Thorpe, Jim (1888–1953)

Athletic Achievements

During the past 100 years, Thorpe's athletic feats have achieved legendary status, so much so that, at times, it is difficult to separate the man from the myth. Most highlights of Thorpe's life, however, including the following edited excerpts drawn from a 1999 U.S. Senate resolution honoring Thorpe as the “Athlete of the Century,” note the following athletic achievements:

• Starring at four different positions for the Carlisle Indians of the Carlisle Indian School from 1908 to 1912, Thorpe was a two-time All-American halfback in college football, as well as the first college football player to achieve national recognition.
• Excelling as both an amateur and professional in track and field, football, and baseball, Thorpe became the first U.S. citizen to win the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and the only athlete to ever simultaneously win gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon.
• As a professional football player, Thorpe led his team, the Canton Bulldogs, to three world championships from 1915 to 1919, and served as the first president of the American Professional Football Association, now known as the National Football League.
• Thorpe played professional baseball for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves, batting .327 in his final season in 1919.
• Named the “Greatest Football Player and All-around Male Athlete of the First Half of the Twentieth Century” by a 1950 Associated Press poll of sports-writers, and the “Greatest All-time American Football Player” by a 1977 Sports Magazine national poll, Thorpe is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, the Professional Football Hall of Fame, and the National Indian Hall of Fame.

Omitted from these highlights, however, are a number of nuances. By all accounts, Thorpe was a figurehead president of the American Professional Football Association. Furthermore, as a baseball player, Thorpe was a competent although unexceptional major leaguer. On the other hand, in the areas of track and field and, especially, football, Thorpe's athletic achievements were truly unmatched, making him the first sports superstar of the 20th century.

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