biography
| name: |
Thorpe, Jim
|
| |
popular name of James Francis Thorpe
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1888–1953)
|
| biography:
| Athlete, born in Oklahoma, USA. Voted in 1950 by an Associated Press panel as the greatest athlete of the century, he attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania (1903–12), where he starred as an All-American football halfback (1911–12). In 1912 he won gold medals in the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon, but was later forced to return the medals because he had played semi-professional baseball in 1909, thereby losing his amateur status on a technicality. He excelled at every sport he played, including the traditional Native American sport of lacrosse. He played major-league baseball as an outfielder for six years (1913–19) and dominated professional American football during its formative years (1917–29). As first president (1920) of the American Professional Football Association, he helped found the National Football League (1922). After retiring from competition, he appeared in film Westerns and spoke on behalf of Native American education. It was not until 1984 that the International Olympic Committee returned the gold medals to Thorpe's family. The Jim Thorpe Memorial is located in Yale, OK. |
|
|
