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His six year major league career resulted in a. He batted. Attendance at Canton immediately quintupled, and Thorpe led Canton to several championships over its chief contender, the Massilon Tigers. Thorpe was the chief drawing power in professional football until Red Grange entered the game in Out of sports, Thorpe was not as successful. With the coming of the Depression Thorpe did bit parts in Hollywood movies, was a day laborer in Los Angeles , and had a ghost-written book published at the time of the Los Angeles Olympics, Jim Thorpe's History of the Olympics.
He continued through the s with rather insignificant movie parts, and he was asked regularly to give lectures on his athletic career.
Following the war he became a member of the recreation staff of the Chicago Park District in Honors for past athletic achievements kept coming to Thorpe. At mid-century the Associated Press polled sportswriters and broadcasters to determine the greatest football player and most outstanding male athlete of the first half of the 20th century.
This recognition, however, did not influence the U. Olympic Committee to help restore his Olympic medals. There had been an attempt in by the Oklahoma legislature to get the A. Thirty years later the A.
James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox. Jim Thorpe, American athlete who was one of the best all-around athletes in history, particularly successful in football and track and field.
Olympic Committee U. This failed. Following Brundage's death in , the U.
Not until , when U. Simon met with the International Olympic Committee president Juan Samaranch, was the action finally taken. Outside of athletics, Thorpe's life had much more tragedy than two gold medal losses. His twin brother, Charlie, died when he was nine years old. His mother died of blood poisoning before he was a teenager.
Four years later, shortly after Thorpe entered Carlisle, his father died. Following his marriage to Iva Miller , their first son died at the age of four from polio. Twice divorced, he had one boy and three girls of his first marriage and four boys from his second marriage in to Freeda Kirkpatrick.
His third marriage was to Patricia Askew in Thorpe's wanderlust and heavy drinking contributed to marital tensions, and he never successfully adjusted to life's routines outside of athletics. His place in sport history, though, was established well before he died of a heart attack in Lomita, California, at the age of 64 on March 28, The most thorough biography of Thorpe is Robert W.
The numerous studies about Thorpe include Wilbur J. Gilfond, The Jim Thorpe Story American track star and professional football and baseball player Jim Thorpe was the hero of the Olympic Games in Stockholm , Sweden , but had his gold medals taken from him for his status as a professional athlete. He was the son of Hiran P. He grew up with five siblings, although his twin brother, Charlie, died at the age of nine. Jim's athletic abilities showed at a very early age, when he learned to ride horses and swim at the age of three.
When Thorpe was sixteen, he was recruited to attend a vocational school a school to learn a trade for Native Americans , the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. His track potential was obvious in , when he cleared the high jump bar at 5 feet 9 inches while dressed in street clothes. That fall Thorpe made the varsity football team, playing some but starting the next year as a running back. In Thorpe was awarded third team All-American status, the highest honor for a collegiate athlete. Following the spring of , when Thorpe starred in track, he left the Carlisle school with two other students to go to North Carolina, where they played baseball at Rocky Mount in the Eastern Carolina Association.
The next year he played for Fayetteville, winning ten games and losing ten games pitching, while batting. In , against Harvard University 's undefeated team led by the renowned coach Percy Houghton, Thorpe kicked four field goals — two over 40 yards — and the game ended in a stunning victory.
Carlisle lost only two games in and , against Penn State and Syracuse University, but conquered such teams as the U. In his last year he scored twenty-five touchdowns and points, and for the second year in a row he was named All-American by football pioneer Walter Camp — During the summer of , before Thorpe's last year at Carlisle, he was chosen to represent the United States at the Stockholm Olympics in the decathlon ten track events and the pentathlon five track events.
King Gustav of Sweden addressed Thorpe as the "greatest athlete in the world" and presented him with several gifts, including one from Czar Nicholas of Russia — — a silver, pound likeness of a Viking ship, lined with gold and containing precious jewels. A half-year later charges against Thorpe for professionalism led to Thorpe's confession that he had been paid to play baseball in North Carolina in and Thorpe was to be mainly as a gate attraction.
His six-year major league career resulted in a. Attendance at Canton immediately skyrocketed, and Thorpe led Canton to several championships over its chief rival, the Massillon Tigers. Thorpe was the chief drawing power in professional football until Red Grange — entered the game in At mid-century the Associated Press AP polled sportswriters and broadcasters to determine the greatest football player and most outstanding male athlete of the first half of the twentieth century. Thorpe outdistanced Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski — for the title of the greatest football player.
He led Babe Ruth — and Jack Dempsey — for the most outstanding male athlete, being paired with Babe Didrikson Zaharias — , the outstanding female athlete. This recognition, however, did not influence the United States Olympic Committee to help restore Thorpe's Olympic medals. There had been an attempt in by the Oklahoma legislature to get the AAU to reinstate Thorpe as an amateur.
Thirty years later the AAU did restore his amateur status. This effort failed. Besides his twin brother Charlie's death when he was nine years old, his mother died of blood poisoning before he was a teenager. Following his marriage to Iva Miller in , their first son died at the age of four from polio, a life-threatening disease that affects development in children. Twice divorced, he had one boy and three girls from his first marriage, and four boys from his second marriage in to Freeda Kirkpatrick. His place in sports history, though, was established well before he died of a heart attack on March 28, in Lomita, California, at the age of sixty-four.
Birchfield, D.
Jim Thorpe, World's Greatest Athlete. Farrell, Edward. Mahweh, NJ: Troll Associates, Lipsyte, Robert. Jim Thorpe: 20th-Century Jock. New York : HarperCollins, Richards, Gregory B. Chicago : Children's Press, Thorpe was probably the greatest all-round male athlete the United States has ever produced.
His mother, a Sac, named him Bright Path. He joined the Carlisle football team, coached by Glenn "Pop" Warner , and in —12 Thorpe, playing left halfback, led Carlisle in startling upsets over such highly rated teams as Harvard, Army, and the Univ. In , Thorpe took part in the Olympic games held at Stockholm, Sweden, and performed magnificently.
He won the broad jump and the meter and 1,meter runs of the pentathlon; won the shot put , the 1,meter run, and the hurdle race of the decathlon; was the runner-up in the other events of the pentathlon and decathlon; and won the gold medal in both competitions. In , however, Thorpe surrendered his awards, at the request of the Amateur Athletic Union and the insistence of Glenn Warner, to the Olympic headquarters in Switzerland; it had been discovered that Thorpe had played —10 semiprofessional baseball with the Rocky Mount, N.
The medals were restored posthumously in , but he was recognized only as a co-winner of the pentathlon and decathlon in the Olympic record.
In , Thorpe played briefly with the New York Giants baseball team. He afterward played professional football with the Canton Ohio Bulldogs and other teams, and later became supervisor of recreation for the Chicago parks, gave lectures, and worked at various jobs in California, where he died. Jim Thorpe , Pa. With T. Collison, he wrote Jim Thorpe's History of the Olympics See biographies by R.
Wheeler and K. Buford Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. Jim Thorpe American track star and professional football and baseball player Jim Thorpe was the hero of the Olympic Games in Stockholm, only to have his gold medals taken from him for professionalism.
Jim Thorpe Born: May 28, Bellemonta, Oklahoma Died: March 28, Lomita, California American football player, baseball player, and Olympic athlete American track star and professional football and baseball player Jim Thorpe was the hero of the Olympic Games in Stockholm , Sweden , but had his gold medals taken from him for his status as a professional athlete. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press. Wins gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. Stripped of Olympic titles when news story breaks that he played baseball for pay in ; gives back Olympic gold medals.
Leaves Carlisle and signs three-year contract with New York Giants pro baseball team. Marries Carlisle sweetheart, Iva Miller; they will have a son and three daughters. Plays halfback and serves as head coach for Canton Bulldogs pro football career ends.
A trial court judge originally sided in the family's favor, but in a federal appeals court overturned that ruling. Jim Henson was an American puppeteer best known for creating TV characters, including the Muppets, and for his work on the popular children's show Sesame Street. Films such as the biographical drama Jim Thorpe: All American present him as a tragic and lonely figure. What is not so well known is that Thorpe should never have been disqualified in the first place. After he succumbed to a heart attack on March 28, , at his trailer home in Lomita, California, his body was moved to an eastern Pennsylvania community that renamed itself Jim Thorpe in exchange for housing his remains.
Plays token game with Chicago Cardinals on Thanksgiving Day ; football career end. After former fans raise money so he can attend, Thorpe takes seat next to Vice President Charles Curtis at Olympic Games in Los Angeles to a standing ovation by crowd of , Joins recreation staff of Chicago Park District and teaches trackfundamentals to young people; is hired to prepare Israel's National Soccer Team for match against U. Olympic Soccer Team in New York. Amateur Athletic Union restores Thorpe's status as amateur for International Olympic Committee restores Thorpe's Olympic records and returns gold medals to his family.
The establishment offered American Indians the opportunity to gain practical training in over 20 trades, in addition to off-campus employment at local farms, homes, or industries.
Thorpe began his athletic career at Carlisle, both playing football and running track. He was triumphantly selected as a third-team All-American in , and in and he made the first team. Remarkably, he trained aboard the ship on the journey across sea. He blew away the competition in both the pentathlon and the decathlon and set records that would stand for decades.
King Gustav V presented Thorpe with his gold medals for both accomplishments. The Olympics Committee had strict rules about Olympians receiving monetary compensation for participating in professional athletics.