On May 22, 1887, one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century was born in a
small cabin in Oklahoma. James Francis Thorpe or Wa-tho-huck in his Native
American name which means “bright future”, would have a bright future
indeed. He would go on to make accomplishments in all of football, baseball and
track and field. In 1907, his first year at Carlisle Indian School, the young
Thorpe displayed remarkable skills in football and track and gained the
attention of Pop Warner, then Carlisle's coach of these sports. Thorpe performed
his amazing talent on the varsity football team, but in 1909 he withdrew from
the school and went to North Carolina. There he worked as a farmhand and played
semiprofessional baseball. Returning to Carlisle in 1911, Thorpe played halfback
on the football team, contributing largely to Carlisle victories over some of
the most powerful teams in the country. In 1911 and 1912 he made the
All-American team. Thorpe excelled during this period in many other sports,
including track and field, baseball, lacrosse, basketball, ice hockey, swimming,
boxing, tennis, and archery. Thorpe was a member of the United States track and
field team at the Olympic Games of 1912 and he was widely recognized as the
world's greatest all-around athlete after he won both the pentathlon and the
decathlon. Early in 1913, however, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), after
learning that he had played semiprofessional baseball, voided his amateur status
and disallowed his Olympic victories. In 1982 the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) restored both his amateur status and his two Olympic medals
after his death. Thorpe played professional baseball, notably with the New York
Giants and the Boston Braves, from 1913 to 1919, when his weakness as a hitter
forced him to retire. Meanwhile, in 1915, he had organized the Bulldogs, a
professional football club from Canton, Ohio. After a series of outstanding
seasons with the Bulldogs and other teams he retired from football in 1929.
Thorpe subsequently had a few small parts as an actor in motion pictures,
lectured on Native American culture, and served as a seaman in the U.S. Merchant
Marine during World War II. In 1950 nearly 400 American sportswriters and
broadcasters selected Thorpe as the greatest all-around athlete and football
player of the first half of the 20th century. He was elected to the Pro Football
Hall of Fame in 1963. On March 28 1953, Jim Thorpe’s life came to an end.
Although his time was over, his legend would live on in American history. His
name would pop up on television and in the magazines whenever people were
talking about sports greats. The state of Pennsylvania even named a town after
him. Even recently on the ESPN’s “50 greatest athletes of the 20th century.
He placed in the top 5! All over the world, Jim Thorpe will always be remembered
and his stories will forever be passed down among generations.