Jim Thorpe

(1888 - 1953)

Profession: Olympian

Hometown: Prague/Yale

Inducted: 1950

Jim Thorpe was born in 1887 in Indian Territory as a member of the Sac and Fox tribe. Thorpe's birthplace is registered as Bellemont, a tiny crossroad within the Sac and Fox lands. Thorpe attended the Haskell Institute in Tecumseh, Oklahoma, before enrolling in the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. His talents in athletics were noticed by coaches at Carlisle, who saw Thorpe practicing the high jump. Impressed, they invited him to join the track team for the 1907 season. Eventually Thorpe participated in track and field, basketball, baseball, and football, in which he would alternate between right and left halfback. In 1909 Thorpe was persuaded by scouts to play minor league baseball for the Rocky Mount Railroaders.

The Olympic trials for the pentathlon were held on May 18, 1912. Thorpe dominated the competition. During the actual games, he won gold in the decathlon and gold in the pentathlon. Thorpe received his first gold medal on July 15th from King Gustav V of Sweden. As he bowed to the king, Gustav stated, "You, sir are the most wonderful athlete in the world." When returning from the Olympic games Thorpe accepted a contract with the New York Giants football team on January 31, 1913. Later, in the fall of 1915, Thorpe accepted the position of assistant football coach at Indiana University. After retirement he became involved in Indigenous politics and lecturing about his time on Indian reservations. The Paycom Jim Thorpe award is given to the best defensive back in college football each year in his memory.