It was curious to read in a book that Jim Thorpe was a greater athlete than most people realized! The author conceded readily that most people knew Thorpe’s reputation as a terrific athlete but that nevertheless there were still misconceptions about him.
Specifically, the author blamed the press of Thorpe’s day for focusing on just a few of the sports at which Thorpe excelled, thereby ignoring his considerable athletic skill in other areas.
In general, the press represented Thorpe as a gifted athlete in football, baseball, and basketball. But the fact is (the author went on to say) that Thorpe excelled at every sport that he tried. Indeed, he quickly rose to the top in lesser known athletic endeavors, each performance proving the fact of his overall greatness.
He was, after all, voted in 1950 the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century: no mean accomplishment, that! His gold-medal winning effort in the Decathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden insured his place in the record books.
His triumphs there are too well-known to need description here, except to accord with the world’s general opinion of him. He was known for his amazing strength and stamina, his tremendous speed and agility, and his fertile quickness of mind while competing.
Within the various sports that he tried, numerous anecdotes remain that still dazzle the imagination. His life as an athlete was known for its excellence and valor. Even without consulting the books for the records that he set, generations of Americans have shown a profound respect for his amazing abilities. Yet the author was not addressing himself to that side of Jim Thorpe’s life, which most people already know!
No, this particular author complained that the press of Thorpe’s day was unfair in choosing to cover Thorpe’s performances in only two or three major sports. The author contends–and proves by example– that Thorpe was a gifted athlete in many different sports and that the papers kept this fact from the public.
As the author puts it, Thorpe was the best at whatever sport that he tried– and he tried nearly all of them. Think of it! Thorpe as one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known and yet the claim is advanced that we know only part of the story of how truly great he really was! The sheer magnitude of the claim boggles the mind.
WHO WAS JIM THORPE?
Jim Thorpe attended the Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Pennsylvania. James Francis Thorpe (1888-1953) went there because he was an American Indian. His Indian name means “leader of the bright path.” (His clan was the same as that of legendary Black Hawk).
Football, baseball, track-and-field, golf, basketball, swimming, you name it; he was considered to be among the best of any sport that he tried. Yet we should not forget that Thorpe was deprived of his Olympic gold medals because the Olympic Committee believed that he had taken money for playing baseball. This was because the Indian Boarding School where Jim Thorpe lived closed for the summer and Thorpe chose to travel with a baseball team.
As far as can be determined, He was not paid as a professional athlete but slipped a few bucks from time to time (amounts cited range from two to fifteen dollars). It appears he was given money for food and other small items of necessity.
Despite this context, the Olympic Committee took away his medals and kept them away from Thorpe and his family for many, many years. The people who admired and understood Jim Thorpe the best fought back and they never stopped fighting, until one day–in the 1970’s–the Olympic Committee reversed itself and gave the medals back to Thorpe and his family, where they still are. (This reversal was based on a technicality but the public approved).
The gold medals were where they belonged: in the home of an American Indian family. They were fairly and honorably won by an American Indian, one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen: one Jim Thorpe by name. They will never be surrendered!
