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1973
- From 1955 the Jim Thorpe Trophy was awarded annually to the most valuable player in the NFL. In 1973 the Amateur Athletic Union restored his amateur status, but the International Olympic Committee did not recognize his amateur status until 1982.
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6 days ago · In 1973 the Amateur Athletic Union restored his amateur status, but the International Olympic Committee did not recognize his amateur status until 1982. Thorpe was subsequently restored as a “cowinner” of the decathlon and pentathlon of the 1912 Olympic Games (along with the second-place finishers in those events).
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They succeeded in having the AAU and United States Olympic Committee overturn its decision and restore Thorpe's amateur status before 1913. In 1982, Wheeler and Ridlon established the Jim Thorpe Foundation and gained support from the U.S. Congress. Armed with this support and evidence from 1912 proving that Thorpe's disqualification had ...
- Who Was Jim Thorpe?
- Early Years and Schools
- Olympic Glory and Downfall
- Professional Sports Career
- Post-Athletic Career and Death
- Legacy and Burial Controversy
An All-American in football at the Carlisle Indian School, Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympics before his gold medals were revoked on a technicality. Thorpe played professional baseball and football, and sought an acting career after retiring from sports.
Jim Thorpe was born circa May 28, 1887, near current-day Prague, Oklahoma. A child of Sac and Fox and Potawatomi Indian bloodlines, as well as French and Irish roots, he was given the name Wa-Tho-Huk, meaning "Bright Path," but christened Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe. Thorpe learned to hunt and trap prey at an early age, developing his legendary endur...
Named to the U.S. team for the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, Thorpe burst out of the gate by winning four of five events to claim the gold medal in the pentathlon. A week later he overwhelmed the field in the decathlon, winning the high jump, the 110-meter hurdles and the 1,500 meters despite competing in a pair of mismatched shoes. Fini...
In 1913, Thorpe married his college sweetheart, Iva Miller, and signed to play professional baseball with the New York Giants. Troubled by the curveball, Thorpe batted just .252 over a six-year big-league career with the Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves, although he managed an impressive .327 average in his final year. Thorpe made a much b...
Having already divorced and remarried, to a former Oorang Kennels employee named Freeda Kirkpatrick, Thorpe encountered increasing difficulties after his athletic career concluded. He sought a career in Hollywood, and while he was credited with appearing in more than 60 films from 1931 to 1950, he mainly scored bit roles as a stereotypical American...
Thorpe was elected a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, and in 1982 his name was restored to the Olympic record books as a co-winner of the 1912 track events. Proving he still loomed large in the American consciousness, he was voted the previous century's greatest athlete in a 2000 ABC Sports poll, and finished third in anothe...
Nov 17, 2021 · Decades before Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders starred in baseball and football, Jim Thorpe was America’s original multi-sport athlete. A two-time college football All-American and charter member...
Thorpe played under the name Jim Thorpe. He never tried to hide it. His name was in the papers for two seasons. Jim Thorpe was forced to return his gold medals from the 1912 Olympics when the Amateur Athletic Union discovered that he had played minor league baseball for two seasons.
In 1982, a number of people, including Thorpe’s family and author Robert Wheeler, found evidence that the IOC made its decision regarding Thorpe’s amateur status after the 30 day time period for such a decision had passed.
His letter did not help, and the AAU decided to retroactively withdraw Thorpe's amateur status, and requested the IOC to do the same. Later that year, the IOC unanimously decided to strip Jim Thorpe of his Olympic titles, medals and awards, declaring him a professional.
