Oliver Hardy
American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy (1892-1957)
Jim Thorpe was an incredibly talented American athlete who won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, and also played professional football, baseball, and basketball. Though he had his Olympic titles stripped for violating amateurism rules, the IOC later restored them after his death. Thorpe overcame many challenges in his life, including poverty and alcoholism, but is remembered as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
Table of Contents
About the Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpewas an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympicsrestored his Olympic medals with replicas, after ruling that the decision to strip him of his medals fell outside of the required 30 days. Official IOC records still listed Thorpe as co-champion in decathlon and pentathlon until 2022, when it was decided to restore him as the sole champion in both events.
Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Indian Territory (what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma). As a youth, he attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time All-American for the school’s football team under coach Pop Warner. After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, he added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union. In 1913, he played for the Pine Village Pros in Indiana. Later in 1913, Thorpe signed with the New York Giants, and he played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships. He later played for six teams in the National Football League (NFL). 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.
From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. He struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. He suffered from alcoholism, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. He was married three times and had eight children, including Grace Thorpe, an environmentalist and Native rights activist, before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953.
Thorpe has received numerous accolades for his athletic accomplishments. The Associated Press ranked him as the “greatest athlete” from the first 50 years of the 20th century, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its inaugural class in 1963. The town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, was named in his honor. It has a monument site that contains his remains, which were the subject of legal action. Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jim Thorpe played professional football, baseball, and basketball during his career.
Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic titles in 1912 after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, which violated the contemporary amateurism rules.
In 1983, 30 years after Thorpe’s death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals with replicas, after ruling that the decision to strip him of his medals fell outside of the required 30 days.
From 1920 to 1921, Jim Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922.
The town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, was named in his honor and contains his remains, which were the subject of legal action.
Jim Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film ‘Jim Thorpe – All-American’.
Jim Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation, and was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics.