Commemorating Native American Indian Heritage Month, Linda Brown reviewed the life of legendary athlete Jim Thorpe for Delphi Study Club members at their November meeting.Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss is the recently published biography of the Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon and pentathlon in 1912. Thorpe amassed 700 points ahead of the nearest competitor in these events for a record score. King Gustav V of Sweden awarded the medals (real gold in those days) and a bronze trophy, saying, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.” Thorpe also received a Russian trophy in the form of a Viking ship. He was hailed as a hero upon his return to the U.S Thorpe was born in 1887 on the then Sac and Fox Reservation in Oklahoma and was one of 11 children. At age seven, he and his twin brother Charlie were sent to boarding school, but after Charlie’s death three years later, Jim kept running away from school. He was then sent to Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kan.At Haskell, Thorpe loved football and was recruited by representatives from Carlisle Industrial Indian School, a former Army barracks in Pennsylvania. The school purported to “Kill the Indian; save the man,” meaning to assimilate the students totally into mainstream American culture. Coach Glenn “Pop” Warner put Thorpe on the varsity team in 1907, which over the next five years played and regularly defeated college teams, including Harvard and West Point.Thorpe left Carlisle before graduating and was granted leave by the school superintendent to play bush league baseball. Upon returning to Carlisle to play football, he was allowed also to train for the 1912 Olympics. Unfortunately, he lost his titles, medals and trophies after a reporter published a story about his playing semi-pro baseball, a violation of the Olympic rules for amateurism.After the Olympics, Thorpe played for six seasons in Major League Baseball and later for teams in the National Football League. He settled in California and played bit parts in movies, and during the Great Depression he worked at odd jobs. He never made much money and gave away much of what he did have. He was a consultant for the 1951 movie Jim Thorpe-All American, in which Burt Lancaster played the title role.Patricia Askew, Thorpe’s third wife whom he married in 1945, campaigned vigorously but unsuccessfully to have his trophies returned before ...
