James Francis Thorpe accomplished arguably what
no other athlete in history has. Born near the town of Prague, Oklahoma, the Sac and Fox
American Indian won gold medals in
the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympic games in Sweden. Sweden's King
Gustav V called Jim "the greatest athlete in the world." He was
also both professional football and professional baseball player. His feats on the
football field put him on the 1911 and 1912 All-American football teams. In
1920 he became the first president of the American Professional Football
Association (later to become the NFL).
In 1950, Associated Press named him as the greatest football player and greatest
all-round athlete for the first 50 years of this century. Unfortunately, the
International Olympic Committee took away his gold medals as a consequence
of being paid as he had played as semi-professional baseball as a student at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
This was at a time when the IOC was just starting to formulate the rules on
mixing professional and amateur sports, and Jim Thorpe was the "test
case".
You may be able to imagine the impact it has on Jim. He died penniless
and as an alcoholic. His mother wrote to all the local counties to ask for a
free plot to bury this heartbroken man. Mauch Chunk, deep in the coal mining
area of Pennsylvania, accepted his remains on the basis that they could name anything
in town after him (sort of a progressive tourism thinkers). Soon, up popped
the Jim Thorpe Haberdashery, the Jim Thorpe Library, etc, etc, until the
entire town decided to change its name (wouldn't you if you had a name like
Mauch Chunk).
And, how does that relate to the
Jim Thorpe Stateroom at Ford House,
deep in southwestern Western Australia? Ken & Jenny bought their Amish
Quilts in Pennsylvania while they were staying in the town of Jim Thorpe,
and, just like the fact that Jim Thorpe never lived in the town of Jim
Thorpe.....he has not lived at Ford House either
Some of this information was in the People Weekly
Magazine, 01/08/96 Vol.45, No.1
