Athletic Biography of James Frances Thorpe

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Athletic Biography of James Frances Thorpe

On the morning of May 28, 1888, one of the most versatile, and arguably the greatest of athletes was born in a one-room cabin made of cottonwood and hickory, on the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation located in Prague, Oklahoma. His name was Wa-tho-huck, which means "Bright Path" , in the Native American language spoken by the Sac and Fox Tribe. His father was Hiram P. Thorpe an Irish trapper, and his mother was No-ten-o-quah, and Indian member of the Thunder Clan of Chief Black Hawk, better known as Charlotte Thorpe. It was a customary tradition for Native Americans to name their children after something seen just before giving birth or even just after giving birth. Since the first thing Wa-tho-huck’s mother saw, shortly after giving birth at 6:30 in the morning, was the Sun rising over a walkway leading to the cabin, hence the name "Bright Path." Because Hiram Thorpe wasn’t a full-blooded Indian, Wa-tho-huck needed to have a name given to him at the time he was christened. They agreed on the name James Frances Thorpe, or as many came to know him as, Jim Thorpe.

Jim wasn’t the first child of the family, in fact he had an older brother named George and a twin brother named Charlie. George was nearly seven years older than Jim, so the only person that Jim had to play with was Charlie. Although Jim and Charlie looked very much dissimilar, they soon began to show similar interests. They took after their father in the fact that they both enjoyed such activities as hunting, trapping, and fishing; and as the years went on, they became inseparable. Jim also had a younger sister named Mary, and a younger brother named Eddie.

Hiram Thorpe was undoubtedly the most gifted athlete on the Sac and Fox Reservation. Nearly every weekend, competitions such as, wrestling, swimming, high-jumping, and broad-jumping, were held, and every weekend. Families from all over the Reservation and area would come to watch these events, and nearly every weekend they saw Hiram win. Perhaps this talent and love of athletic competition was inherited by Jim, or perhaps by watching his father compete, Jim became so compelled to make his father proud, that he developed a love for competition. Either way, Jim’s passion to compete helped him in the years to come.

At the age of six and a half Hiram enrolled Jim and Charlie at the Sac and Fox Indi...

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...test Athlete And Football Player in the First Half of the Twentieth Century. In 1951 Warner Brothers released, Jim Thorpe-All American, a movie about the great athlete’s life. This was truly a great tribute to his dedication on and off the field.

In November of 1951, Jim noticed an infection on his lower lip. He went to a hospital in Philadelphia and had it checked out, and found out that it was cancer. Luckily, the doctor’s were able to remove it, without any aftereffects. Ten months later however, he suffered his second heart attack, but he shocked the doctors when after only seventy-two hours, he sat up and walked out of the hospital under his own power. Jim however was unable to conquer his third heart attack which occurred on March 28, 1953. This heart attack was massive and it occurred while Jim was laying in bed. Not even the doctors could save him. The unconquerable athlete had been conquered for the first time, and all that was left of him was the legend that he had striven so hard to achieve. On the front of Jim’s granite memorial is engraved:

"SIR, YOU ARE THE GREATEST ATHLETE IN THE WORLD!"

KING GUSTAV, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

1888 JIM THORPE 1953

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