Author David Maraniss writes that Jim Thorpe is the "quintessential underdog" who became the world's greatest athlete. He was an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, a football All-American, a major league baseball player, a gifted swimmer and ice skater.
His story is one of perseverance versus the odds. Born on a Sac and Fox Indian reservation in 1887, Thorpe, whose Indian name was Wa-tho-Huk (meaning Path Lit by Lightning) arrived at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in 1904. He was subjected to cruel, crude and dehumanizing acculturation methods, part of the school's philosophy to "Kill the Indian, save the man."
Thorpe would spend the rest of his life divided between Indian and White worlds.
After his athletic career ended, he was "troubled by alcohol, broken marriages, deferred dreams, lost opportunities and financial distress," according to Maraniss. When Thorpe died at age 65 on March 28, 1953, his wife didn't have enough money to pay the undertaker.
Thorpe thrived playing football for Pop Warner at the Carlisle school. In 1908, Thorpe was described as "having the speed or a sprinter and the agility of a cat." Later on, a player said tackling Thorpe was like "trying to catch a shadow." While Carlisle was a football juggernaut, some of Warner's methods were questionable. He was suspected of recruiting players, paying them and using overaged non-students.
In 1909, Thorpe played minor league baseball in Rocky Mount, N.C. He played under his own name. This stint ended up costing him his Olympic medals.
He starred in the 1912 Olympics at Stockholm, earning the title as the world's greatest athlete.
Maraniss writes that Thorpe became "a mythical figure who was gazed upon as a curiosity the rest of his life. The myth grew over the years."
When Thorpe's minor league baseball career came to light, Warner denied knowing about it. Maraniss, however, says it's very likely Warner and James Sullivan, secretary of the American Athletic Union, knew about it. Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic medals 180 days after the event. The rules stated that all protests had to be filed within 30 days of the conclusion of the Olympics. Most Americans expressed sympathy for Thorpe and denounced the hypocrisy of supposed amateurism.
In 1913, Thorpe joined the New York Giants baseball team under manager John McGraw. Thorpe had a lackluster 6-year career in the majors, but Maraniss makes a strong case of how McGraw misused him. Thorpe was much more successful later in the minors. Perhaps, if he had started in the minors, he would have been more successful in the majors.
Thorpe began playing minor league baseball in the summer, minor league football in the fall and winter and barnstorming whenever he could. He was akin to an athletic migrant worker, traveling across the country. At age 39, he was still playing baseball and football. As his athletic ability declined, so did his financial health.
He was drinking more, borrowing money from friends and having trouble finding a job. He and his third wife, Patsy, had a lot of dreams, but most of them were short-lived. Her goal, unrealized, was to make $1 million for Jim, who ended up playing bit parts in more than 70 movies over 20 years.
When the movie "Jim Thorpe: All-American" was released in 1951, it didn't produce the windfall they had hoped. Less than two years later, Thorpe was dead.
Maraniss, a great biographer and writer, elevates the Jim Thorpe story beyond myth and into a classic.
Rob B