playing in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers (minor league baseball team)
The Milwaukee Brewers were a Minor League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They played in the American Association from 1902 through 1952.-A Milwaukee Tradition:...
in 1916, he returned to the Giants in 1917 but was sold to the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
early in the season. In the "double no-hitter
No-hitter
A no-hitter is a baseball game in which one team has no hits. In Major League Baseball, the team must be without hits during the entire game, and the game must be at least nine innings. A pitcher who prevents the opposing team from achieving a hit is said to have "thrown a no-hitter"...
" between Fred Toney
Fred Toney
Fred Toney , of Nashville, Tennessee, was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals from 1911-1923. His career record was 139 wins, 102 losses, and a 2.69 earned run average...
of the Reds and Hippo Vaughn
Hippo Vaughn
James Leslie "Hippo" Vaughn was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs during the 1910s...
of the Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
, Thorpe drove in the winning run in the 10th inning. Late in the season, he was sold back to the Giants. Again, he played sporadically for the Giants in 1918 and was traded to the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
on May 21, 1919, for Pat Ragan
Pat Ragan
Don Carlos Patrick Ragan was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball....
. In his career, he amassed 91 runs scored, 82 runs batted in and a .252 batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
over 289 games. He continued to play baseball with teams in the minor leagues
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
until 1922.
But Thorpe had not abandoned football either. He first played professional football in 1913, as a member of the Indiana-based Pine Village Pros, a team that had a several-season winning streak against local teams during the 1910s. By 1915, Thorpe had signed with the Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
They paid him $250 ($ today) a game, a tremendous wage at the time. Before Thorpe's signing, Canton was averaging 1,200 fans a game; 8,000 showed up for his debut against Massillon. The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Thorpe reportedly ended the 1919 championship game by kicking a wind-assisted 95-yard punt from his team's own 5-yard line, effectively putting the game out of reach. In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) two years later. Thorpe was nominally the APFA's first president; however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton and a year later was replaced by Joseph Carr
Joseph Carr
Joseph "Joe" F. Carr was the president of the National Football League from 1921 until his death in 1939. Carr was born in Columbus, Ohio. As a mechanic for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Columbus, he directed the Columbus Panhandles football team in 1907 until 1922...
. He continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, Thorpe played for the LaRue, Ohio, (Marion County
Marion County, Ohio
Marion County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 66,501. Its county seat is the city of Marion and is named for General Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion, an officer in the Revolutionary War....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
) Oorang Indians
Oorang Indians
The Oorang Indians were a traveling team in the National Football League from LaRue, Ohio . The team was named after the Oorang dog kennels. It was a novelty team put together by the kennels' owner, Walter Lingo, for marketing purposes. All of the players were Native American, with Jim Thorpe as...
, an all-Native American team. Although the team's record was 3–6 in 1922, and 1–10 in 1923, Thorpe played well and was selected for the Green Bay Press-Gazette's first All-NFL team in 1923 (the Press-Gazette's team would later be formalized by the NFL as the league's official All-NFL team in 1931).
Thorpe never played for an NFL championship team. He retired from professional football at age 41, having played 52 NFL games for six teams from 1920 to 1928.
Until 2005, most of Thorpe's biographers were unaware of his basketball career. A ticket discovered in an old book that year revealed his career in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
. By 1926, he was the main feature of the "World Famous Indians" of LaRue, which sponsored traveling football, baseball, and basketball teams. "Jim Thorpe and His World-Famous Indians" barnstormed for at least two years (1927–28) in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Marion, Ohio
Marion, Ohio
Marion is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Marion County. The municipality is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus....
. Although pictures of Thorpe in his WFI basketball uniform were printed on postcards and published in newspapers, this period of his life was not well documented.
Marriage and family
In 1913, Thorpe married Iva Miller, whom he had met at Carlisle. They had four children: Jim Jr. (who died at age 2), Gale, Charlotte and Grace. Miller filed for divorce from Thorpe in 1925, claiming desertion.In 1926, Thorpe married Freeda V. Kirkpatrick (b.September 19, 1905, d. March 2, 2007). She was working for the manager of the baseball team for which he was playing at the time. They had four sons: Carl, William, Richard and John "Jack". William, Richard and Jack survived their mother, who divorced their father in 1941 after 15 years of marriage.
Lastly, Thorpe married Patricia Askew, who was with him when he died.
Later life
After his athletic career, Thorpe struggled to provide for his family. He found it difficult to work a non-sports job and never held a job for an extended period of time. During the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in particular, Thorpe had various jobs, among others as an extra for several movies, usually playing an American Indian chief in Westerns. He also worked as a construction worker, a doorman (bouncer)
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
, a security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
, and a ditch digger, and he briefly joined the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
in 1945. Thorpe was a chronic alcoholic during his later life.
By the 1950s, Thorpe had no money left. When he was hospitalized for lip cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in 1950, he was admitted as a charity case. At a press conference announcing the procedure, Thorpe's wife Patricia wept and pleaded for help, saying, "[W]e're broke.... Jim has nothing but his name and his memories. He has spent money on his own people and has given it away. He has often been exploited."
Death
In early 1953, Thorpe suffered his third heart failureMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, while eating dinner with his wife Patricia in their home in Lomita, California
Lomita, California
Lomita is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 20,256 at the 2010 census, up from 20,046 at the 2000 census...
. He was briefly revived by artificial respiration
Artificial respiration
Artificial respiration is the act of assisting or stimulating respiration, a metabolic process referring to the overall exchange of gases in the body by pulmonary ventilation, external respiration, and internal respiration...
and was able to speak to those around him, but lost consciousness shortly afterward and died on March 28 at the age of 64.
Racism
Thorpe, whose parents were both half Caucasian, was raised as an American Indian. His accomplishments occurred during a period of racial inequality in the United States. It has often been suggested that his medals were stripped because of his ethnicity. While it is difficult to prove this, the public comment at the time largely reflected this view. At the time Thorpe won his gold medals, not all Native Americans were recognized as US citizens. (The US government had wanted them to make concessions to adopt European-American ways to receive such recognition.) Citizenship was not granted to all American Indians until 1924.While Thorpe attended Carlisle, students' ethnicity was used for marketing purposes. A photograph of Thorpe and the 1911 football team emphasized the racial differences between the competing athletes. The inscription on the football reads, "1911, Indians 18, Harvard 15." Additionally, the school and journalists often categorized sporting competitions as conflicts of Indians against whites. Newspaper headings such as “Indians Scalp Army 27–6” or “Jim Thorpe on Rampage” made stereotypical journalistic play of the Indian nature of Carlisle's football team. The first notice of Thorpe in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
was headlined "Indian Thorpe in Olympiad.; Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team"; his accomplishments were described in a similar racial context by other newspapers and sportswriters throughout his life.
Olympic awards reinstated
Over the years, supporters of Thorpe attempted to have his Olympic titles reinstated. US Olympic officials, including former teammate and later president of the IOC Avery BrundageAvery Brundage
Avery Brundage was an American amateur athlete, sports official, art collector, and philanthropist. Brundage competed in the 1912 Olympics and was the US national all-around athlete in 1914, 1916 and 1918...
, rebuffed several attempts, with Brundage once saying, "Ignorance is no excuse." Most persistent were the author Robert Wheeler and his wife, Florence Ridlon. They succeeded in having the AAU and United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
(USOC) overturn its decision and restore Thorpe's amateur status prior to 1913.
In 1982, Wheeler and Ridlon established the Jim Thorpe Foundation and gained support from the U.S. Congress. Armed with this support and evidence from 1912 proving that Thorpe's disqualification had occurred after the 30-day time period allowed by Olympics rules, they succeeded in making the case to the IOC. In October 1982, the IOC Executive Committee approved Thorpe's reinstatement. In an unusual ruling, they declared that Thorpe was co-champion with Bie and Wieslander, although both of these athletes had always said they considered Thorpe to be the only champion. In a ceremony on January 18, 1983, the IOC presented two of Thorpe's children, Gale and Bill, with commemorative medals. Thorpe's original medals had been held in museums, but they had been stolen and have never been recovered.
Honors
Thorpe's monument, featuring the quote from Gustav V ("You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world."), still stands near the town named for him, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The grave rests on mounds of soil from Thorpe's native OklahomaOklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and from the stadium in which he won his Olympic medals.
Thorpe's achievements received great acclaim from sports journalists, both during his lifetime and since his death. In 1950, an Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
poll of almost 400 sportswriters and broadcasters voted Thorpe the "greatest athlete" of the first half of the 20th century. That same year, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
named Thorpe the "greatest American football player" of the first half of the century. In 1999, the Associated Press placed him third on its list of the top athletes of the century, following Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
and Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
. ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
ranked Thorpe seventh on their list of best North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n athletes of the century.
Thorpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 1963, one of seventeen players in the charter class. Thorpe is memorialized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rotunda with a larger-than-life statue. He was also inducted into halls of fame for college football, American Olympic teams, and the national track and field competition.
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, as authorized by U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 73, proclaimed Monday, April 16, 1973 as "Jim Thorpe Day" to promote the nationwide recognition of Thorpe.
In 1986, the Jim Thorpe Association established an award with Thorpe's name. The Jim Thorpe Award
Jim Thorpe Award
The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986...
is given annually to the best defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
in college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
. The annual Thorpe Cup
Thorpe Cup
The Thorpe Cup is an annual international decathlon and heptathlon meeting between the United States and Germany.First held in 1993 in Aachen, the 2009 and 2010 events were staged at the Georg-Gaßmann-Stadion in Marburg...
athletics meeting is named in his honor.
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Thorpe's wife Patricia was angry after his death when the government of Oklahoma would not erect a memorial to honor him. When she heard that the small Pennsylvania towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch ChunkJim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Jim Thorpe is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 4,804 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carbon County. The town has been called the "Switzerland of America" due to the picturesque scenery, mountainous location, and architecture; as well as the "Gateway to...
were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with officials. The towns bought Thorpe's remains, erected a monument to him, merged and renamed the newly united town in his honor, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
Jim Thorpe is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 4,804 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carbon County. The town has been called the "Switzerland of America" due to the picturesque scenery, mountainous location, and architecture; as well as the "Gateway to...
. Thorpe had never been there. The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses, and historical markers describing his life story.
In June 2010, Thorpe's son, Jack, filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of Jim Thorpe, seeking to have his father's remains returned to his homeland and re-interred near other family members in Oklahoma. Citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to...
, Jack Thorpe is arguing to bring his father's remains to the reservation in Oklahoma. There Thorpe's remains would be buried near his father, sisters, and brother, and would be one mile away from the place he was born. Jack Thorpe says the agreement between his stepmother and borough officials was made against the wishes of other family members. They want him buried in Native American land.
On film
In the 1930s, Thorpe appeared in several short films and features. Usually, his roles were little more than cameo appearances as an Indian, although in the 1932 comedy, Always Kickin, Thorpe was prominently cast in a speaking part as himself, a kicking coach teaching young football players to drop-kick. In 1931, during the Great Depression, he sold the film rights to his life story to MGM for $1,500 ($ today). The movie included archival footage of the 1912 and 1932 Olympics, as well as a banquet in which Thorpe was honored. Thorpe was seen in some long shots in the film; one scene had Thorpe as a coaching assistant. It was also distributed in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where it was called Man of Bronze.
Thorpe was memorialized in the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951) starring Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
, with Billy Gray
Billy Gray (actor)
William Thomas "Billy" Gray , is a former American actor known primarily for his role as James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., in 193 episodes of the NBC and CBS situation comedy, Father Knows Best, which aired between 1954 and 1960. Gray's fellow cast members were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,...
performing as Thorpe as a child. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
. Although there were accusations that Thorpe received no money from the movie he was paid $15,000 by Warner Bros. plus a $2,500 donation towards an annuity for him by the studio head of publicity.
This historical athlete appeared as a ghost in the 1994 television film Windrunner: A Spirited Journey, portrayed by Russell Means
Russell Means
Russell Charles Means is an Oglala Sioux activist for the rights of Native American people. He became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement after joining the organisation in 1968, and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage...
.
Sources
- Bird. Elizabeth S. Dressing in Feathers: The Construction of the Indian in American Popular Culture, Boulder: Westview Press. 1996 ISBN 0-8133-2667-2
- Bloom, John. There is a Madness in the Air: The 1926 Haskell Homecoming and Popular Representations of Sports in Federal and Indian Boarding Schools, ed. in Bird. Boulder: Westview Press. 1996
- Elfers, James E. The Tour to End All Tours, Nebraska: University of Nebraska PressUniversity of Nebraska PressThe University of Nebraska Press, founded in 1941, is a publisher of scholarly and popular-press books. It is the second-largest state university press in the United States and, including private institutions, ranks among the 10 largest university presses in the United States...
, 2003 ISBN 0-8032-6748-7 - Gerasimo, Luisa and Whiteley, Sandra. The Teacher's Calendar of Famous Birthdays. McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, 2003 ISBN 0-07-141230-1 - Hoxie, Frederick E. Encyclopedia of North American Indians New York: Houghton Mifflin BooksHoughton MifflinHoughton Mifflin Harcourt is an educational and trade publisher in the United States. Headquartered in Boston's Back Bay, it publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults.-History:The company was...
, 1996 ISBN 0-395-66921-9 - Jeansonne, Glen. A Time of Paradox: America Since 1890. Rowman & Littlefield, 2006 ISBN 0-7425-3377-8
- Landrum, Dr. Gene. Empowerment: The Competitive Edge in Sports, Business & Life, Brendan Kelly Publishing Incorporated, 2006 ISBN 1-895997-24-0
- Lincoln, Kenneth and Slagle, Al Logan. The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America, University of Nebraska Press, 1997 ISBN 0-8032-7974-4
- Magill, Frank Northern. Great Lives from History. New York: Salem Press, 1987 ISBN 0-89356-529-6
- Miller, Jeffrey J. Buffalo's Forgotten Champions, Xlibris Corporation, 2004 ISBN 1-4134-5005-9
- Neft, David S., Cohen, Richard M., and Korch, Rick. The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994 ISBN 0-312-11435-4
- O'Hanlon-Lincoln, Ceane. Chronicles: A Vivid Collection of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Histories, Mechling Bookbindery. 2006 ISBN 0-9760563-4-8
- Rogge, M. Jacque, Johnson, Michael, and Rendell, Matt. The Olympics: Athens to Athens 1896–2004, Sterling Publishing. 2004 ISBN 0-297-84382-6
- Schaffer, Kay and Smith, Sidonie. The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics and the Games, Rutger University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8135-2820-8
- Watterson, John Sayle. College Football: history, spectacle, controversy, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8018-7114-X
- Wheeler, Robert W. Jim Thorpe, World's Greatest Athlete, University of Oklahoma Press. 1979 ISBN 0-8061-1745-1
External links
- Pro Football Hall of Fame member profile
- College Football Hall of Fame member profile
- Jim Thorpe Association
- Jim Thorpe's bio, U.S. Olympic Team
- Jim Thorpe's IOC bio (includes pictures of monument and statue)
- Jack McCallum, "The Regilding Of A Legend", Sports Illustrated, October 25, 1982
- Ongoing Research Project Uniform Numbers of the NFL Pre-1933
- Jim Thorpe House Museum
- Jim Thorpe, stars in 1932 film ALWAYS KICKIN'