Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe
Thorpe in 1913
Born	May 22 or 28, 1887 Near Prague, Oklahoma, U.S.[a]
Died	March 28, 1953(1953-03-28) (aged 65) Lomita, California, U.S.
Nationality	Sac and Fox
American football player American football career
Thorpe with the Canton Bulldogs, c. 1915 – c. 1920
No. 2, 21, 3
Position:	Tailback
Personal information
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	202 lb (92 kg)
Career information
High school:	Carlisle Indian Industrial (Carlisle, Pennsylvania)
College:	Carlisle (1907–1908, 1911–1912)
Career history
As a player:
Canton Bulldogs (1915–1917, 1919–1920) Cleveland Indians (1921) Oorang Indians (1922–1923) Rock Island Independents (1924) New York Giants (1925) Rock Island Independents (1925) Tampa Cardinals (1926) Canton Bulldogs (1926) Chicago Cardinals (1928)
As a coach:
Indiana (1915) Assistant coach[1] Canton Bulldogs (1915–1920) Head coach Cleveland Indians (1921) Head coach Oorang Indians (1922–1923) Head coach Tampa Cardinals (1926) Head coach
As an executive:
Oorang Indians (1922–1923) General manager Tampa Cardinals (1926) Owner & general manager
Career highlights and awards
As a player 3× Ohio League champion (1916, 1917, 1919) First-team All-Pro (1923) NFL 1920s All-Decade Team NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team 2× Consensus All-American (1911, 1912) Third-team All-American (1908) As a coach 3× Ohio League champion (1916, 1917, 1919)
Career NFL statistics
Games played: 52 Games started: 37 Field goals: 4 Longest field goal: 47 Rushing touchdowns: 6 Points scored: 51 Stats at Pro Football Reference
Head coaching record
Career:	NFL: 14–25–2 (.366) Ohio League: 32–3–2 (.892) Overall: 46–28–4 (.615)
Record at Pro Football Reference
Pro Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
Baseball player Baseball career
Thorpe with the New York Giants
Outfielder
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 14, 1913, for the New York Giants
Last MLB appearance
September 25, 1919, for the Boston Braves
MLB statistics
Batting average	.252
Home runs	7
RBI	82
Hits	176
Teams
New York Giants (1913–1915, 1917) Cincinnati Reds (1917) New York Giants (1918–1919) Boston Braves (1919)
1st President of the NFL
In office 1920–1921
Preceded by	Ralph Hay[b]
Succeeded by	Joseph Carr

Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the United States
	1912 Stockholm	Decathlon
	1912 Stockholm	Pentathlon

James Francis Thorpe (Meskwaki: Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was 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 Olympics (one in classic pentathlon and the other in decathlon). He also played football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and professional basketball.

He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the contemporary amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored 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.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

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.^[7] 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.

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