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Birth
There is no known date of Jim Thorpe's birth but it is widely believed to be late may in either 1887 or 1888 close to the North Fork River in Indian territory now Oklahoma. -
Carlisle Indiana school
After his mother's death 16-year-old Jim went on to attend Carlisle Indian industrial school, Here he met 'Pop" warner and started his athletic career on the track later moving on to football. -
Summer Olympics
Thorpe competed in the 1912 summer Olympics in Sweden winning 2 gold medals in both the Decathlon and Pentathlon (most impressively he ran with shoes he found in the trash because someone stole his) -
Carlisle football
Carlisle was among the best college teams beating teams such as Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and West Point. 22 years after the battle of Wounded Knee the native Americans came out with a grudge against the army team including players such as Dwight D. Eisenhower beating them with a final score of 27-6 -
Death
in 1913 Jim had his medals taken from him because he had played 2 summers of semi-pro baseball, making him a professional athlete, His medals were restored in 1982 but not before he died of a heart attack in 1953 -
Interesting facts
-Jim's birth name is Wa-Tho-Huk meaning "Path lit by great flash of lighting" or "bright path"
-Jim won the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship
-Jim played in the MLB for the; Giants, Reds, Braves, and the brewers while they were still in the minor league.