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Jim Thorpe | ||||||||
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On May 28, 1888, James Francis Thorpe was born to Hiram and Charlotte Thorpe on the Sac and Fox Indian reservation with his twin Charlie. When Jim was eight years old Charlie died. After his brother's death, his parents sent him to Haskell Institute where Jim was introduced to baseball and football. Jim was at Haskell when his mother died. In
1904, at age fifteen Jim Thorpe went to Carlisle Indian
School Pop was the track and football coach at Carlisle, and put Jim on the track and football team. Jim was the best athlete on both teams. Carlisle's football team was one of the best teams at the time. For a summer vacation Jim went to North Carolina to play baseball for which he received $60, and this caused him problems later on. Jim Thorpe went to the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. He won both the decathlon and pentathlon. King Gustav of Sweden called him the greatest athlete in the world. After the Olympics Jim was accused with professionalism by playing baseball for money. The Amateur Athletic Association took away all his medals and trophies from the Olympics, and took his name out of the record book. After this Jim Thorpe played baseball with the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves. While playing with the Giants Jim and the manager John Mcgrawe had several conflicts because Jim didn't practice much, and Mcgrawe wanted him to train more. In 1915 Jim went to play professional football with the Canton Bulldogs in Ohio. In 1920 Jim Thorpe was named the first president of the American Professional Football Association. In 1950 the Associated Press named him the greatest football player of the half century, and then named him the greatest athlete of the half century. Jim Thorpe was married to Iva Miller and Frieda Kirkpatrick,but got divorced to both. Bibliography
Jim Thorpe © 1997 Jacob Eapen. |