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May 24, 2024 · Jim Thorpe (born May 28, 1888, near Prague, Indian Territory [now in Oklahoma], U.S.—died March 28, 1953, Lomita, California) was one of the most accomplished all-around athletes in history who in 1950 was selected by American sportswriters and broadcasters as the greatest American athlete and the greatest gridiron football player of the ...
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Thorpe was born in Indian Territory of the United States (later Oklahoma), but no birth certificate has been found. He was generally considered to have been born on May 22, 1887, near the town of Prague.
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Indian Territory, originally “all of that part of the United States west of the Mississippi, and not within the States of Missouri and Louisiana, or the Territory of Arkansas.”. Never an organized territory, it was soon restricted to the present state of Oklahoma, excepting the panhandle and Greer.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- 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...
Jan 15, 2010 · A region conceived as "the Indian country" was specified in 1825 as all the land lying west of the Mississippi. Eventually, the Indian country or the Indian Territory would encompass the present states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and part of Iowa. In actuality, the Indian Removal process had begun by treaties soon after 1800.
Prague was settled primarily by Czechs. The town was incorporated in 1902 on land originally owned by Eva Barta and named by her after Prague, Czechoslovakia. Through the efforts of town developer E. L. Conklin the Fort Smith and Western Railroad located its coal chute and train depot in Prague when it extended its line to the town.
James Francis Thorpe, widely acknowledged as the greatest American athlete of the twentieth century, was born on May 28, 1887, near Prague, Indian Territory, in what is now the state of Oklahoma. His impoverished parents, Hiram and Charlotte Thorpe, were members of the Sauk and Fox Indian Nation.
