Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe (Meskwaki: Wa-Tho-Huk) (May 28 1888 – March 28 1953[1]) was an American athlete. Considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, played American football collegiately and professionally, and also played professional baseball and basketball. He subsequently lost his Olympic titles when it
was found he had played two seasons of minor league baseball before competing in the games (thus violating the amateur status rules). In 1978, Thorpe was given his own national holiday, which is still celebrated on
May 28.
Thorpe was of mixed Native American and white ancestry. He was raised as a
Sac and Fox, and named Wa-Tho-Huk, roughly translated as "Bright Path". He struggled
with racism throughout much of his life and his accomplishments were publicized with headlines describing him as a "Redskin" and
"Indian athlete". He also played on several All-American Indian teams throughout his career and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of Native Americans.
Thorpe was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century by the Associated Press (AP) in 1950, and ranked third on the AP list of athletes of the century in 1999.
After his professional sports career ended, Thorpe lived in abject poverty. He worked several odd jobs, struggled with
alcoholism, and lived out the last years of his life in failing health. In 1983, thirty years after his death, his medals were
restored.
Early life
Information about Thorpe's birth, full name, and ethnic background varies widely.[2] What is known is that he was born in Indian Territory, but no birth certificate has been found.
Thorpe's birth is generally considered to have taken place on May 28 1888[1] near the town of Prague, Oklahoma.[3] Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe is the name on his christening
(baptismal) certificate.
His parents were of mixed descent. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a
Sac and Fox Indian mother, while his mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Native American mother. Thorpe was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name was
Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "A path lighted by a great flash of lightning" or more simply "Bright Path".[2] As was the custom for Sac and Fox, Thorpe was named for something
occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the sunlight brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. Thorpe's
mother was Catholic and raised the children in the faith, which Thorpe later observed
throughout his adult life.[4]
Together with his twin brother, Charlie, Thorpe went to school in Stroud,
Oklahoma at the Sac and Fox Indian Agency School. Charlie died of pneumonia when they were nine years old.[5] Charlie had helped Jim through school. Thorpe did not handle his brother's death very well and
ran away from school on several occasions. Hiram Thorpe then sent him to what is now known
as Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, so that he would not run away again.[6] When his mother died of childbirth complications two
years later,[7] Thorpe fell into a
depression. After several arguments with his father, he ran away from home to work
on a horse ranch.[6]
In 1904, Thorpe returned to his father and decided to join Carlisle Indian
Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was coached by Glenn Scobey "Pop"
Warner, one of the most influential coaches in early American football history.[8] Later that year, Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning after a hunting accident.[7] Thorpe once again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years and then returned
to Carlisle, where his athletic career commenced.[6]
Amateur career
College career
Thorpe reportedly began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907, as he walked past the track and beat the school's
high jumpers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump while still wearing plain clothes. [9] His earliest recorded track and field results are indeed from 1907. But track and field were certainly not the
only events in which Thorpe engaged at Carlisle—he also participated in football, baseball, lacrosse and even ballroom dancing. Reportedly, Pop Warner was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his star track and field athlete, to compete in a physical game such
as football.[10] Thorpe however, coerced Warner
into allowing him to run some plays against the school's defense; Warner assumed he would be tackled easily and give up the idea
of playing football.[10] Thorpe "ran around
past and through them not once, but twice."[10]
He then walked over to Warner and said "[n]obody is going to tackle Jim," while flipping him the ball.[10]
He gained nationwide attention for the first time in 1911.[11] As a running back, defensive back, placekicker, and punter for his school's football team, Thorpe scored all of his team's points—four field
goals and a touchdown—in an 18-15 upset of Harvard.[10] His team finished the season 11–1.
The following year, he led Carlisle to the national collegiate championship, scoring 25 touchdowns and 198 points.[8]
Carlisle's 1912 record included a 27-6 victory over Army.[3] In that game, Thorpe scored a 92-yard touchdown
that was nullified by a penalty incurred by a teammate; Thorpe then scored a 97-yard touchdown on the next play.[12]
During that game, future President Dwight Eisenhower injured his knee while
trying to tackle Thorpe. Eisenhower recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech, "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely
endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other
football player I ever saw."[8] Thorpe was given
All-American honors in both 1911 and 1912.[3]
Football was—-and would remain—-Thorpe's favorite sport,[13] and he competed only sporadically in track and field. Nevertheless, track and field would become the
sport in which Thorpe would gain the most fame.
Olympic career
Thorpe at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
For the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm,
Sweden, two new multi-event disciplines were on the program, the pentathlon and the decathlon. A pentathlon based on the ancient Greek
event had been organized at the 1906 Summer Olympics, but the 1912 edition would
consist of the long jump, the javelin throw, 200-meter
dash, the discus throw and the 1500-meter run.
The decathlon was an entirely new event in athletics, although it had been competed in in American track meets since the 1880s
and a version had been featured on the program of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
However, the events of the new decathlon were slightly different from the U.S. version. Both events seemed a fit for Thorpe, who
was so versatile that he alone had formed Carlisle's team in several track meets.[3] He could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, the 220 in 21.8 seconds,
the 440 in 51.8 seconds, the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35, the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds, and the 220-yard low hurdles
in 24 seconds.[3] He could broad-jump
23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in.[3] He could pole vault 11 feet, put the shot 47 ft 9 in, throw the javelin 163 feet, and
throw the discus 136 feet.[3] Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for both the pentathlon and the decathlon.
He easily won the awards, winning three events, and was named to the pentathlon team, which also included future
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery Brundage. There were only a few candidates for the decathlon team, and the trials were cancelled.
Thorpe would contest his first—-and, as it turned out, only-—decathlon in the Olympics. Thorpe's Olympic record 8,413 points
would stand for nearly two decades.[9]
Thorpe's competition schedule for the Olympics was crowded. Along with the decathlon and pentathlon, he also entered the
long-jump and high-jump competitions. The first event scheduled was the pentathlon. Thorpe was the class of the field, winning
four events. He placed only third in the javelin, an event he had not competed in before 1912. Although the competition was
primarily decided on place points, points were also calculated for the marks achieved in the events.
The same day he won the pentathlon gold, Thorpe qualified for the high-jump final. In that final, he placed fourth and took
seventh place in the long jump. Thorpe's final event was the decathlon, where tough competition from local favorite
Hugo Wieslander was expected. Thorpe, however, also easily defeated Wieslander,
finishing nearly 700 points ahead of him. He placed in the top four of all ten events. Overall, Thorpe won eight of the two
competitions' 15 individual events.[8]
As was the custom of the day, the medals were presented to the athletes during the closing ceremonies of the games. Along with
the two gold medals, Thorpe also received two challenge prizes, which were donated by King Gustav V of Sweden for the decathlon and Czar Nicholas II of
Russia for the pentathlon. Legend has it that, when awarding Thorpe his prize, King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the
greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King."[14]
Thorpe's successes had not gone unnoticed at home, and he was honored with a ticker-tape
parade on Broadway.[14] He later remembered: "I heard people yelling my name, and I couldn't
realize how one fellow could have so many friends."[14]
Apart from his track and field appearance, Thorpe also played in one of two exhibition baseball matches held at the 1912
Olympics, which featured two teams made up of U.S. track and field athletes. It was not Thorpe's first try at baseball, as would
soon become known to the rest of the world.
Professional career
Declared a professional
In 1913, strict rules regarding amateurism were in force for athletes participating in the Olympics. Athletes who received
money prizes for competitions, who were sports teachers, or who had previously competed against professionals were not considered
amateurs and were not allowed to compete in the Olympics.
In late January 1913, U.S. newspapers published stories announcing that Thorpe had played professional baseball. It is not
entirely certain which newspaper first published the story; the earliest article found is from the Providence Times, but the Worcester Telegram is
usually mentioned as the first.[14] Thorpe
had indeed played professional baseball in the Eastern Carolina League for
Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1909
and 1910, receiving meager pay; reportedly as little as $2 a game and as much as
$35 a week.[15] College players, in fact,
regularly spent summers playing professionally, but most, as opposed to Thorpe, used aliases.[8]
Although the public did not seem to care much about Thorpe's past,[16] the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and
especially its secretary James E. Sullivan, took the case very seriously.[17] Thorpe wrote a letter to Sullivan, in which he admitted
playing professional baseball:[14]
| “ |
...I hope I will be partly excused by the fact that I was simply an Indian schoolboy
and did not know all about such things. In fact, I did not know that I was doing wrong, because I was doing what I knew several
other college men had done, except that they did not use their own names.... |
” |
His letter did not help. The AAU decided to retroactively withdraw Thorpe's amateur status and asked the IOC to do the same.
Later that year, the IOC unanimously decided to strip Thorpe of his Olympic titles, medals and awards and declared him a
professional.
While Thorpe had played for money, his disqualification was not within the rules in place at the time. In the rulebook for the
1912 Olympics, it was stated that any protests had to be made within 30 days from the closing ceremonies of the games.[12] The first newspaper reports only appeared in January
1913, about six months after the Stockholm Games had concluded.[12] However, AAU and IOC officials were apparently ignorant of this rule or chose to ignore it. There
is also some evidence that Thorpe's amateur status had already been questioned long before the Olympics but that this had been
(deliberately) ignored by the AAU until they were confronted with it in 1913.
The only positive side to this affair for Thorpe was that, as soon as the news got out that he had been declared a
professional, offers came in from professional clubs.[18]
Declared a rare free agent in the era of the reserve clause, Jim Thorpe had his pick of teams to play for.[19] He turned down a starting position with the Saint Louis Browns to be a reserve with the New York
Giants. One of the immediate benefits of joining the team came that October, when the Giants joined the Chicago White Sox for a world tour.[20] Barnstorming across the United States and then around the world, Thorpe was the unquestioned star of
the world tour.[21] Everywhere the teams went, Thorpe
brought them publicity and increased the tour's box office receipts. Among the highlights were meetings with the Pope and the
last khedive of Egypt and playing before 20,000 in London with King George V in attendance. While in Rome, Thorpe was filmed
wrestling with another baseball player on the floor of the Coliseum. Unfortunately, every inch of the film has been lost to
time.
Baseball, football, and basketball
Thorpe played football for Canton from 1915 through 1920. He also played 52 NFL games.
Thorpe signed with the New York Giants (baseball) in 1913 and played
sporadically with them as an outfielder for three seasons. After missing the 1916 season completely, he came back to play for the
Giants in 1917 but was sold to the Cincinnati Reds early in the season. In the "double
no-hitter" between Fred Toney of the Reds and
Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs, Thorpe drove in the
winning run in the 10th inning.[22] Late in the season, he
was sold back to the Giants. Again, he played sporadically for the Giants in 1918 and was traded to the Boston Braves on May 21, 1919 for
Pat Ragan. In his career, he amassed 91 runs scored,
82 runs batted in and a .252 batting average over
289 games.[23] He continued to play baseball with teams in
the minor leagues until 1922.
But Thorpe had not abandoned football either. Back in 1915, Thorpe had signed with the Canton Bulldogs. They paid him $250 a game, a tremendous wage at the time.[24] Before Thorpe's signing, Canton was averaging 1,200 fans a game;
8,000 showed up for his debut against Massillon.[24] The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Thorpe reportedly ended the 1919 championship game
by kicking a wind-assisted 95–yard punt from his team's own 5 yard line, effectively putting the game out of reach.[24] In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of fourteen teams
to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would
become the National Football League (NFL) two years later. Thorpe was nominally
the APFA's first president; however, he spent most of the year playing for Canton and a year later was replaced by
Joseph Carr.[25] He
continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, Thorpe played for the LaRue, Ohio (Marion
County, Ohio) Oorang Indians, an
all-Native American team. Although the team went 3–6 in 1922,[26] and 1–10 in 1923,[27]
Thorpe played well and was selected to the Green Bay Press Gazette's
first All-NFL team in 1923 (the Gazette's team would later be formalized by the NFL as the league's official All-NFL team in
1931).[28]
Thorpe never played on an NFL championship team. He retired from pro football at the age of 41,[5] having played 52 NFL games for six teams from 1920 to 1928.
World Famous Indians letterhead
Thorpe continued to be active in sports. By 1926 he was the primary draw for the "World Famous Indians" in LaRue, which sponsored traveling football, baseball, and basketball teams. A ticket discovered in an old
book recently brought to light his career in basketball. "Jim Thorpe and His World-Famous
Indians" barnstormed for at least two years (1927–1928) in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, and Marion, Ohio. Although images of Thorpe in his WFI basketball uniform were printed on postcards and
published in newspapers, this period of his life was not well documented, and until 2005 most of Thorpe's biographers were
unaware of his basketball career.[29]
Later life and death
In 1913, Thorpe married Iva Miller,[3]
whom he had met at Carlisle. They had four children: Jim Jr. (who died at age 2), Gale, Charlotte and Grace.[3] Thorpe was a chronic alcoholic in his later
years.[30] Miller filed for divorce from Thorpe in 1925,
claiming desertion.[31]
In 1926 Thorpe married Freeda Kirkpatrick (1906?–2007), who was working for the manager of the baseball team he was playing on
at the time.[32] They had four sons: Carl, William,
Richard and John.[3] After the end of his
athletic career, Thorpe struggled to support his family. He found it difficult to work outside sports and never kept a job for an
extended period of time. During the Great Depression in
particular, Thorpe held various jobs, among others as an extra in several movies, usually
playing an Indian chief in Western movies. But he also worked as a construction worker,
a bouncer, a security guard, and a ditch
digger, and he briefly joined the United States Merchant Marine in
1945.[33][34]
By the 1950s, Thorpe had no money left, and when he was hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950,
he was admitted as a charity case.[35] At a press
conference announcing the procedure, Thorpe's wife wept and pleaded for help, saying: "[W]e're broke.... Jim has nothing but his
name and his memories. He has spent money on his own people and has given it away. He has often been exploited."[35] In early 1953, Thorpe suffered his third heart attack
while eating dinner with his third wife, Patricia Askew, in his trailer home in Lomita, California. Artificial respiration briefly revived Thorpe, and he was able to speak to those around him, but
he lost consciousness shortly afterwards and died on March 28 1953.[3]
Racism
Thorpe's accomplishments occurred during a period of racism and racial inequality in the United States. It has been often
suggested that his medals were stripped because of his ethnicity,[36] and although this has never been proven, public outcry at the time largely reflected this
view.[37] He also won his gold medals before Native
Americans were recognized as citizens; American Indians were granted dual citizenship in
1924, and it was not until the passing of a 1954 Civil Rights Bill, one year after Thorpe's death, that Native Americans were
granted the right to vote.[38]
While at Carlisle in particular, Thorpe's ethnicity was openly used as a marketing tool. For many, he embodied the racial
stereotype of Native Americans as fierce savage warriors.[39] A photograph of Thorpe and the 1911 football team emphasized the purposeful racial split between
the competing athletes. The inscription on the football reads, "1911, Indians 18, Harvard 15."[40] Additionally, the school often categorized sporting competitions as conflicts
pitting Indians against whites. Newspaper headings such as “Indians Scalp Army 27-6” or “Jim Thorpe on Rampage” characterized the
Indian-ness of Carlisle's football team.[39] His
first appearance in The New York Times ran with the headline "Indian Thorpe in
Olympiad.; Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team";[11] his accomplishments were described in a similar racial context by other newspapers and
sportswriters throughout his life.[41]
Legacy
When Thorpe's third wife, Patricia, heard that the small Pennsylvania town of Mauch
Chunk was desperately seeking to attract business, she struck a deal with the town. Mauch Chunk bought Thorpe's remains,
erected a monument to him, and renamed the town in his honor (see Jim Thorpe,
Pennsylvania), despite the fact that Thorpe had never set foot in the city.[42] Thorpe's monument, featuring the quote from Gustav V, can
still be found there.[7]
Thorpe also received great acclaim from the press. In 1950, an Associated Press poll
of nearly 400 sportswriters and broadcasters voted Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century.[43] In 1999, the Associated Press placed him third on their list
of athletes of the century, behind Babe Ruth and Michael
Jordan,[44] and ESPN
ranked him seventh on their list of North American athletes of the century.[45] In addition, on May 27,
1999 the United States House of
Representatives passed resolution 198 designating Thorpe as "America's athlete of the century".[46]
Thorpe was named the "greatest American football player" of the first half of the century by the Associated Press in
1950,[47] and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963. He is often said to be the first player inducted, although
the first person inducted was Chicago Bears founder, owner, coach and player
George Halas. He is memorialized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rotunda with the
larger-than-life Jim Thorpe statue as well as being a member of the college football, U.S. Olympic, and national track and field
halls of fame.[8] In 1986 an award was established in
his name by the Jim Thorpe Association. The Jim Thorpe Award is awarded annually to the
best defensive back in college football.
Thorpe was memorialized in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe--All-American starring
Burt Lancaster and directed by Casablanca's Michael Curtiz. Although Thorpe was listed as
a consultant in the credits, he did not earn any money for the movie, as he had already sold the film rights to MGM in 1931 (for $1,500).[48] The movie—titled Man of Bronze when released in the UK—-included archival footage of the 1912 and 1932 Olympics as well as a banquet in which Thorpe was
honored. Thorpe was seen in some long shots in the film.
Reinstated Olympic awards
The
USPS recognized Thorpe's achievements with a postage stamp.
Over the years, several attempts were made to reinstate Thorpe's Olympic titles.[49] US Olympic officials, such as former teammate Avery Brundage, rebuked several
attempts, with Brundage once saying, "Ignorance is no excuse."[50] Most persistent was that of Robert Wheeler and Florence Ridlon. They succeeded in having the AAU
and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) overturn their decisions and
restore Thorpe's amateur status prior to 1913.[51]
In 1982, they established the Jim Thorpe Foundation and managed to get support from the US Congress. Armed with this support and evidence from 1912 showing Thorpe's disqualification had
occurred outside of the 30-day limit, they finally got attention from the IOC, which had not made any attempts to reinstate
Thorpe.
In October 1982, the IOC Executive Committee approved Thorpe's reinstatement.[15] In an unusual ruling, however, they declared that Thorpe was now
co-champion with Bie and Wieslander, even though both athletes had always said they considered Thorpe to be the only champion. In
a ceremony on January 18, 1983, two of Thorpe's children, Gale
and Bill, were presented with commemorative medals;[15] the original medals had both ended up in museums but were stolen and are still
missing.[52]
References
Notes
- ^ a b Magill. pg. 2320
Athlete Jim Thorpe Was Born May 28, 1888, americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23,
2007.
- ^ a b O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 129
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 131
- ^ a b Jim Thorpe – Fast facts, cgmworldwide.com, accessed April
23, 2007.
- ^ a b c
- ^ a b c
- ^ a b c d e f
- ^ a b Encyclopedia of World Biography. Jim Thorpe, Thomson-Gale, June 2005, accessed
April 23, 2007. available online at bookrags.com.
- ^ a b c d e Jeansonne. pg.
60
- ^ a b Indian Thorpe in Olympiad.; Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team., The New York Times,
April 28, 1912, accessed April
2, 2007.
- ^ a b c Jim Thorpe, usoc.org, accessed April 26, 2007.
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 144
profootballhalloffame.com, accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e Flatter, Ron.
Thorpe preceded Deion,
Bo, ESPN.com, accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ a b c
- ^ Schaffer and Smith. pg. 50
- ^ Schaffer and Smith. pg 40
- ^ Rogge, Johnson, and Rendell. pg. 60
- ^ Thorpe is to Play Ball with Giants; Famous Indian Athlete Accepts McGraw's Terms Over the Telephone., The New York
Times, February 1, 1913, accessed April 2, 2007.
- ^ Sox and Giants on World's Tour; Comiskey-McGraw Party Leaves Chicago Oct. 19 and Arrives in New York March 6., The
New York Times, , accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ Elfers. pg. 210
- ^ Daley, Arthur. Baseball's 'Ten Greatest Moments', The New York Times, April 17,
1949, accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ Jim Thorpe, baseball-reference.com, accessed April 23,
2007.
- ^ a b c Neft, Cohen, and
Korch. pg. 18
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Korch. pg. 20
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Korch. pg. 34
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Korch. pg. 40
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Korch. pg. 41
- ^ Jim Thorpe Ticket (PDF), pbs.org,
accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ Jeansonne. pg 61
- ^ List of marriages, divorces, births, and deaths, TIME, April 6, 1925, available online
via time.com, accessed May 21, 2007.
- ^ Associated Press. Freeda Thorpe, former wife of Jim Thorpe, dies at 101, yahoo.com, March 7
2007, accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pgs. 144–5
- ^ Briefs, TIME, February 22, 1943, available online via time.com, accessed May 21, 2007.
- ^ a b Associated Press. Thorpe Has Cancerous Growth Removed From Lip in Hospital at Philadelphia, The New York Times, November 10, 1951, accessed April 23,
2007.
- ^ Watterson. pg. 151
- ^ Schaffer and Smith. pg. 50
- ^ Lincoln and Slagle. pg. 282
- ^ a b
- ^ Jim Thorpe Photo Collection, historicalsociety.com, accessed May
14, 2007.
- ^ Demaree, Al. Thorpe, the Indian, Best All-American, Los
Angeles Times, November 24, 1926, accessed
May 12, 2007.
"http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/502266132.html?dids=502266132:502266132&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+29%2C+1953&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+(1872-1963)&edition=&startpage=A1&desc=JIM+THORPE+DIES+OF+HEART+ATTACK+AT+64"
class='external text' target="wpext">Jim Thorpe Dies of Heart Attack at 64 Chicago
Tribune, March 29, 1953, accessed May 12, 2007.
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 148
- ^ Jim Thorpe encarta.msn.com, accessed April 23,
2007.
- ^ Associated Press. Top 100 athletes of the 20th century, USA
Today, December 21, 1999, accessed March 15, 2007.
- ^ Top N. American athletes of the century, espn.com, accessed March
15, 2007.
- ^ Landrum. pg. 17. In 1973, Congress passed public law 93-19, a joint
resolution to authorize the President to proclaim April 16, 1973, as "Jim Thorpe Day".
- ^ Jim Thorpe Biography, cgmworldwide.com, accessed April 23,
2007.
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 145
- ^ Anderson, Dave. Jim
Thorpe's Medals, The New York Times, June 22, 1975,
accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ Reuters. Jim Thorpe cruelly treated by authorities, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, August 8,
2004, accessed April 23, 2007.
- ^ Wethe, David and Whiteley, Michael. Legends lunches
begin this fall with Bob Lilly, Dallas Business Journal,
July 19, 2002, accessed April
27, 2007.
- ^ O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg 132
Sources
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Press. 1996 ISBN 0813326672
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and Indian Boarding Schools, ed. in Bird. Boulder: Westview Press. 1996
- Elfers, James E. The Tour to End All Tours, Nebraska: University of
Nebraska Press, 2003 ISBN 0803267487
- Gerasimo, Luisa and Whiteley, Sandra. The Teacher's Calendar of Famous Birthdays. McGraw-Hill, 2003 ISBN 0071412301
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Mifflin Books, 1996 ISBN 0395669219
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Incorporated, 2006 ISBN 1895997240
- Lincoln, Kenneth and Slagle, Al Logan. The Good Red Road: Passages into Native America, University of Nebraska Press,
1997 ISBN 0803279744
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- Magill, Frank Northen. Great Lives from History. New York: Salem Press, 1987 ISBN 0893565296
- Miller, Jeffrey J. Buffalo's Forgotten Champions, Xlibris Corporation, 2004 ISBN 1413450059
- Neft, David S., Cohen, Richard M., and Korch, Rick. The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the
Present. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994 ISBN 0312114354
- O'Hanlon-Lincoln, Ceane. Chronicles: A Vivid Collection of Fayette County, Pennsylvania Histories, Mechling
Bookbindery. 2006 ISBN 0976056348
- Rogge, M. Jacque, Johnson, Michael, and Rendell, Matt. The Olympics: Athens to Athens 1896–2004, Sterling Publishing.
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Press, 2000 ISBN 0813528208
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080187114X
|
Further reading
- The Best of the Athletic Boys: The White Man's Impact on Jim Thorpe, by Jack Newcombe, 1975. ISBN 0385061862
- Jim Thorpe, the Legend Remembered, by Rosemary Kissinger Updyke, 1997 ISBN 1565545397
- In the Matter of Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe, published in The 1912 Olympic Games - Results for All Competitors in
All Events, with Commentary by Bill Mallon and Ture Widlund, 2002. ISBN 0786410477
- The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics (Sydney 2000 Edition) by David Wallechinsky, 2000. ISBN 1585670464
- Jim Thorpe: The World's Greatest Athlete by Robert W. Wheeler, 2003 ISBN 0806117451
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