Jim Thorpe#Olympic career

Information about Thorpe's birth, name and ethnic background varies widely.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=129}} He was baptized "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church. Thorpe was born in Indian Territory of the United States (later Oklahoma), but no birth certificate has been found. The Jim Thorpe Museum lists his birth date as May 28, 1887,{{cite web |title=Jim Thorpe History |url=https://oklahomasportshalloffame.org/jim-thorpe-museum |website=Jim Thorpe Museum |publisher=Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame |access-date=January 15, 2025}} however, others have listed it as May 22, 1887,{{Cite book |last=Golus |first=Carrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIWXAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |title=Jim Thorpe |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4677-0397-0 |edition=Revised |page=4}} near the town of Prague. Thorpe said in a note to The Shawnee News-Star in 1943 that he was born May 28, 1888, "near and south of Bellemont – Pottawatomie County – along the banks of the North Fork River ... hope this will clear up the inquiries as to my birthplace."{{Sfn|Wheeler|1979|p=291}} May 22, 1887, is listed on his baptismal certificate.{{Cite news |date=November 22, 2010 |title=Author of Jim Thorpe's biography shakes things up |url=http://www.tnonline.com/2010/nov/22/author-jim-thorpes-biography-shakes-things |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505060548/https://www.tnonline.com/2010/nov/22/author-jim-thorpes-biography-shakes-things/ |archive-date=May 5, 2015 |access-date=May 2, 2015 |work=Times News Online}} Thorpe referred to Shawnee as his birthplace in his 1943 note to the newspaper.{{Sfn|Wheeler|1979|p=291}}

Thorpe's father, Hiram Thorpe (Sac and Fox), had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox mother.{{Cite news |last=Hannigan |first=Dave |date=August 3, 2016 |title=America at Large: Bizarre coda to Olympian Jim Thorpe's epic life |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/america-at-large-bizarre-coda-to-olympian-jim-thorpe-s-epic-life-1.2743918 |access-date=June 4, 2017 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}{{Cite book |last=Redmond |first=Patrick R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATzTAgAAQBAJ&q=The+Irish+and+the+Making+of+American+Sport%2C+1835-1920 |title=The Irish and the Making of American Sport, 1835–1920 |publisher=McFarland and Company |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4766-0584-5 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |page=279}} His mother, Charlotte Vieux, was the daughter of Citizen Potawatomi Nation members Elizabeth and Jacob Vieux,{{Cite web |date=January 6, 2021 |title=The fight to recognize Jim Thorpe as official Olympic gold medal winner |url=https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2021/01/06/the-fight-to-recognize-jim-thorpe-as-official-olympic-gold-medal-winner/ |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Potawatomi.org |publisher=Citizen Potawatomi Nation}} and was a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux.{{Cite web |date=April 12, 2022 |title=Connections between Potawatomi and Kickapoo endure |url=https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2022/04/12/connections-between-potawatomi-and-kickapoo-endure/ |access-date=March 21, 2024 |website=Potawatomi.org |publisher=Citizen Potawatomi Nation}}

Thorpe was raised in the Sauk, or Thâkîwaki, culture,{{cite web |last1=McCollum |first1=Timothy James |title=Sac and Fox |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SA001 |website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |access-date=January 15, 2025}}{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1912 |title=Jim Thorpe Leaps To Fame On Carlisle Athletic Field |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3477783/the_washington_post/ |access-date=October 24, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} and his Sauk name was Wa-Tho-Huk, which translates as "Bright path the lightning makes as it goes across the sky", often shortened to "Bright Path".{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=129}} Thorpe's parents were both Roman Catholic, a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his adult life.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=131}}

Thorpe attended the Sac and Fox Indian Agency School in Stroud, with his twin brother, Charlie. Charlie helped him through school until he died of pneumonia when they were nine years old.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe – Fast facts |url=http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/facts/facts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503044807/http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/facts/facts.html |archive-date=May 3, 2011 |website=cgmworldwide.com}} Thorpe ran away from school several times. His father sent him to the Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas, so that he would not run away again.

When Thorpe's mother died of childbirth complications two years later,{{Sfn|Hoxie|1996|p=628}} he became depressed. After several arguments with his father, he left home to work on a horse ranch.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe – Olympic Hero and Native American |url=http://www.olympics30.com/30greatest/jim-thorpe-hero.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621082309/http://www.olympics30.com/30greatest/jim-thorpe-hero.asp |archive-date=June 21, 2011 |website=olympics30.com}}

In 1904, the 16-year-old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There his athletic ability was recognized and he was coached by Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner, one of the most influential coaches of early American football history. Later that year he was orphaned when his father Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning, after being wounded in a hunting accident.{{Sfn|Hoxie|1996|p=628}} The young Thorpe again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years before returning to Carlisle School.

File:Jim Thorpe 1912.jpg

File:Glenn Warner, Jim Thorpe tackling a dummy.jpg

Thorpe began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 when he walked past the track and, still in street clothes, beat all the school's high jumpers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump that broke the school record.Encyclopedia of World Biography. [http://www.bookrags.com/Jim_Thorpe Jim Thorpe], Thomson-Gale, Bookrags, June 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2007. {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Jim Thorpe |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography}}{{Cite web |last=Rousselle |first=Christine |title=On this day in history, May 28, 1888, Jim Thorpe, 'greatest athlete in the world,' is born |url=https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-history-may-28-1888-jim-thorpe-greatest-athlete-world-born.amp |date=May 28, 2024 |access-date=April 28, 2025 |website=Fox News}} His earliest recorded track and field results come from 1907. He also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, boxing, handball, and ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.{{Cite news |date=August 8, 2004 |title=Jim Thorpe cruelly treated by authorities |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114205622/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/ |archive-date=November 14, 2007 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |publisher=CNN Sports Illustrated |agency=Reuters}}{{Cite web |last=Mayer |first=Daphne |date=2020-11-25 |title=The Greatest Native American Athlete: Jim Thorpe (Wa-tho-Huk) |url=https://canals.org/2020/11/25/the-greatest-native-american-athlete-jim-thorpe-wa-tho-huk/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=National Canal Museum |language=en-US}}

Pop Warner was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in such a physical game as football.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} Thorpe, however, convinced Warner to let him try some rushing plays in practice against the school team's defense; Warner assumed he would be tackled easily and give up the idea.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} Thorpe "ran around past and through them not once, but twice".{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} He walked over to Warner and said, "Nobody is going to tackle Jim", while flipping him the ball.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}}

Thorpe first gained nationwide notice in 1911 for his athletic ability.{{Cite news |date=April 28, 1912 |title=Indian Thorpe in Olympiad: Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/28/archives/indian-thorpe-in-olympiad-redskin-from-carlisle-will-strive-for.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=T9}} As a running back, defensive back, placekicker and punter, Thorpe scored all of his team's four field goals in an 18–15 upset of Harvard, a top-ranked team in the early days of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}}{{Cite web |last=Richmond |first=Sam |date=November 11, 2015 |title=Jim Thorpe leads Carlisle to upset of Harvard in 1911 |url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2015-11-11/jim-thorpe-leads-carlisle-upset-harvard-1911 |access-date=August 29, 2018 |website=NCAA}} He also rushed for 173 yards in the game, and afterwards Harvard did not lose again until 1915.{{Cite web |date=January 14, 2020 |title=The 150 greatest players in college football's 125-year history |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/cfb150players/the-150-greatest-players-college-football-150-year-history |access-date=April 29, 2025 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}} Carlisle would go on to finish the 1911 season with an 11–1 record and were retroactively named national collegiate champions in a book titled "Champions of College Football", written by Bill Libby in 1975.{{Cite web |title=Libby National Champions |url=https://www.billlibby.com/libby-national-champions |access-date=April 28, 2025 |publisher=Bill Libby |language=en}} In 1912, Thorpe led the nation with 29 touchdowns and 224 points scored during the season, according to the College Football Hall of Fame.{{Cite web |title=College Football Hall of Famers Who Are Olympic Medalist |url=https://www.cfbhall.com/news-and-happenings/blog/college-football-hall-of-famers-who-are-olympic-medalist/ |date=July 29, 2021 |access-date=April 27, 2025 |publisher=College Football Hall of Fame |language=en-US}} Steve Boda, a researcher for the NCAA, credits Thorpe with 27 touchdowns and 224 points. Thorpe rushed 191 times for 1,869 yards, according to Boda; the figures do not include statistics from two of Carlisle's 14 games in 1912 because full records are not available.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=151}}

Carlisle's 1912 record included a 27–6 victory over the West Point Army team. In that game, Thorpe's 92-yard touchdown was nullified by a teammate's penalty, but on the next play Thorpe rushed for a 97-yard touchdown.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=http://www.usoc.org/26_37888.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201621/http://www.usoc.org/26_37888.htm |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |website=usoc.org}} Future President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played against him in that game, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:

{{blockquote|

Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw.Botelho, Greg. [https://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/ "Roller-coaster life of Indian icon, sports' first star"], CNN.com, July 14, 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2007.

}}

Thorpe was a third-team All-American in 1908{{Sfn|Cook|2011|p=42}} and a first-team All-American in 1911 and 1912. Football was – and remained – Thorpe's favorite sport.O'Hanlon-Lincoln. p. 144.
* [https://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=213 Jim Thorpe], profootballhalloffame.com. Retrieved April 23, 2007. He did not compete in track and field in 1910 or 1911,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=113}} although this turned out to be the sport in which he gained his greatest fame.

In the spring of 1912, he started training for the Olympics. He had confined his efforts to jumps, hurdles and shot-puts, but now added pole vaulting, javelin, discus, hammer and 56 lb weight. In the Olympic trials held at Celtic Park in New York, his all-round ability stood out in all these events and so he earned a place on the team that went to Sweden.

The poet Marianne Moore, who taught Thorpe at Carlisle, recalled:

He had a kind of ease in his gait that is hard to describe. Equilibrium with no stricture, but couched in the lineup of football he was the epitome of concentration, wary, with an effect of plenty in reserve.{{Sfn|Maraniss|2022|p=147}}

For the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, two new multi-event disciplines were included, the pentathlon and the decathlon.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=112}} A pentathlon, based on the ancient Greek event, had been introduced at the 1906 Intercalated Games.{{Sfn|Zarnowski|2013|p=150}} The 1912 version consisted of the long jump, javelin throw, 200-meter dash, discus throw, and 1500-meter run.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=112}}

The decathlon was a relatively new event in modern athletics, although a similar competition known as the all-around championship had been part of American track meets since the 1880s. A men's version had been featured on the program of the 1904 St. Louis Olympics. The events of the new decathlon differed slightly from the American version.{{Sfn|Zarnowski|2005|pp=29–30, 240}}{{Cite web |title=Athletics at the 1904 St. Louis Summer Games: Men's All-Around Championship |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1904/ATH/mens-all-around-championship.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171728/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1904/ATH/mens-all-around-championship.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |access-date=January 25, 2018 |publisher=Sports Reference}}

Thorpe was so versatile that he served as Carlisle's one-man team in several track meets. According to his obituary in The New York Times, he could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat; the 220 in 21.8 seconds; the 440 in 51.8 seconds; the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35; the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds; and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds.{{Cite news |date=March 29, 1953 |title=Jim Thorpe is Dead on West Coast at 64 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/03/29/archives/jim-thorpe-is-dead-on-west-coast-at-64-jim-thorpe-dead-on-the-coast.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701182600/https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0528.html |archive-date=July 1, 2017 |access-date=December 7, 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=A1}} He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault 11 feet; put the shot 47 ft 9 in; throw the javelin 163 feet; and throw the discus 136 feet.

Thorpe entered the U.S. Olympic trials for both the pentathlon and the decathlon. He easily earned a place on the pentathlon team, winning three events. The decathlon trial was subsequently cancelled, and Thorpe was chosen to represent the U.S. in the event.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=114}} The pentathlon and decathlon teams also included Avery Brundage, a future International Olympic Committee president.{{Sfn|Findling|Pelle|2004|pp=473–474}}

Thorpe was extremely busy in the Olympics. Along with the decathlon and pentathlon, he competed in the long jump and high jump.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79125 |access-date=April 25, 2021 |website=Olympedia}} The first competition was the pentathlon on July 7. He won four of the five events and placed third in the javelin,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=127–128}} an event he had not competed in before 1912.{{Cite magazine |last=Jenkins |first=Sally |author-link=Sally Jenkins |date=July 2012 |title=Why Are Jim Thorpe's Olympic Records Still Not Recognized? |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-are-jim-thorpes-olympic-records-still-not-recognized-130986336/?page=4&no-ist |access-date=August 15, 2016 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine}} Although the pentathlon was primarily decided on place points, points were also earned for the marks achieved in the individual events. Thorpe won the gold medal.{{Cite web |title=Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's Pentathlon |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1912/ATH/mens-pentathlon.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175029/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1912/ATH/mens-pentathlon.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |access-date=June 30, 2018 |publisher=Sports Reference}} That same day, he qualified for the high jump final, in which he finished in a tie for fourth. On July 12, Thorpe placed seventh in the long jump.{{Cite web |title=Athletics at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games: Men's High Jump Qualifying Round |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1912/ATH/mens-high-jump-qualifying-round.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417065811/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1912/ATH/mens-high-jump-qualifying-round.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |access-date=June 30, 2018 |publisher=Sports Reference}}

Thorpe's final event was the decathlon, his first (and as it turned out, his only) decathlon.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/jim-thorpe-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175027/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/jim-thorpe-1.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |access-date=January 21, 2018 |publisher=Sports Reference}}{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=170 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122071842/https://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=170 |archive-date=January 22, 2018 |access-date=January 21, 2018 |publisher=National Track and Field Hall of Fame}} Strong competition from local favorite Hugo Wieslander was expected.{{Cite web |title=Hugo Wieslander |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wi/hugo-wieslander-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175426/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/wi/hugo-wieslander-1.html |archive-date=April 17, 2020 |access-date=June 29, 2019 |publisher=Sports Reference}} Thorpe, however, defeated Wieslander by 688 points.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=130}} He placed in the top four in all ten events, and his Olympic record of 8,413 points stood for nearly two decades. Even more remarkably, because someone had stolen his shoes just before he was due to compete, he found a mismatched pair of replacements, including one from a trash can, and won the gold medal wearing them.{{Cite news |last=Tucker |first=Neely |date=March 15, 2012 |title=Battle over athlete Jim Thorpe's burial site continues |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/battle-over-athlete-jim-thorpes-burial-site-continues/2012/02/21/gIQAn5DLES_story.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}{{Sfn|Dodge|2013|p=145}} Overall, Thorpe won eight of the 15 individual events comprising the pentathlon and decathlon.{{Cite news |last=Jenkins |first=Sally |date=August 10, 2012 |title=Greatest Olympic athlete? Jim Thorpe, not Usain Bolt |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/greatest-olympic-athlete-jim-thorpe-not-usain-bolt/2012/08/10/f9114872-e33c-11e1-ae7f-d2a13e249eb2_story.html |access-date=June 7, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

As was the custom of the day, the medals were presented to the athletes during the closing ceremonies of the games. Along with the two gold medals, Thorpe also received two challenge prizes, which had been donated by King Gustav V of Sweden for the decathlon and Czar Nicholas II of Russia for the pentathlon. Several sources recount that, when awarding Thorpe his prize, King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world", to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King".{{Cite web |last=Flatter |first=Ron |title=ESPN.com: Thorpe preceded Deion, Bo |url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016499.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=www.espn.com}}{{Cite book |last1=Bernotas |first1=Bob |title=Jim Thorpe: Sac and Fox athlete |last2=Baird |first2=W. David |date=1992 |publisher=Chelsea House |isbn=978-0-7910-1722-7 |series=North American Indians of achievement |location=New York}} While the compliment from King Gustav is confirmed in the September 1912 publication of The Red Man,{{Cite web |title=The Red Man (Vol. 5, No. 1) |publisher=Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center |url=https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/publications/red-man-vol-5-no-1 |access-date=May 6, 2025}} Thorpe biographer Kate Buford suggests that Thorpe's remark was embellished, as she believes that such a response "would have been out of character for a man who was highly uncomfortable in public ceremonies and hated to stand out."{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=131}} The quoted reply did not appear in newspapers until 1948—36 years after his appearance in the Olympics—e.g., "Sports in Brief", Amarillo (TX) Daily News, Saturday, March 13, 1948, p. 2 (available at newspaperarchive.com).and surfaced in books by 1952.John Durant and Otto Bettmann, Pictorial History of American Sports, from Colonial Times to the Present (A. S. Barnes, 1952) p. 143.

Thorpe's successes were followed in the United States. On the Olympic team's return, Thorpe was the star attraction in a ticker-tape parade on Broadway. He remembered later, "I heard people yelling my name, and I couldn't realize how one fellow could have so many friends."

Apart from his track and field appearances, Thorpe also played in one of two exhibition baseball games at the 1912 Olympics, which featured two teams composed mostly of U.S. track and field athletes.{{Sfn|Cava|1992|pp=8–9}} Thorpe had previous experience in the sport, as the public soon learned.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=158–161}}

File:Photograph of Jim Thorpe with Admirers - NARA - 595392.tif|alt=Refer to caption|Thorpe shaking hands with Moses Friedman while Glenn "Pop" Warner (left), Lewis Tewanima (center), and a crowd look on

File:Jim Thorpe.jpg|upright|alt=Refer to caption|Thorpe in Carlisle Indian Industrial School uniform, c. 1909

File:Photograph of Jim Thorpe - NARA - 595347.jpg|upright|alt=Thorpe crouching and looking to the right|Thorpe, {{circa|1910}}

File:Jim Thorpe, 1912 Summer Olympics.jpg|upright|alt=Thorpe standing, wearing a United States Olympic jersey|Thorpe at the 1912 Summer Olympics

After his victories at the Olympic Games in Sweden, on September 2, 1912, Thorpe returned to Celtic Park, the home of the Irish American Athletic Club, in Queens, New York (where he had qualified four months earlier for the Olympic Games), to compete in the Amateur Athletic Union's All-Around Championship. Competing against Bruno Brodd of the Irish American Athletic Club and John L. Bredemus of Princeton University, he won seven of the ten events contested and came in second in the remaining three. With a total point score of 7,476 points, Thorpe broke the previous record of 7,385 points set in 1909 (also at Celtic Park), by Martin Sheridan, the champion athlete of the Irish American Athletic Club.{{Cite news |date=September 3, 1912 |title=Indian Thorpe is Best Athlete – Olympic Champion Wins All-Around Championship and Breaks Record |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/09/03/archives/indian-thorpe-is-best-athlete-olympic-champion-wins-allaround.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 15, 2022 |work=The New York Times |page=9}}{{Cite web |date=August 29, 1912 |title=Hopes to Set New Record |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/albert-lea-evening-tribune-aug-29-1912-p-6/ |access-date=September 14, 2018 |website=Albert Lea Evening Tribune |page=6}} Sheridan, a five-time Olympic gold medalist, was present to watch his record broken. He approached Thorpe after the event and shook his hand saying, "Jim, my boy, you're a great man. I never expect to look upon a finer athlete." He told a reporter from New York World, "Thorpe is the greatest athlete that ever lived. He has me beaten fifty ways. Even when I was in my prime, I could not do what he did today."{{Sfn|Wheeler|1979|p=118}}

In 1912, strict rules regarding amateurism were in effect for athletes participating in the Olympics. Athletes who received money prizes for competitions, were sports teachers, or had competed previously against professionals, were not considered amateurs. They were barred from competition.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=121}}

In late January 1913, the Worcester Telegram reported that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics, and other U.S. newspapers followed up the story.""Jim" Thorpe Admits He Is Professional, and Retires from Athletics", The Washington Post, January 28, 1913, p. 8. "Charges that Thorpe had played professional baseball in Winston Salem, N.C. were first published in a Worcester (Mass.) newspaper last week." Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball in the Eastern Carolina League for Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1909 and 1910, receiving meager pay; reportedly as little as US$2 (${{Inflation|US|2|1910|r=0|fmt=c}} today) per game and as much as US$35 (${{Inflation|US|35|1910|r=0|fmt=c}} today) per week. College players, in fact, regularly spent summers playing professionally in order to earn some money, but most used aliases, unlike Thorpe. Although the public did not seem to care much about Thorpe's past,{{Sfn|Schaffer|Smith|2000|p=50}} the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and especially its secretary James Edward Sullivan, took the case very seriously.{{Sfn|Schaffer|Smith|2000|p=40}}

Thorpe wrote a letter to Sullivan, in which he admitted playing professional baseball:

{{blockquote|I hope I will be partly excused by the fact that I was simply an Indian schoolboy and did not know all about such things. In fact, I did not know that I was doing wrong, because I was doing what I knew several other college men had done, except that they did not use their own names ...}}

His letter did not help.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=161}} The AAU decided to withdraw Thorpe's amateur status retroactively.{{Cite magazine |last=Campagna |first=Jeff |date=May 28, 2010 |title=Wishing Jim Thorpe a Happy Birthday |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/wishing-jim-thorpe-a-happy-birthday-133250524/ |access-date=May 11, 2017 |magazine=Smithsonian}} Later that year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) unanimously decided to strip Thorpe of his Olympic titles, medals and awards, and declare him a professional.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=167}}{{Cite magazine |last=Thomas |first=Louisa |date=July 29, 2016 |title=Doping and an Olympic Crisis of Idealism |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/doping-and-an-olympic-crisis-of-idealism |access-date=May 11, 2017 |magazine=The New Yorker}}{{Sfn|Quirk|2014|p=42}}

Although Thorpe had played for money, the AAU and IOC did not follow their own rules for disqualification. The rulebook for the 1912 Olympics stated that protests had to be made "within 30 days from the closing ceremonies of the games." The first newspaper reports did not appear until January 1913, about six months after the Stockholm Games had concluded. There is also some evidence that Thorpe was known to have played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics, but the AAU had ignored the issue until being confronted with it in 1913.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=162}}{{Sfn|Dyreson|1998|p=171}} The only positive aspect of this affair for Thorpe was that, as soon as the news was reported that he had been declared a professional, he received offers from professional sports clubs.{{Sfn|Rendell|2004|p=60}}

In 1910, Thorpe had the unusual status of a sought-after free agent at the major league level during the era of the reserve clause, because the minor league team that last held his contract had disbanded that year, so he was free to choose which baseball team to play for.{{Cite news |date=February 1, 1913 |title=Thorpe is to Play Ball with Giants; Famous Indian Athlete Accepts McGraw's Terms Over the Telephone |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/02/01/archives/thorpe-is-to-play-ball-with-giants-famous-indian-athlete-accepts.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=1}} In January 1913, he turned down a starting position with the St. Louis Browns, then at the bottom of the American League. Thorpe signed with the New York Giants baseball club in 1913, the defending 1912 National League champion. With Thorpe playing in 19 of their 151 games, they repeated as the 1913 National League champions. Immediately following the Giants' October loss in the 1913 World Series, Thorpe and the Giants joined the Chicago White Sox for a world tour.{{Cite news |date=July 7, 1913 |title=Sox and Giants on World's Tour; Comiskey-McGraw Party Leaves Chicago Oct 19 and Arrives in New York March 6 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/07/27/archives/sox-and-giants-on-worlds-tour-comiskeymcgraw-party-leaves-chicago.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=S2}} Barnstorming across the United States and around the world, Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour.{{Sfn|Elfers|2003|p=210}}

Thorpe's presence increased the publicity, attendance and gate receipts for the tour.{{Cite web |last=Calvin |first=Tom |date=March 21, 2014 |title=The Inside Story of Baseball's Grand World Tour of 1914 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-story-baseballs-grand-world-tour-1914-180950228/ |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} He met with Pope Pius X and Abbas II Hilmi Bey (the last Khedive of Egypt), and played before 20,000 people in London including King George V.{{Sfn|Elfers|2003|pp=185–187, 233}} Thorpe was the last man to compete in both the Olympics (in a non-baseball sport) and Major League Baseball before Eddy Alvarez did the same in 2020.{{Cite web |last=Chandan |first=Sachin Dave |date=August 8, 2020 |title=From Olympic medalist to MLB infielder: How speedskater Eddy Alvarez made it to The Show |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29614458/from-olympic-medalist-mlb-infielder-how-speedskater-eddy-alvarez-made-show |access-date=August 8, 2020 |publisher=ESPN}}

Thorpe played sporadically with the Giants as an outfielder for three seasons. After playing in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1916,[https://www.flickr.com/photos/10795049@N02/2216883254/ "Jim Thorpe's Speed Big Hit In A.A."] The Janesville Daily Gazette , July 10, 1916. Retrieved January 19, 2017. he returned to the Giants in 1917. He was sold to the Cincinnati Reds early in the season. In the "double no-hitter" between Fred Toney of the Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs, Thorpe drove in the winning run in the 10th inning.{{Cite news |last=Daley |first=Arthur |date=April 17, 1949 |title=Baseball's 'Ten Greatest Moments' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/17/archives/baseballs-ten-greatest-moments-baseballs-ten-greatest-moments.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=SM14}} Late in the season, he was sold back to the Giants. Again, he played sporadically for them in 1918 before being traded to the Boston Braves on May 21, 1919, for Pat Ragan. In his career, he amassed 91 runs scored, 82 runs batted in and a .252 batting average over 289 games.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thorpji01.shtml |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Baseball Reference}} He continued to play minor league baseball until 1922,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=232}} and once played for the minor league Toledo Mud Hens.{{Cite news |last=Meade |first=Dick |date=April 6, 1921 |title=Hens Win Another and Depart From Training Camp |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YvFXAAAAIBAJ&pg=711%2C1497387 |access-date=July 5, 2019 |work=The Toledo News-Bee |page=12}}

Thorpe had not abandoned football either. He first played professional football in 1913 as a member of the Indiana-based Pine Village Pros, a team that had a several-season winning streak against local teams during the 1910s.{{Cite web |title=NFL History by Decade, 1911–1920 |url=http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 |access-date=September 7, 2009 |publisher=National Football League}} He signed with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915. They paid him $250 (${{Inflation|US|250|1915|r=0|fmt=c}}) a game, a tremendous wage at the time.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}} Before signing him Canton was averaging 1,200 fans a game, but 8,000 showed up for Thorpe's debut against the Massillon Tigers.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}} The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Thorpe reportedly ended the 1919 championship game by kicking a wind-assisted 95-yard punt from his team's own 5-yard line, effectively putting the game out of reach.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}}

In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association, which became the National Football League (NFL) two years later. Thorpe was nominally their first president, but spent most of the year playing for Canton; a year later, he was replaced as president by Joseph Carr.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=20}} He continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, he helped organize and played for the Oorang Indians (La Rue, Ohio), an all-Native American team.{{Cite book |last=C. Richard King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TIr7zpw7B8C&pg=PA11 |title=Native athletes in sport & society: a reader |publisher=Bison Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8032-7828-8 |pages=11–12}} Although the team's record was 3–6 in 1922,{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=34}} and 1–10 in 1923,{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=40}} Thorpe played well and was selected for the Green Bay Press-Gazette{{'s}} first All-NFL team in 1923. This was later formally recognized in 1931 by the NFL as the league's official All-NFL team.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=41}}

Thorpe never played for an NFL championship team. He retired from professional football at age 41, having played 52 games for six teams from 1920 to 1928.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/ThorJi20.htm |access-date=July 23, 2013 |publisher=Pro Football Reference}}

File:Jim Thorpe WFI PC front detail.jpg

Most of Thorpe's biographers were unaware of his basketball career until a ticket that documented his time in professional basketball was discovered in an old book in 2005.{{Cite web |title=History Detectives – Episode 10, 2005: Jim Thorpe Ticket, Jamestown, New York |url=http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-27/310_jimthorpe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814205913/http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-27/310_jimthorpe.pdf |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |access-date=May 25, 2017 |publisher=pbs.org}} By 1926, he was the main feature of the World Famous Indians of La Rue, Ohio, a traveling basketball team.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=253–254}} The team barnstormed for at least two years (1927–28) in multiple states. Although stories about Thorpe's team were published in some local newspapers at the time, his basketball career is not well-documented.{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Bill |date=March 29, 2005 |title=Jim Thorpe and a Ticket to Serendipity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/sports/othersports/jim-thorpe-and-a-ticket-to-serendipity.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 25, 2017 |work=The New York Times |page=D1}}

For a brief time in 1913, he was considering going into professional hockey for the Tecumseh Hockey Club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.{{Cite news |date=February 4, 1913 |title=Jim Thorpe may take up professional hockey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/79823061/ |access-date=November 23, 2020 |work=The Liberal Democrat |location=Liberal, Kansas |page=5}}

{{dynamic list}}

"You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." — King Gustav V of Sweden

National

• 80px Presidential Medal of Freedom (2024){{Cite web |title=Track & Field Article {{!}} AAU |url=https://aausports.org/track-and-field/news/article?id=3409 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=aausports.org |language=en}}

• Helms Athletic Foundation Pro Football Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1950{{Cite news |date=August 3, 1950 |title=Helms Foundation Starts Football Hall of Fame |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-helms-foundation-st/5380135/ |access-date=May 13, 2025 |work=The Arizona Republic |page=26}}
• Oklahoma Hall of Fame – Class of 1950{{Cite web |title=James (Jim) Francis Thorpe, Class of 1950 {{!}} Oklahoma Hall of Fame |url=https://www.oklahomahof.com/hof/inductees/thorpe-james-jim-francis-1950 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.oklahomahof.com |language=en}}
• College Football Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1951{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe (1951) - Hall of Fame |url=https://footballfoundation.org/hof_search.aspx?hof=1264#:~:text=The%20honors%20piled%20up:%201950,to%20Pro%20Football%20Hall%20of |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=National Football Foundation |language=en}}
• Pro Football Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1963{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe {{!}} Pro Football Hall of Fame {{!}} Pro Football Hall of Fame |url=https://www.profootballhof.com/players/jim-thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=pfhof |language=en}}
• Statue of Jim Thorpe in the lobby of the Pro Football Hall of Fame{{Cite web |last=timtrudell |date=August 9, 2015 |title=Pro Football Hall of Fame great way to kick off NFL season |url=https://thewalkingtourists.com/pro-football-hall-of-fame-great-way-to-kick-off-nfl-season/ |access-date=April 29, 2025 |website=The Walking Tourists |language=en-US}}
• Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1963{{Cite web |last1=Pittsburgh |first1=1629 Augusta Drive |last2=Pa 15237412-779-8664 |title=Inductees |url=https://www.pasportshof.org/inductees/?filter_1=1963&filter_4=&gv_search=&mode=all#gv-view-451-1 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=PA Sports Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}
• American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1972{{Cite web |title=American Indian Hall of Fame |url=https://www.aiahof.com/inductees.php |access-date=May 1, 2025 |website=www.aiahof.com}}
• National Track and Field Hall of Fame – Class of 1975{{Cite news |date=1975-06-13 |title=Track Hall To Induct Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/13/archives/track-hall-to-induct-jim-thorpe.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
• U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1983{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Maddie |date=2019-07-21 |title=Jim Thorpe {{!}} Pentathlon and Decathlon {{!}} U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame |url=https://usopm.org/jim-thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum |language=en-US}}
• Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 1986{{Cite web |date=2020-02-25 |title=Inaugural Class of 1986 |url=https://oklahomasportshalloffame.wordpress.com/inaugural-class-of-1986/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame |language=en}}
• Statue of Jim Thorpe{{cite web|title=Life of Olympian/baseballer Jim Thorpe honoured in Oklahoma|publisher=World Baseball Softball Confederation|date=January 31, 2024|url=https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/life-of-olympianbaseballer-jim-thorpe-honoured-in-oklahoma|access-date=May 28, 2025}}
• American Football Kicking Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 2008{{Cite web |last=Fame |first=American Football Kicking Hall of |title=American Football Kicking Hall of Fame |url=https://americanfootballkickinghalloffame.com/jim-thorpe |access-date=May 1, 2025 |website=American Football Kicking Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}
• National Native American Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 2018{{Cite web |last=Fame |first=National Native American Hall of |date=2021-01-27 |title=JIM THORPESAC AND FOX NATION - NNAHOF |url=https://nativehalloffame.org/jim-thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=National Native American Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}
• [https://www.aausports.org/news/highlight-of-2023-an-aau-hall-of-fame-induction-for-jim-thorpe/ Middle Atlantic AAU Hall of Fame] – Class of 2023

• U.S. Olympic Trials Pentathlon Champion (May 18, 1912)
• 1st place – Running broad jump
• 1st place – 200 metres
• 1st place – Discus throw
• 2nd place – 1500 metres
• 2nd place – Javelin throw
• 2× [https://www.olympic-museum.de/prizes/1912/challenge_prizes_1912.php Olympic Challenge Prize Winner] (1912){{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/brightpathstrong/videos/926439641420257/|title=Bright Path Strong Video|website=Facebook|publisher=Bright Path Strong|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250428011613/https://www.facebook.com/brightpathstrong/videos/926439641420257/|archive-date=2025-04-28|url-status=dead}}
• The Swedish King's Challenge Prize Trophy
• The Emperor of Russia's Challenge Prize Trophy
• 2× Olympic gold medalist (1912){{Cite web |date=2023-06-15 |title=Jim Thorpe - Prague Chamber of Commerce |url=https://www.praguechamber.org/jim-thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |language=en-US}}
• 1912 Olympic Pentathlon gold medal{{cite web|title=Jim Thorpe|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/jim-thorpe-1.html|access-date=May 28, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175027/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/jim-thorpe-1.html|archive-date=April 17, 2020|url-status=dead}}
• 1st place – Long jump
• 1st place – 200 metres
• 1st place – Discus throw
• 1st place – 1500 metres
• 3rd place – Javelin throw
• 1912 Olympic Decathlon gold medal
• 1st place – Shot put
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – 110 metres hurdles
• 1st place – 1500 metres
• 3rd place – Long jump
• 3rd place – Discus throw
• Tied-3rd place – 100 metres
• Tied-3rd place – Pole vault
• 4th place – Javelin throw
• 4th place – 400 metres
• 4th place in the 1912 Olympic Men's High Jump{{Cite web |title=Memorial and Monument for Jim Thorpe |url=https://theclio.com/entry/12367 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Clio |language=en}}
• 7th place in the 1912 Olympic Men's Long Jump
• Amateur Athletic Union All-Around Championships gold medal (September 2, 1912){{efn|First place in seven of the ten events contested, and came in second in the remaining three.}}[https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/default/files/docs-publications/CarlisleArrow_v09n02.pdf Carlisle Arrow, Page 10]{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe Biography - BiographyDocuments.org |url=https://www.biographydocuments.org/sports-athletics/jim-thorpe.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.biographydocuments.org}}
• Record-breaking 7,476 points{{efn|The former record was 7,385, made by Martin Sheridan in 1909.}}
• The Thorpe Cup, an annual international decathlon and heptathlon meeting between the United States and Germany, is named in his honor (1993){{Cite web |title=Thorpe Cup :: GER vs. USA |url=http://tc.zehnkampfteam.de/index_en.php |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=tc.zehnkampfteam.de}}

• 3× Ohio League champion (1916, 1917, 1919)
• First-team All-Pro (1923){{cite web|title=1923 NFL All-Pros|work=Pro Football Reference|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1923/allpro.htm|access-date=May 28, 2025}}
• NFL 1920s All-Decade Team{{cite web|title=Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade Teams – 1920s|work=Pro Football Reference|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/awards/pfhof_all_decade_1920.htm|access-date=May 28, 2025}}
• NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team{{cite news|title=Unitas QBs NFL Team|date=September 7, 1969|newspaper=The Tampa Tribune-Times|page=5-F|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48315094/nfl-50th-anniversary-team/|access-date=May 28, 2025|via=Newspapers.com}}
• First Commissioner of the NFL (1920–1921)

; As a coach

• 3× Ohio League champion (1916, 1917, 1919)

College Football

• National Champion (BL) (1911){{Cite web |title=Libby National Champions |url=https://www.billlibby.com/libby-national-champions |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Bill Libby |language=en}}
• Heisman Trophy (NFF) (1911){{Cite web |title=Retroactive Heisman Winners |url=http://www.footballfoundation.org/Portals/7/nff/file_file/2009_footballetter_issue_3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126011919/http://www.footballfoundation.org/Portals/7/nff/file_file/2009_footballetter_issue_3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 26, 2013|access-date=May 11, 2025 |website=Football Foundation}}
• Third-team All-American (1908)
• WC third-team All-American (1908)
• PI All-American team (1908)
• 2× Consensus All-American (1911, 1912)
• 2× WC first-team All-American (1911, 1912){{Cite web |title=Walter Camp All-Americans By Year |url=https://waltercamp.org/walter-camp-all-america-team-by-year/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=waltercamp.org}}
• WSF second-team All-American (1911)
• CC first-team All-American (1911)
• HL All-American team (1911)
• BM All-American team (1991)
• CSM All-American team (1911)
• SPS All-American team (1911)
• COMP{{efn|Louis A. Douglier of the Washington Times, picked what he terms the composite All-Star football team, after studying the selections made by 23 newspaper writers.}} first-team All-American (1912){{Cite web |title=The Saskatoon Phoenix - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nrdfAAAAIBAJ&pg=3082,8863059&dq=brickley+thorpe+felton&hl=en |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=news.google.com}}
• NYS first-team All-American (1912)
• PI first-team All-American (1912)
• CSM first-team All-American (1912)
• BS All-American team (1912)
• RE{{efn|sports editor for The Evening World.}} first-team All-American (1912)
• WJM{{efn|Selected by sports writer William James MacBeth of the New York American.}} first-team All-American (1912)
• ASH{{efn|Selected by Alfred S. Harvey of the Milwaukee Free Press.}} first-team All-American
• TC{{efn|Selected by Tommy Clark.}} first-team All-American (1912)
• PHD first-team All-American (1912)
• PW first-team All-American (1912)
• TET first-team All-American (1912)
• HF first-team All-American (1912)
• PP first-team All-American (1912)
• MDJ first-team All-American (1912)
• NCAA "unofficial" interceptions leader (1912){{Cite web |title=Game-Season-Career Statistical Leaders Pre-1937 |url=https://www.secsportsfan.com/support-files/pre-1937cfbleaders.pdf |access-date=April 29, 2025 |website=SEC Sports Fan}}
• NCAA "unofficial" scoring leader (1912)
• NCAA "unofficial" touchdowns leader (1912){{Cite web |title=College Football Hall of Famers Who Are Olympic Medalist |url=https://www.cfbhall.com/news-and-happenings/blog/college-football-hall-of-famers-who-are-olympic-medalist/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.cfbhall.com |language=en-US}}
• 3× NCAA "unofficial" rushing yards leader (1908, 1911, 1912)
• 3× NCAA "unofficial" total offense leader (1908, 1911, 1912)
• Carlisle Indians All-Time Team
• The Jim Thorpe Award, named in his memory, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe Award Winners - NCAA College Football Awards - ESPN |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/awards/_/id/10 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=ESPN.com}}

Track and Field{{efn|The true number of track meets participated in and won is unknown. The following results can be found from a collection of newspaper clippings referenced here.[https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/sites/default/files/docs-ephemera/NARA_1327_b037_f1783.pdf Jim Thorpe Collection]}}

• Penn Relays (1908){{Cite web |title=Penn Relays |url=https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7055a582-0ac2-488c-b6e6-1c0e5b90dc34 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=acrobat.adobe.com}}
• Tied-1st place – High jump
• Carlisle vs Syracuse Dual Meet (1908)
• 1st place – High hurdles
• 1st place – Low hurdles
• 1st place – Shot put
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – Broad jump
• 2nd place – Hammer throw
• Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Championships in Harrisburg, PA (1908)
• 1st place – High hurdles
• 1st place – Low hurdles
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – Broad jump
• 1st place – Hammer throw
• Middle Atlantic Athletic Association Championships in Philadelphia (1908)
• 1st place – High hurdles
• 1st place – Low hurdles
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – Broad jump
• 1st place – Hammer throw
• Carlisle vs Lafayette Dual Meet (1909){{Cite web |title=Thorpe, James Francis ("Jim") {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/thorpe-james-francis-jim |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://hebfdn.org/portfolio/jim-thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=H. E. Butt Foundation |language=en-US}}
• 1st place – High hurdles
• 1st place – Low hurdles
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – Long jump
• 1st place – Shot put
• 1st place – Discus throw
• 3rd place – 100-yard dash
• Middle Atlantic Indoor Championship Games at the Second Regiment Armory (1912)
• 1st place – 75-yard dash
• 1st place – 60 yard high hurdles
• 1st place – High jump
• 1st place – Shot put
• 2nd place – Standing triple jump

Ballroom Dancing

• Inter-Collegiate Ballroom Dancing Champion (1912){{Cite web |last=Fame |first=Oklahoma Sports Hall of |title=Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame |url=https://oklahomasportshalloffame.org/jim-thorpe-museum |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame |language=en-US}}

• Associated Press's Athlete of the Half-Century (1950){{Cite web |date=2022-07-16 |title=Jim Thorpe reinstated as sole winner for 1912 Olympic golds |url=https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-sports-native-americans-stockholm-sweden-5cbe83bde828487ce2f82e3066850d85 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=AP News |language=en}}
• Associated Press's Greatest Football Player of the Half-Century (1950){{Cite web |title=#GoingDeep: The Legend of Jim Thorpe {{!}} Baseball Hall of Fame |url=https://baseballhall.org/discover/going-deep/The-Legend-of-Jim-Thorpe |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=baseballhall.org}}
• Ranked #2 after Jesse Owens on the Associated Press's Greatest Track and Field Athletes of the Half-Century (1950){{Cite news |date=January 27, 1950 |title=Jesse Owens Recall Thrills as Cinder-Ella Man of Era (Ralph Metcalfe) January 27, 1950 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-jesse-owens-recall-thril/157502038/ |access-date=May 11, 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=40}}
• Shortly after his death in 1953, Time magazine named him The Greatest Athlete{{Cite magazine |last=Time |date=April 6, 1953 |title=Sport: The Greatest Athlete |url=https://time.com/archive/6620473/sport-the-greatest-athlete/ |access-date=May 1, 2025 |magazine=Time |language=en}}
• Sport Magazine's Greatest Athlete of All Time (1977){{Cite web |title=James Francis Thorpe Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=116724#:~:text=1977:%20Voted%20%22The%20Greatest%20American,the%20public%20about%20his%20accomplishments. |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}}
• Ranked #3 on the Associated Press's Top 100 Athletes of the 20th Century (1999){{Cite web |title=The 100 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century |url=https://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/greatest-all-time/athletes-ap-sports100.htm |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.topendsports.com}}
• Ranked #7 on ESPN SportsCentury: Top 50 North American Athletes of the 20th Century (1999){{Cite web |title=ESPN.com: Top N. American athletes of the century |url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/athletes.html |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.espn.com}}
• Named America's Athlete of the Century by a resolutions of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate (1999){{Cite web |last=Sen. Santorum |first=Rick [R-PA |date=1999-05-03 |title=All Info - S.Res.91 - 106th Congress (1999-2000): A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that Jim Thorpe should be recognized as the "Athlete of the Century". |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/senate-resolution/91/all-info |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.congress.gov}}
• ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century (2000){{Cite web |title=JIM THORPE "WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE" Ultrafamous Native American Indian Sac & Fox Sports Legend |url=https://www.californiaindianeducation.org/sports_heros/jim_thorpe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.californiaindianeducation.org}}
• In 2008, Sports Illustrated retroactively named Thorpe the Heisman Trophy winner for the 1911 and 1912 seasons{{Cite web |date=2008-12-12 |title=Who would have won the Heisman from 1900-1934 |url=https://www.si.com/college/2008/12/12/early-heisman |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=SI |language=en-US}}
• Ranked #2 on Bleacher Report's Top 10 Greatest Athletes of All Time (2018){{Cite web |last=Farrand |first=Greg |title=The Top Ten Athletes Of All Time |url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/53310-the-top-ten-athletes-of-all-time |access-date=May 13, 2025 |publisher=Bleacher Report |language=en}}
• Ranked #5 on ESPN's Top 150 College Football Players of All Time (2020)
• Ranked #7 on GiveMeSport's list of Top 50 Greatest Athletes of All Time (2024){{Cite web |last=Tong |first=Kobe |date=February 1, 2022 |title=The top 50 greatest athletes of all time have been named – Ronaldo and Messi miss out on top 10 |url=https://www.givemesport.com/greatest-athletes-of-all-time/ |access-date=May 2, 2025 |website=GiveMeSport |language=en}}

Thorpe married three times and had a total of eight children. In 1913, Thorpe married Iva M. Miller, whom he had met at Carlisle. In 1917, Iva and Thorpe bought a house now known as the Jim Thorpe House in Yale, Oklahoma, and lived there until 1923.{{Cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form |url={{NRHP url|id=71000673}} |access-date=December 19, 2014 |publisher=National Park Service |format=PDF}} Their young son Jim Thorpe Jr. died in 1918.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/09/29/archives/thorpes-son-dies-in-oklahoma.html|title=Thorpe's Son Dies in Oklahoma.|date=September 29, 1918|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 6, 2025}} They had four other children: James F., Gale, Charlotte, and Grace Frances, an environmentalist and Native rights activist.{{Cite web |date=April 2008 |title=Thorpe, Grace: Daughter of Jim Thorpe passes on |url=http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/walking-on-sections-menu-57/2985-thorpe-grace-daughter-of-jim-thorpe-passes-on |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806102536/http://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/walking-on-sections-menu-57/2985-thorpe-grace-daughter-of-jim-thorpe-passes-on |archive-date=August 6, 2017 |access-date=April 3, 2023 |website=Indian Country News |agency=Associated Press}} Miller filed for divorce from Thorpe in 1925, claiming desertion.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930072449/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,720180,00.html List of marriages, divorces, births, and deaths], Time, April 6, 1925, available online via time.com. Retrieved May 21, 2007.

In 1926, Thorpe married Freeda Verona Kirkpatrick (September 19, 1905 – March 2, 2007). She was working for the manager of the baseball team for which he was playing at the time.{{Cite news |date=March 7, 2007 |title=Athlete Thorpe's 2nd wife, Freeda, dies at 101 |url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Athlete-Thorpe-s-2nd-wife-Freeda-dies-at-101-1230507.php |access-date=June 1, 2017 |work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |agency=Associated Press}} They had four sons: Phillip, William, Richard, and John Thorpe. Kirkpatrick divorced Thorpe in 1941, after they had been married for 15 years.

Lastly, Thorpe married Patricia Gladys Askew on June 2, 1945. She was with him when he died.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=366}}

File:Tomb of Jim Thorpe b.jpg

After his athletic career, Thorpe struggled to provide for his family. He found it difficult to work a non-sports-related job and never held a job for an extended period of time. During the Great Depression in particular, he had various jobs, among others as a movie actor, mostly as an extra, usually playing an American Indian in Westerns,{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|pp=144–145}} starting with the 1931 serial Battling with Buffalo Bill.{{Cite magazine |last1=Wheeler |first1=Bob |last2=Ridlon |first2=Florence |last3=Wheeler |first3=Rob |date=Spring 2015 |title=Akapamata: The Forgotten Hollywood Legacy Of Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/akapamata-forgotten-hollywood-legacy-jim-thorpe |access-date=August 17, 2024 |magazine=American Indian Magazine |volume=16 |number=1}} In the 1932 comedy Always Kickin', Thorpe was prominently cast in a speaking part as himself, a kicking coach teaching young football players to drop-kick.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=145}} He played the captain of the guard in 1935's She,{{Cite news |last=Shaffer |first=George |date=April 11, 1935 |title=Penny matching piles up $3,000 charity fund |work=Chicago Daily Tribune |page=19 |id={{ProQuest|181569593}}}} an umpire in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=313–314}} and a member of the Navajo Nation in the 1950 film Wagon Master.{{Sfn|Hilger|2016|p=324}} An American Indian Magazine article states Thorpe appeared in over 70 films.

In 1931, during the Great Depression, Thorpe sold the film rights to his life story to MGM for $1,500 ({{inflation|US|1500|1931|r=-3|fmt=eq}}).{{inflation-fn|US}}{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=145}} Warner Bros. eventually acquired the rights and memorialized Thorpe in Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951), starring Burt Lancaster. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=341, 353}} Although there were rumors that Thorpe received no money, he was paid $15,000 by Warner Bros. plus a $2,500 donation toward an annuity for him by the studio's head of publicity.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=355–356}} The movie included archival footage of the 1912 and 1932 Olympics.{{Cite magazine |last=Thorp |first=Charles |title=8 Olympic Movies That Medal |url=http://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/collections/8-olympic-movies-that-medal-w433488/jim-thorpe-all-american-w433494 |access-date=June 15, 2017 |magazine=Men's Journal}} Thorpe was seen in one scene as a coaching assistant. It was also distributed in the United Kingdom, where it was called Man of Bronze.{{Sfn|Williams|2006|p=133}}

Apart from his career in films, he worked as a construction worker, a doorman/bouncer, a security guard, and a ditchdigger. He briefly joined the United States Merchant Marine in 1945, during World War II.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|pp=144–145}}{{Cite magazine |date=February 22, 1943 |title=Unnamed TIME Article |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,774347,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020184053/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,774347,00.html |archive-date=October 20, 2007 |magazine=Time}} Thorpe was a chronic alcoholic during his later life.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=61}} He ran out of money sometime in the early 1950s. When hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950, Thorpe was admitted as a charity case.{{Cite news |date=November 10, 1951 |title=Thorpe Has Cancerous Growth Removed From Lip in Hospital at Philadelphia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/11/10/archives/thorpe-has-cancerous-growth-removed-from-lip-in-hospital-at.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 23, 2007 |work=The New York Times |page=S12 |agency=Associated Press}} At a press conference announcing the procedure, his wife, Patricia, wept and pleaded for help, saying, "We're broke ... Jim has nothing but his name and his memories. He has spent money on his own people and has given it away. He has often been exploited."

In early 1953, Thorpe went into heart failure for the third time while dining with Patricia in their home in Lomita, California. He was briefly revived by artificial respiration and spoke to those around him, but lost consciousness shortly afterward. He died on March 28 at the age of 65.

Thorpe, whose parents were both mixed-race, was raised as a Native American. He accomplished his athletic feats despite the severe racial inequality of the United States. It has often been suggested that his Olympic medals were stripped by the athletic officials because of his ethnicity.Watterson. p. 151.
* Elfers. p. 18. While it is difficult to prove this, the public comment at the time largely reflected this view.{{Sfn|Schaffer|Smith|2000|p=50}} At the time Thorpe won his gold medals, not all Native Americans were recognized as U.S. citizens (the U.S. government had frequently demanded that they make concessions to adopt European-American ways to receive such recognition). Citizenship was not granted to all American Indians until 1924.{{Sfn|Lincoln|Slagle|1997|p=282}}

When Thorpe attended Carlisle, the students' ethnicity was used for marketing purposes. The football team was called the Indians. To create headlines, the school and journalists often portrayed sporting competitions as conflicts of Indians against whites.Bloom quoted in Bird. p. 97. The first notice of Thorpe in The New York Times was headlined "Indian Thorpe in Olympiad; Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team." Throughout his life, Thorpe's accomplishments were described in a similar racial context by other newspapers and sportswriters, which reflected the era.Demaree, Al. "Thorpe, the Indian, Best All-American", Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1926. p. C4.
* "Jim Thorpe Dies of Heart Attack at 64", Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, March 29, 1953. p. A1.
* Roetman, Sheena L. [https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-thanksgiving-reminder-jim-thorpe-is-a-native-american-hero/ "America's Greatest Athlete Ever, Jim Thorpe, Was Indigenous"], Vice Media, November 27, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2025.

File:2018 Native American Dollar Reverse.jpg.]]

Over the years, supporters of Thorpe attempted to have his Olympic titles reinstated.{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Dave |date=June 22, 1975 |title=Jim Thorpe's Medals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/22/archives/dave-anderson-jim-thorpes-medals.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=June 19, 2016 |work=The New York Times |page=S5}} American Olympic officials, including former teammate and later president of the IOC Avery Brundage, rebuffed several attempts. Brundage once said, "Ignorance is no excuse." Most persistent were the author Robert Wheeler and his wife, Florence Ridlon. They succeeded in having the AAU and United States Olympic Committee overturn its decision and restore Thorpe's amateur status before 1913.{{Cite web |last1=Wethe |first1=David |last2=Whiteley |first2=Michael |date=July 21, 2002 |title=Legends lunches begin this fall with Bob Lilly |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2002/07/22/newscolumn1.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}

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 occurred after the 30-day time period allowed by Olympics rules, they succeeded in making the case to the IOC. In October 1982, the IOC Executive Committee approved Thorpe's reinstatement. In an unusual ruling, they declared that Thorpe was co-champion with Ferdinand Bie and Hugo Wieslander, although both of these athletes had always said they considered Thorpe to be the only champion. In a ceremony on January 18, 1983, the IOC presented two of Thorpe's children, Gale and Bill, with commemorative medals.{{Cite news |last1=Mather |first1=Victor |last2=Panja |first2=Tariq |date=July 15, 2022 |title=Jim Thorpe Is Restored as Sole Winner of 1912 Olympic Gold Medals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/sports/olympics/jim-thorpe-olympics-medal-restored.html |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Anderson (sportswriter) |date=February 7, 1983 |title=Jim Thorpe's Family Feud |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/07/sports/jim-thorpe-s-family-feud.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=April 23, 2007 |work=The New York Times |page=C4}} Thorpe's original medals had been held in museums, but they were stolen and have never been recovered.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=132}} The IOC listed Thorpe as a co-gold medalist.

In July 2020, a petition from Bright Path Strong{{Cite web |last=Bengel |first=Chris |date=July 16, 2020 |title=Petition filed to restore Jim Thorpe's status as sole gold medalist |url=https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/petition-filed-to-restore-jim-thorpes-status-as-sole-gold-medalist/ |access-date=August 8, 2022 |website=CBS Sports}}{{Cite web |date=July 15, 2022 |title=Jim Thorpe is reinstated as the sole winner of two events in the 1912 Olympics |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/07/15/1111739166/jim-thorpe-reinstated-1912-olympics |access-date=August 8, 2022 |publisher=NPR |agency=Associated Press}} began circulating that called upon the IOC to reinstate Thorpe as the sole winner in his events in the 1912 Olympics. It was backed by Pictureworks Entertainment, which is making a film about Thorpe. The petition was supported by Olympian Billy Mills, who won a gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1964 Tokyo Games.{{Cite web |last=Carlson |first=Jenni |date=July 15, 2020 |title=Jim Thorpe petition drive starts to restore his status as sole winner of 1912 Olympic gold medals |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/5666861/jim-thorpe-petition-drive-starts-to-restore-his-status-as-sole-winner-of-1912-olympic-gold-medals |access-date=July 17, 2020 |website=The Oklahoman}}{{Cite news |last=Barker |first=Philip |date=July 15, 2020 |title=Campaign launched to recognise Thorpe as sole champion from Stockholm 1912 |url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1096326/stockholm-campaign-thorpe-golds |access-date=July 17, 2020 |publisher=Inside the Games}} The IOC voted to reinstate Thorpe as the sole winner of both events on July 14, 2022, after the National Olympic Committees of Norway and Sweden, representing Bie and Wieslander, had given their approval.{{Cite web |last=Schaap |first=Jeremy |date=July 15, 2022 |title=IOC reinstates Jim Thorpe as sole winner of 1912 Olympic decathlon and pentathlon |url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/34245374/ioc-reinstates-jim-thorpe-sole-winner-1912-olympic-decathlon-pentathlon |access-date=July 15, 2022 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=July 15, 2022 |title=IOC to display the name of Jim Thorpe as sole Stockholm 1912 pentathlon and decathlon gold medallist |url=https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-to-display-the-name-of-jim-thorpe-as-sole-stockholm-1912-pentathlon-and-decathlon-gold-medallist |access-date=October 2, 2023 |publisher=International Olympic Committee}}

File:JimThorpeGoudeycard.jpg Sport Kings card of Thorpe]]

Thorpe's tribe, the Sac and Fox Nation, added Olympic rings to their official flag to honor him.

Thorpe's monument, featuring the quote from Gustav V ("You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world."), still stands near the town named for him, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.{{Sfn|Hoxie|1996|p=628}} The grave rests on mounds of soil from Thorpe's native Oklahoma and from the stadium in which he won his Olympic medals.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe, PA - Jim Thorpe's Tourist Attraction Grave |url=https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/3583 |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=www.roadsideamerica.com |language=en}}

Thorpe's achievements received great acclaim from sports journalists, both during his lifetime and since his death. In 1950, an Associated Press poll of almost 400 sportswriters and broadcasters voted Thorpe the "greatest athlete" of the first half of the 20th century.{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574686/Jim_Thorpe.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908004723/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761574686/Jim_Thorpe.html |archive-date=September 8, 2007 |website=encarta.msn.com}} That same year, the Associated Press ranked Thorpe as the "greatest American football player" of the first half of the century.{{Cite web |title=Biography - The Official Licensing Website of Jim Thorpe |url=http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/biography/ |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Jim Thorpe |language=en-US}} Pro Football Hall of Fame voters selected him for the NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1967.{{Cite news |date=September 7, 1969 |title=Unitas QBs NFL Team |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48315094/nfl-50th-anniversary-team/ |access-date=May 1, 2020 |work=The Tampa Tribune |page=5-F |via=Newspapers.com |agency=Associated Press}} In 1999, the Associated Press placed him third on its list of the top athletes of the century, following Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.{{Cite web |title=Top 100 athletes of the 20th century |url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ssat2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312070523/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/ssat2.htm |archive-date=March 12, 2009 |website=USA Today |agency=Associated Press}} ESPN ranked Thorpe seventh on their list of best North American athletes of the century.{{Cite web |title=Top N. American athletes of the century |url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/athletes.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=ESPN.com}}

Thorpe was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963, one of seventeen players in the charter class.{{Cite web |title=Hall of Famers by Year of Enshrinement |url=https://www.profootballhof.com/hof/years.aspx |access-date=September 6, 2012 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame}} Thorpe is memorialized in the Pro Football Hall of Fame rotunda with a larger-than-life statue. He was also inducted into halls of fame for college football, American Olympic teams, and the national track and field competition.

In 2018, Thorpe became one of the inductees in the first induction ceremony held by the National Native American Hall of Fame.{{Cite web |date=October 22, 2018 |title=National Native American Hall of Fame names first twelve historic inductees |url=https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/news/national-native-american-hall-of-fame-names-first-twelve-historic-inductees-e-Uu9NZBh0K9TPrv992tyQ/ |access-date=October 22, 2018 |publisher=IndianCountryToday.com}} The fitness center and a hall at Haskell Indian Nations University are named in honor of Thorpe.{{Cite web |date=November 10, 2016 |title=Haskell Indian Nations University Directory |url=https://www.haskell.edu/info/directory/ |access-date=January 10, 2018 |publisher=Haskell Indian Nations University}}

President Richard Nixon, as authorized by U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 73, proclaimed Monday, April 16, 1973, as "Jim Thorpe Day" to promote nationwide recognition of Thorpe's life.{{Cite web |title=Proclamation 4209—Jim Thorpe Day |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-4209-jim-thorpe-day |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=The American Presidency Project}} In 1986, the Jim Thorpe Association established an award with Thorpe's name. The Jim Thorpe Award is given annually to the best defensive back in college football. The annual Thorpe Cup athletics meeting is named in his honor.{{Cite web |title=16 Jahre "Thorpe Cup" |url=http://www.zehnkampfteam.de/statistiken/thorpe-cup/historie/geschichte.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405053554/http://www.zehnkampfteam.de/statistiken/thorpe-cup/historie/geschichte.html |archive-date=April 5, 2010 |access-date=August 10, 2010 |website=Zehnkampf.de |language=de}} The United States Postal Service issued a 32¢ stamp on February 3, 1998, as part of the Celebrate the Century stamp sheet series.{{Cite web |date=February 2011 |title=American Indian Subjects on United States Postage Stamps |url=http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/american-indian-stamp-subjects-2011.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330072458/http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/american-indian-stamp-subjects-2011.pdf |archive-date=March 30, 2013 |access-date=July 28, 2013 |publisher=United States Postal Service}}

In a poll of sports fans published in 2000 by ABC Sports, Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the Twentieth Century; the pool of 15 other top athletes included Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, and Michael Jordan.{{Cite web |date=January 14, 2000 |title=Wide World of Sports athlete of the century |url=https://www.espn.com/endofcentury/s/century/wwos.html |access-date=February 6, 2012 |publisher=ESPN Network}}{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe: All-Around Athlete and American Indian Advocate |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/sports/exhibit/champions/thorpe/index.cfm |access-date=February 6, 2012 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}

In 2018, Thorpe was honored with the AAU Gussie Crawford Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to amateur sports.{{Cite web |title=AAU Crawford Award {{!}} AAU |url=https://www.aausports.org/aau-crawford-award/ |access-date=May 15, 2025 |website=www.aausports.org |language=en}} That same year, he was also commemorated on the Native American dollar coin;{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2018 |title=United States Mint to Release 2018 Native American $1 Coin Products on February 15 |url=https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/united-states-mint-to-release-2018-native-american-1-coin-products-on-february-15 |access-date=April 26, 2019 |publisher=United States Mint}} proposed designs were released in 2015.{{Cite web |last=Unser |first=Mike |date=November 6, 2015 |title=2018 Native American 2018 Native American $1 Coin Designs Depict Jim Thorpe Coin Designs Depict Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.coinnews.net/2015/11/06/2018-native-american-1-coin-designs-depict-jim-thorpe/ |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=CoinNews |language=en-US}}

In 2024, President Joe Biden announced that Thorpe would be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given in the United States.{{Cite news |last=Schad |first=Tom |date=May 3, 2024 |title=Katie Ledecky, Jim Thorpe among 2024 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients by Joe Biden |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/05/03/katie-ledecky-jim-thorpe-awarded-presidential-medal-of-freedom/73549309007/ |access-date=May 30, 2024 |work=USA Today}}

File:Jim Thorpe Statue.jpg

After Thorpe's funeral was held at St. Benedict's Catholic Church in Shawnee, Oklahoma,{{Cite news |date=April 13, 1953 |title=Jim Thorpe Body Arrives Home For Burial Rite |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19530413&id=1G9gAAAAIBAJ&pg=5892,2267660&hl=en |access-date=July 14, 2016 |work=The Wilmington News |page=9 |agency=United Press}} his body lay in state at Fairview Cemetery. Residents had paid to have it returned to Shawnee by train from California.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=367–369}} The people began a fundraising effort to erect a memorial for Thorpe at the town's athletic park. Local officials had asked state legislators for funding, but a bill that included $25,000 for their proposal was vetoed by Governor Johnston Murray.{{Sfn|Wheeler|1979|pp=228–229}}

Meanwhile, Thorpe's third wife, unbeknownst to the rest of his family, took Thorpe's body and had it shipped to Pennsylvania when she heard that the small Pennsylvania towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were seeking to attract business.{{Cite news |last=Hagerty |first=James R. |date=July 21, 2010 |title=Is There Life After Jim Thorpe For Jim Thorpe, Pa.? |work=The Wall Street Journal |page=A14}}{{Cite web |last=Zucchino |first=David |date=October 18, 2013 |title=Jim Thorpe, Pa., fights to keep its namesake |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jim-thorpe-body-20131018-dto-htmlstory.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} She made a deal with officials which, according to Thorpe's son Jack, was made by the widowed Patricia for monetary considerations.{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2010 |title=Frank Deford of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel interviews Jack Thorpe |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXogaDT5Zm0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/iXogaDT5Zm0 |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |access-date=July 9, 2012 |publisher=HBO (official channel on YouTube)}}{{cbignore}} The towns "bought" Thorpe's remains, erected a monument to him at the grave, merged, and renamed the newly united town in his honor as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Thorpe had never been there.{{Sfn|O'Hanlon-Lincoln|2004|p=148}} The monument site contains his tomb, two statues of him in athletic poses,{{Cite web |last=Hedes |first=Jarrad |date=May 19, 2017 |title=Jim Thorpe plans to add third Olympian statue |url=https://www.tnonline.com/2017/may/19/jim-thorpe-plans-add-third-olympian-statue |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119120949/https://www.tnonline.com/2017/may/19/jim-thorpe-plans-add-third-olympian-statue |archive-date=January 19, 2018 |website=Lehighton Times News}} and historical markers recounting his life story.{{Cite news |last=Loverro |first=Thom |author-link=Thom Loverro |date=August 2, 2013 |title=Jim Thorpe sleeps on – for now – in town where everyone knows his name |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/aug/02/jim-thorpe-pennsylvania-football-hall-fame |access-date=September 8, 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

In June 2010, Jack Thorpe filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of Jim Thorpe, seeking to have his father's remains returned to his homeland and re-interred near other family members in Oklahoma. Citing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Jack was arguing to bring his father's remains to the reservation in Oklahoma, to be buried near those of his father, sisters and brother, a mile from the place he was born. He claimed that the agreement between his stepmother and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, borough officials was made against the wishes of other family members, who want him buried in Native American land.{{Cite news |last=Lee, Peggy |date=June 24, 2010 |title=Son Of Jim Thorpe Sues for His Remains |url=http://www.wnep.com/wnep-carb-son-sues-jim-thorpe-body,0,1168347.story |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301142403/http://www.wnep.com/wnep-carb-son-sues-jim-thorpe-body%2C0%2C1168347.story |archive-date=March 1, 2012 |access-date=June 25, 2010 |work=wnep.com}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 25, 2010 |title=Jim Thorpe's son sues town of Jim Thorpe over location of athlete's remains |url=https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2010/06/jim_thorpes_son_sues_town_of_j.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Patriot News |language=en |agency=The Associated Press}} Jack Thorpe died at 73 on February 22, 2011.{{Cite web |last=Zagofsky |first=Al |date=February 24, 2011 |title=Jim Thorpe's son Jack dies |url=http://www.tnonline.com/2011/feb/24/jim-thorpes-son-jack-dies |access-date=July 9, 2012 |website=Lehighton Times News}}

In April 2013, U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo ruled that Jim Thorpe borough amounts to a museum under the NAGPRA and therefore is bound by that law. A lawyer for Bill and Richard Thorpe said the men would pursue the legal process to have their father's remains returned to Sac and Fox land in central Oklahoma.{{Cite news |date=April 21, 2013 |title=Judge Sides With Sons About Legendary Athlete Jim Thorpe's Remains |url=http://www.newson6.com/story/22028957/judge-orders-legendary-athlete-jim-thorpes-remains |access-date=April 21, 2013 |publisher=KOTV-DT}} On October 23, 2014, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed Judge Caputo's ruling. The appeals court held that Jim Thorpe borough is not a "museum", as that term is used in NAGPRA, and that the plaintiffs therefore could not invoke that federal statute to seek reinterment of Thorpe's remains.{{Cite news |date=October 23, 2014 |title=Pennsylvania town named for Jim Thorpe can keep athlete's body |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsylvania-town-named-for-jim-thorpe-can-keep-athletes-body/ |access-date=October 24, 2014 |publisher=CBS News}} In NAGPRA language, "'museum' means any institution or State or local government agency (including any institution of higher learning) that receives Federal funds and has possession of, or control over, Native American cultural items."{{Cite web |title=25 USC Ch. 32: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation |url=http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title25-chapter32&edition=prelim |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Office of the Law Revision Counsel}} The Court of Appeals directed the trial court to enter a judgment in favor of the borough. The appeals court said Pennsylvania law allows the plaintiffs to ask a state court to order reburial of Thorpe's remains, but noted, "once a body is interred there is great reluctance in permitting same to be moved, absent clear and compelling reasons for such a move."{{cite court |litigants=John Thorpe (et al) v. Borough of Jim Thorpe |opinion=No. 13-2446 |court=3d Cir. |url= https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/132446p.pdf |access-date=September 9, 2016}} On October 5, 2015, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear the matter, effectively ending the legal process.{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=Peter |date=October 6, 2015 |title=U.S. Supreme Court: Jim Thorpe's body to remain in town that bears his name |url=http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20151006/NEWS/151009689 |access-date=October 13, 2015 |work=Pocono Record}}

The Jim Thorpe Area Running Festival is a series of races started in 2019 in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. It includes a marathon, a 26.2 mile footrace that features a steady elevation drop from start to finish.{{Cite web |date=October 22, 2020 |title=Jim Thorpe running festival benefits Turn To Us |url=https://www.tnonline.com/20201022/jim-thorpe-running-festival-benefits-turn-to-us/ |access-date=June 21, 2021 |website=Times News}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• {{Cite book |last=Buford |first=Kate |title=Native American Son: the life and sporting legend of Jim Thorpe |date=2012 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-4089-6 |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |oclc=756837088}}
• {{Cite book |last=Cava |first=Pete |url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv1n1/JOHv1n1e.pdf |title=Baseball in the Olympics |date=Summer 1992 |pages=7–15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809200123/http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv1n1/JOHv1n1e.pdf |archive-date=August 9, 2017 |url-status=dead}}
• {{Cite book |last=Cook |first=William A. |title=Jim Thorpe: a biography |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-0-7864-6355-8 |location=Jefferson, N.C |oclc=692291486}}
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• {{Cite book |last=Hilger |first=Michael |title=Native Americans in the movies: portrayals from silent films to the present |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4002-5 |location=Lanham Boulder New York London}}
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• {{Cite book |last1=Jeansonne |first1=Glen |title=A time of paradox: America since 1890 |last2=Luhrssen |first2=David |date=2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-3376-9 |location=Lanham, Md |oclc=ocm62109927}}
• {{Cite book |last=Landrum |first=Dr. Gene N. |title=Empowerment: the Competitive Edge in Sports, Business & Life |publisher=Brendan Kelly Publishing, Incorporated |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-89-599724-8}}
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• {{Cite book |last=Maraniss |first=David |author-link=David Maraniss |title=Path lit by lightning: the life of Jim Thorpe |date=2022 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-4841-2 |edition=1st |location=New York}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Neft |first1=David S. |title=The Complete History of Professional Football from 1892 to the Present |last2=Cohen |first2=Richard M. |last3=Korch |first3=Rick |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-31-211435-0}}
• {{Cite book |last=O'Hanlon-Lincoln |first=Ceane |title=County chronicles: a vivid collection of Fayette County, Pennsylvania histories |date=2004 |publisher=Mechling Bookbindery |isbn=978-0-9744657-8-4 |location=Chicora, PA}}
• {{Cite book |title=Sports and the Law: Major Legal Cases |date=July 10, 2014 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-13-568222-4 |editor-last=Quirk |editor-first=Charles E.}}
• {{Cite book |title=The Olympics: Athens to Athens, 1896 - 2004 |date=2004 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0-297-84382-5 |editor-last=Rendell |editor-first=Matt |location=London}}
• {{Cite book |title=The Olympics at the Millennium: power, politics, and the games |date=2000 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-2820-5 |editor-last=Schaffer |editor-first=Kay |location=New Brunswick, NJ |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Sidonie}}
• {{Cite book |last=Watterson |first=John Sayle |title=College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy |date=November 14, 2002 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-80-187114-6}}
• {{Cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Robert W. |title=Jim Thorpe, World's Greatest Athlete |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-80-611745-4}}
• {{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Randy |title=Sports cinema: 100 movies: the best of Hollywood's athletic heroes, losers, myths, and misfits |date=2006 |publisher=Limelight Ed |isbn=978-0-87910-331-6 |location=Pompton Plains, NJ}}
• {{Cite book |last=Zarnowski |author-link=Frank Zarnowski |first=Frank |title=All-Around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport |date=March 31, 2005 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-81-085423-9}}
• {{Cite book |last=Zarnowski |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Zarnowski |title=The Pentathlon of the Ancient World |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-6783-9 |location=Jefferson, NC}}

• {{Cite book |last=Benjey |first=Tom |title=Doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs |date=2008 |publisher=Tuxedo Press |isbn=978-0-9774486-7-8 |location=Carlisle, PA}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Mallon |first1=Bill |title=The 1912 Olympic Games: results for all competitors in all events, with commentary |last2=Widlund |first2=Ture |date=2002 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-1047-7 |series=Results of the early modern Olympics |location=Jefferson, N.C |chapter=In the Matter of Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe}}
• {{Cite book |last=Newcombe |first=Jack |title=The best of the athletic boys: The white man's impact on Jim Thorpe |date=1975 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-06186-5 |edition=1st |location=Garden City, N.Y}}
• {{Cite book |last=Updyke |first=Rosemary K. |title=Jim Thorpe: The Legend Remembered |date=December 1997 |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-56-554539-7 |location=Gretna, Louisiana}}
• {{Cite book |last=Wallechinsky |first=David |title=The complete book of the Summer Olympics |date=2000 |publisher=Overlook Press |isbn=978-1-58567-033-8 |edition=2000 ed., 1st |location=Woodstock, N.Y}}

{{Commons category}}

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