Jim Thorpe Accomplishments

Jim Thorpe is perhaps one of the best athletes the world has ever seen. His accomplishments throughout his life are records that might not ever be broken. He set the standard for being a prime example for an athlete in even the modern period we have today.

On May 28, 1888 in Prague, Ok, an amazing athlete was born. He was born by the name of James Francis Thorpe, son of Hiram Thorpe and Mary James, a Pottawatomie Indian. He lost both parents at a young age. Jim Thorpe was actually born a twin, but his brother, Charley Thorpe died at the age of nine to pneumonia. He learned to hunt and trap prey at an early age developing his legendary endurance. He would also run a twenty-mile route run to and from school. Later on in his bright path, he

In 1913, the glorious wins that he had accomplished were compromised when it came out that Thorpe played semi-professional baseball for two seasons. During this time, the Olympic committee had some very strict rules about receiving compensation (money) for playing in any professional athletic event. Asked for his response by the Amateur Athletic Union, Thorpe wrote, "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. I was not very wise in the ways of the world and did not realize this was wrong." Even though Thorpe told the judges of the Olympics that he only played for the love of the game, and not for the money, he was put on very close watch with the judges. Under further review of the problem, the Olympic officials took away his gold medals after an absolutely stunning performance in both track and field events in the 1912 Olympics. Foolishly, his name was removed from all record books essentially being robbed of his high achievements. Thorpe endured many hardships being a product of a multiracial marriage. During the prime of his career many racial issues had risen. Sometimes it is even suggested that he was stripped of his medals due to his

In 1913 Thorpe married his college sweetheart, Iva Miller with whom he had four children. Thirteen years later he married again to Freeda Kirkpatrick but due o drinking problems he soon got a divorce. Together they have four sons. Lastly from 1945 and up until the time of his death, Jim Thorpe had been married to Patricia Askew. After his athletic career, Thorpe struggle to provide for his family during the time of the Great Depression. Thorpe was accredited to have appeared in at least sixty films from 1931 to 1950. However, he found it very hard to work in a job that was not related sports and could not hold a job for an extended period of time. In the early 1950s he ran out of money. He was later then admitted into a hospital for lip cancer as a charity