Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpe was born in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, between May 22 and May 28 of 1887. No birth certificate exists to confirm the exact date or year, though his baptismal record lists the 22nd of May 1887. He grew up within the Sac and Fox Nation, where his father Hiram Thorpe had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox mother. His mother Charlotte Vieux descended from Chief Louis Vieux of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Thorpe received the name Wa-Tho-Huk, meaning Bright path the lightning makes as it goes across the sky. This name shortened to Bright Path reflected his cultural upbringing.
His early life involved tragedy and movement. He attended the Sac and Fox Indian Agency School in Stroud with his twin brother Charlie. Charlie died of pneumonia when they were nine years old. Thorpe ran away from school several times before his father sent him to Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. Two years later, his mother died during childbirth complications. He became depressed and left home to work on a horse ranch after arguments with his father.
In 1904, sixteen-year-old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. There he met coach Glenn Scobey Warner, known as Pop Warner. That same year, his father Hiram died from gangrene poisoning following a hunting accident. The young Thorpe dropped out again but resumed farm work before returning to Carlisle. It was at this school that his athletic ability first gained recognition.
The 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm introduced two new multi-event disciplines: the pentathlon and the decathlon. Thorpe entered both events and won gold medals in each. His Olympic record score of 8,413 points stood for nearly two decades. During the decathlon competition, someone stole his shoes just before he competed. He found a mismatched pair of replacements, including one from a trash can, and won the gold medal wearing them.
King Gustav V of Sweden presented Thorpe with a challenge prize. The King reportedly said You sir are the greatest athlete in the world while Thorpe replied Thanks King. This exchange appeared in the September 1912 publication of The Red Man newspaper. Thorpe also received a challenge prize donated by Czar Nicholas II of Russia for the pentathlon.
After winning eight of fifteen individual events across both competitions, Thorpe returned home to a ticker-tape parade on Broadway. He remembered hearing people yelling his name and could not realize how one fellow could have so many friends. Later that year, he competed in the Amateur Athletic Union All-Around Championship at Celtic Park in Queens, New York. He scored 7,476 points, breaking Martin Sheridan's previous record of 7,385 points.
In late January 1913, the Worcester Telegram reported that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics. Other newspapers followed up the story. Thorpe admitted playing professional baseball in the Eastern Carolina League for Rocky Mount, North Carolina during 1909 and 1910. He received meager pay as little as two dollars per game or as much as thirty-five dollars per week.
The Amateur Athletic Union decided to withdraw Thorpe's amateur status retroactively. The International Olympic Committee unanimously stripped him of his Olympic titles, medals, and awards. They declared him a professional athlete. Hugo Wieslander, who won silver, refused to accept the gold medal because he felt Thorpe was the legitimate owner.
The rulebook for the 1912 Olympics stated protests had to be made within thirty days from closing ceremonies. First newspaper reports appeared in January 1913, about six months after the Stockholm Games concluded. Evidence suggested Thorpe was known to have played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics, yet officials ignored the issue until confronted in 1913. As soon as news broke declaring him a professional, he received offers from sports clubs.
Thorpe signed with the New York Giants baseball club in 1913. He played nineteen of their one hundred fifty-one games that season. The team repeated as National League champions. After losing the World Series, Thorpe joined the Chicago White Sox for a world tour. He met Pope Pius X and Abbas II Hilmi Bey while playing before twenty thousand people in London including King George V.
He played sporadically with the Giants over three seasons before being sold to the Cincinnati Reds early in 1917. Later traded to the Boston Braves on the 21st of May 1919, he amassed ninety-one runs scored and eighty-two runs batted in over two hundred eighty-nine games. His career batting average stood at .252. He continued minor league play until 1922.
In football, Thorpe first played professionally in 1913 with the Indiana-based Pine Village Pros. He signed with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915. They paid him two hundred fifty dollars per game, a tremendous wage at the time. Before signing him, Canton averaged twelve hundred fans per game. Eight thousand showed up for his debut against the Massillon Tigers. The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Between 1921 and 1923, he helped organize and played for the Oorang Indians, an all-Native American team based in La Rue, Ohio.
After retiring from professional sports at age forty-one, Thorpe struggled to provide for his family. During the Great Depression, he worked various jobs including construction worker, doorman, security guard, and ditchdigger. He found it difficult to work non-sports-related jobs and never held employment for extended periods. He became a chronic alcoholic during these later years.
Thorpe appeared in over seventy films as an extra, usually playing American Indian characters in Westerns. His film career began with the 1931 serial Battling with Buffalo Bill. In 1932 comedy Always Kickin', he was prominently cast as himself teaching young football players to drop-kick. He played roles in She, Knute Rockne All American, and Wagon Master among many others.
In 1931, during the Great Depression, Thorpe sold film rights to his life story to MGM for one thousand five hundred dollars. Warner Bros eventually acquired the rights and produced Jim Thorpe , All-American starring Burt Lancaster in 1951. Although rumors claimed he received no money, he was paid fifteen thousand dollars plus a two thousand five hundred dollar donation toward an annuity by the studio's head of publicity.
Thorpe died on the 28th of March 1953 at age sixty-five after going into cardiac arrest while dining with his third wife Patricia in Lomita California. He had been hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950 as a charity case. At a press conference announcing the procedure, his wife wept and pleaded for help saying We are broke. Jim has nothing but his name and his memories.
His body was initially intended for burial in Garden Grove Cemetery in Oklahoma. Sac and Fox Thunder clan members met to carry out a traditional Sac burial ceremony on the 12th of April 1953. His third wife Patricia interrupted it accompanied by law enforcement and removed the body. A funeral followed at St Benedict Catholic Church in Shawnee before lying in state at Fairview Cemetery.
Patricia took Thorpe's body and shipped it to Pennsylvania when she heard Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk sought business. She made a deal with officials in May 1954 for monetary considerations. The towns bought his remains interring them there in 1957 and renamed themselves Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania. Thorpe had never visited the location. Jack Thorpe filed a federal lawsuit in June 2010 seeking return of remains under NAGPRA but died the 22nd of February 2011.
Over decades supporters attempted reinstatement of Thorpe Olympic titles. American Olympic officials including Avery Brundage rebuffed attempts. Brundage once said Ignorance is no excuse. Author Robert Wheeler and wife Florence Ridlon succeeded in having AAU and United States Olympic Committee overturn decisions restoring amateur status before 1913.
In October 1982 IOC Executive Committee approved reinstatement declaring Thorpe co-champion with Ferdinand Bie and Hugo Wieslander. Both athletes always considered Thorpe sole champion. On the 18th of January 1983 IOC presented two commemorative medals to children Gale and Bill. Original medals held in museums were stolen and never recovered. In July 2020 petition from Bright Path Strong called for sole winner restoration backed by Olympian Billy Mills.
The IOC voted the 14th of July 2022 to reinstate Thorpe as sole winner after Norway and Sweden National Olympic Committees gave approval. In 2024 President Joe Biden announced awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thorpe became one of first inductees into National Native American Hall of Fame in 2018. The town named Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania features a monument site containing his tomb and statues.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When was Jim Thorpe born and what is the confirmed date?
James Francis Thorpe was born between May 22 and May 28 of 1887 in Indian Territory. His baptismal record lists the 22nd of May 1887 as his birth date.
What happened to Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals after he played professional baseball?
The International Olympic Committee stripped him of his titles, medals, and awards because officials declared him a professional athlete. Hugo Wieslander refused to accept his gold medal since he felt Thorpe was the legitimate owner.
How did Jim Thorpe die and where did he pass away?
Jim Thorpe died on the 28th of March 1953 at age sixty-five after going into cardiac arrest while dining with his third wife Patricia in Lomita California. He had been hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950 as a charity case.
Why was Jim Thorpe buried in Pennsylvania instead of Oklahoma?
Patricia took Thorpe's body and shipped it to Pennsylvania when she heard Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk sought business. The towns bought his remains interring them there in 1957 and renamed themselves Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania.
When was Jim Thorpe reinstated as sole winner of the 1912 Olympics?
The IOC voted the 14th of July 2022 to reinstate Thorpe as sole winner after Norway and Sweden National Olympic Committees gave approval. In October 1982 the IOC Executive Committee approved reinstatement declaring Thorpe co-champion with Ferdinand Bie and Hugo Wieslander.