Renowned Native American athlete who excelled in the 1912 Olympic games in Stockholm but was later stripped of his Olympic medals for having previously received monetary compensation for engaging in professional sport. He later showed up on movie screens as a bit player in westerns. He was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the film 吉姆·索普 (1951).
Named America's greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century.
Pictured on a 20¢ US commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 24 May 1984.
Pictured on one of fifteen 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the "Celebrate the Century" series, issued 3 February 1998, celebrating the 1910s; honored for his accomplishments in the 1912 Olympics.
Charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.
Outfielder for the New York Giants (1913-1915, 1917-1919), Cincinnati Reds (1917) and Boston Braves (1919).
Halfback for the Canton Bulldogs (1915-1920,1926), Cleveland Indians (1921), Oorang Indians (1922-1923), Rock Island Independent (1924), New York Giants (1925) and Chicago Cardinals (1928).
His Native American name was Wathahuck (Bright Path).
Thorpe played baseball for the Rocky Mount club in North Carolina in 1909 and 1910, receiving small payments for each appearance. After he won 2 gold medals at the 1912 Olympic Games, the payments were reported in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic titles because he had broken the rules regarding amateurism. On 18 January 1983, the International Olympic Committee officially reinstated Thorpe's medals.
Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, 1983 (charter member).
Of combined Irish and Native American (Sac and Fox) ancestry.
Had a twin brother, Charles Thorpe, who died of pneumonia at the age of nine. Jim loved his brother and never ceased to mourn him.
Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 (charter class).
According to "Peanuts and Crackerjack", a book of baseball anecdotes, while the early twentieth-century New York Giants teams were fun-loving, nobody dared to try to mess with Jim Thorpe. Thorpe was described as a man with a "gold medal temper" with brute strength to back it up. One teammate described Thorpe fighting a man as a dog would grab a rat.
In addition to his many athletic accomplishments, he also won the 1912 Intercollegiate Ballroom Dancing Championship.
After he died in 1953, the town of Mauck Chunk, Pennsylvania, in exchange for the right to bury his body, offered to change its name to Jim Thorpe, PA. A movement has since been started to have his body returned to its native Oklahoma.
The Jim Thorpe Award has been presented annually by The Jim Thorpe Association to the best defensive back in college football since 1986.
Inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. The hall of fame is administered by The Jim Thorpe Association.
Inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972 (inaugural class).
Inducted into the San Pedro [California] Sportswalk to the Waterfront.
He died in his trailer home in Lomita, CA. Thorpe was eating dinner with his wife, Patricia, when he suffered a heart attack. Patricia's screams attracted a neighbor, Colby Bradshaw, who administered artificial respiration for nearly half an hour. A county fire rescue squad took over and was momentarily successful. He revived, recognized persons around him and spoke to them. Thorpe was conscious for only a brief time before he suffered a relapse and died.
Inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame.
Inducted into the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame in 2008 (inaugural class).
Inducted into the Twin County [North Carolina Sports] Hall of Fame in 2005.
Inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975.
Inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1963.
Inducted into the Jim Thorpe [Pennslyvania] Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 (inaugural class).