83-565: The Jim Thorpe Award , named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe , has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame . In 2017, the award became sponsored by Paycom and was named the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award . † In 1996, finalist Chris Canty of Kansas State University withdrew his name from consideration, which caused
166-510: A Hall of Fame . The Chicago Bears have the most Hall of Famers among the league's franchises with either 40 or 32 enshrinees depending on whether players that only played a small portion of their careers with the team are counted. Enshrinees are selected by a 50-person committee, largely made up of media members, officially known as the Selection Committee. Each city that has a current NFL team sends one representative from
249-588: 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. Future President Dwight D. Eisenhower , who played against him in that game, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech: 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. Thorpe
332-917: A brief time in 1913, he was considering going into professional hockey for the Tecumseh Hockey Club in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. 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. They had four children: James F., Gale, Charlotte, and Grace Frances , an environmentalist and Native rights activist. Miller filed for divorce from Thorpe in 1925, claiming desertion. In 1926, Thorpe married Freeda Verona Kirkpatrick (September 19, 1905 – March 2, 2007). She
415-517: A fifth room. This expansion was completed on October 1, 1995, and increased the building's size to 82,307 square feet (7,647 m ). The most notable addition was the GameDay Stadium, which shows an NFL Films production on a 20-by-42-foot (6.1 m × 12.8 m) Cinemascope screen. In 2013, the Hall of Fame completed its largest expansion and renovation to date; the total size of
498-408: A final ballot of 18 finalists under consideration by the full committee each year. Committee members are instructed to only consider a candidate's professional football contributions and to disregard all other factors. The Selection Committee then meets on "Selection Saturday", the day before each Super Bowl game to elect a new class. To be elected, a finalist must receive at least 80% support from
581-624: 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." 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. In late January 1913,
664-641: A kicking coach teaching young football players to drop-kick . He played the captain of the guard in 1935's She , an umpire in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American , and a member of the Navajo Nation in the 1950 film Wagon Master . 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 (equivalent to $ 30,000 in 2023). Warner Bros. eventually acquired
747-533: 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 , starting with the 1931 serial Battling with Buffalo Bill . In the 1932 comedy Always Kickin ' , Thorpe was prominently cast in a speaking part as himself,
830-610: A permanent exhibit recognizing the inductees of the Black College Football Hall of Fame . The two organizations partnered in 2016, also creating the Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic played at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The Ralph Hay Pioneer Award is an American football award given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame periodically to an individual who has made significant and innovative contributions to professional football. The award
913-562: A re-vote. Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Meskwaki : Wa-Tho-Huk , translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation , Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in
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#1732798449443996-564: 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. 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
1079-629: A team composed entirely of American Indians. From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association, which became the NFL in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression . He struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. He suffered from alcoholism , and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. He
1162-500: A ticket that documented his time in professional basketball was discovered in an old book in 2005. By 1926, he was the main feature of the World Famous Indians of LaRue, Ohio , a traveling basketball team. 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. For
1245-515: A total of 378 members of the Hall of Fame. Between four and nine new inductees are normally enshrined every year. For the 2020 class, a 20-person group consisting of five modern-era players and an additional 15 members, known as the "Centennial Slate", were elected to the Hall of Fame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NFL. The Chicago Bears have the most inductees, with 34 (42, including players with minor portion of their career with team). The city of Canton, Ohio , successfully lobbied
1328-528: Is going to tackle Jim", while flipping him the ball. Thorpe first gained nationwide notice in 1911 for his athletic ability. 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). His team finished the season 11–1. In 1912, Carlisle won
1411-503: Is named after Canton Bulldogs owner and National Football League founder and chief organizer Ralph Hay . It was originally called the Daniel F. Reeves Pioneer Award, named after Los Angeles Rams owner and hall of fame inductee Dan Reeves . The award is the highest and the most prestigious honor given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, other than enshrinement. As of 2022, Steve Sabol , Art McNally , Marion Motley and Bill Willis are
1494-629: Is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma ). As a youth, he attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania , where he was a two-time All-American for the school's football team under coach Pop Warner . After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, he added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union . Later in 1913, Thorpe signed with
1577-549: Is the hall of fame for professional American football , located in Canton, Ohio . Opened on September 7, 1963 , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coaches, officials, franchise owners, and front-office personnel, almost all of whom made their primary contributions to the game in the National Football League (NFL). As of 2024 , there are
1660-494: Is the main event of the annual Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls that kicks off every NFL season. The celebration is held in Canton, throughout the week surrounding the enshrinement ceremony. All members of the Hall of Fame are invited to attend the annual ceremony. Enshrinees do not go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of a certain team. Rather, all of an enshrinee's affiliations are listed equally. While
1743-699: Is the only inductee in the Hall to have experience as an in-game official. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum , Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Hockey Hall of Fame have each inducted game officials as members. Another prominent absence from the Hall is sports-journalist and broadcaster Howard Cosell , who has yet to either be awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award or even get fully inducted despite his well-known association with Monday Night Football ; an August 2010 Sports Illustrated article hints that Cosell may have even been "blacklisted" by
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#17327984494431826-704: The Worcester Telegram reported that Thorpe had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics, and other U.S. newspapers followed up the story. 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 ($ 65 today) per game and as much as US$ 35 ($ 1,145 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
1909-437: The 1912 Summer Olympics (one in classic pentathlon and the other in decathlon ). He also played football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and professional basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the contemporary amateurism rules. In 1983, 30 years after his death,
1992-484: The 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, two new multi-event disciplines were included, the pentathlon and the decathlon . A pentathlon, based on the ancient Greek event, had been introduced at the 1906 Intercalated Games . The 1912 version consisted of the long jump , javelin throw , 200-meter dash, discus throw , and 1500-meter run. The decathlon was a relatively new event in modern athletics, although
2075-716: 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. Barnstorming across the United States and around the world, Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour. Thorpe's presence increased the publicity, attendance and gate receipts for the tour. 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 . Thorpe
2158-534: The Baseball Hall of Fame plaques generally depict each of their inductees wearing a particular club's cap (with a few exceptions, such as Catfish Hunter and Greg Maddux ), the bust sculptures of each Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee make no reference to any specific team. In addition to the bust that goes on permanent display at the Hall of Fame, inductees receive a distinctive Gold Jacket, and previous inductees nearly always wear theirs when participating at
2241-624: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals with replicas, after ruling that the decision to strip him of his medals fell outside of the required 30 days . Official IOC records still listed Thorpe as co-champion in decathlon and pentathlon until 2022, when it was decided to restore him as the sole champion in both events. Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Indian Territory (what
2324-635: The NFL to have the Hall of Fame built in Canton, citing three reasons. First, the NFL was founded in Canton on September 17, 1920 , (at that time it was known as the American Professional Football Association ). Second, the now-defunct Canton Bulldogs were a successful pro football team and the NFL's first repeat champion (in 1922 and 1923 ). Third, the Canton community held a fundraising effort that garnered nearly $ 400,000 (equivalent to $ 3,086,000 in 2023) to get
2407-465: 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 . He continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, he helped organize and played for the Oorang Indians ( LaRue, Ohio ), an all-Native American team. Although
2490-637: The New York Giants , and he played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships. He later played for six teams in the National Football League (NFL). He played as part of several all-American Indian teams throughout his career, and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with
2573-426: 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. The pentathlon and decathlon teams also included Avery Brundage , a future International Olympic Committee president. Thorpe
Jim Thorpe Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-713: The "seniors" category. There has also been criticism that deserving players have been overlooked because they played most or all of their careers on poor teams. In 2009, a New York Times article criticized the Hall for not including punter Ray Guy on its ballot. Guy was eventually inducted as part of the 2014 class for the Hall of Fame. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is unique among North American major league sports halls of fame in that officials have been generally excluded. Only two figures, both inducted for their work as supervisor or director of officiating as opposed to game officiating—1966 inductee Hugh "Shorty" Ray and 2022 inductee Art McNally —have been enshrined; McNally
2739-427: 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. 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
2822-471: The 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship. Pop Warner was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in such a physical game as football. 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. Thorpe "ran around past and through them not once, but twice". He walked over to Warner and said, "Nobody
2905-544: 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
2988-572: The Centennial Slate elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020 are: Jim Covert , Winston Hill , Harold Carmichael , Duke Slater , Ed Sprinkle , Steve Sabol , Alex Karras , Bobby Dillon , Donnie Shell , George Young , Cliff Harris , Mac Speedie , and former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue . They were enshrined in 2021 due to COVID-19, but are still considered part of the Centennial Class of 2020. The enshrinement ceremony
3071-494: The Committee. At least four, but no more than nine, candidates are elected annually. In 2020, a special Blue-Ribbon Panel selected an additional 15 new members, known as the Centennial Slate, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NFL. Among these 15 members, ten would be seniors. On January 11, during the weekend of the NFL divisional playoffs, Hall of Fame president David Baker went on
3154-500: The Hall of Fame Game. In 2022, the ceremony was moved to noon ET. The Hall of Fame Game, the annual NFL preseason opener, is played in Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium at Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio . In 2017, the Hall of Fame Game was held for the first time on Thursday night. The preseason classic kicks off Enshrinement Week and marks the start of the NFL preseason . The Pro Football Hall of Fame museum includes
3237-420: The Hall of Fame built. Groundbreaking for the building was held on August 11, 1962, and the Hall of Fame was opened to the public on September 7, 1963. The original building contained just two rooms and 19,000 square feet (1,800 m ) of interior space. In April 1970 , ground was broken for the first of many expansions. This first expansion cost $ 620,000, and was completed on May 10, 1971 . The size
3320-647: The Hall without having made significant contributions to either the NFL, AFL, or All-America Football Conference . For CFL stars, there is a corresponding Canadian Football Hall of Fame ; only one player, Warren Moon , and two coaches, Bud Grant and Marv Levy , are enshrined in both halls. Again for the Arena Football League, there is also a corresponding Arena Football Hall of Fame ; similarly, only one player, Kurt Warner , has been enshrined into both halls. The Indoor Football League , in which Terrell Owens played one season, has also established
3403-453: The NFL. As the late 2010s approached, a number of controversial and polarizing figures began to reach eligibility for the Hall. For example, Darren Sharper 's career achievements make him a candidate for the Hall, but there is debate over whether he should be inducted due to his conviction on multiple rape and drug distribution charges after he retired. Official guidelines state that off the field character issues are not allowed to influence
Jim Thorpe Award - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-528: The NFL; Shaw played his entire career in the American Football League (AFL) prior to the 1970 AFL–NFL merger . Though several Hall of Famers have had AFL, Canadian Football League , World Football League , United States Football League , Arena Football League and/or Indoor Football League experience, and there is a division of the Hall devoted to alternative leagues such as these, to this point no player, coach or contributor have made
3569-560: 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. For
3652-423: The Olympics, but the AAU had ignored the issue until being confronted with it in 1913. 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. 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
3735-660: The Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs , Thorpe drove in the winning run in the 10th inning. 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. He continued to play minor league baseball until 1922, and once played for
3818-605: 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. 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,
3901-535: The United States (later Oklahoma ), but no birth certificate has been found. He was generally considered to have been born on May 22, 1887, 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." Most biographers believe that he
3984-492: 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. Thorpe had previous experience in
4067-434: The early 1950s. When hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950, Thorpe was admitted as a charity case. 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." Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame
4150-556: The final two AFL-NFL World Championship games. In November 1977, work began on another expansion project, costing $ 1,200,000. It was completed in November 1978, enlarging the gift shop and research library, while doubling the size of the theater. The total size of the hall was now 50,500 square feet (4,690 m ), more than 2.5 times the original size. The building remained largely unchanged until July 1993. The Hall then announced yet another expansion, costing $ 9,200,000, and adding
4233-401: The gold medal. 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. Thorpe's final event was the decathlon, his first (and as it turned out, his only) decathlon. Strong competition from local favorite Hugo Wieslander was expected. Thorpe, however, defeated Wieslander by 688 points. He placed in
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#17327984494434316-498: The greatest athlete in the world", to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King". Thorpe biographer Kate Buford suggests that the story is apocryphal , as she believes that such a comment "would have been out of character for a man who was highly uncomfortable in public ceremonies and hated to stand out." The anecdote appeared in newspapers by 1948, 36 years after his appearance in the Olympics and time for myth making, and in books as early as 1952. Thorpe's successes were followed in
4399-419: The hall is now 118,000 square feet (11,000 m ). Hall of Fame Village, an estimated $ 900 million expansion project adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, completed Phase I of construction in 2022, a Phase II is planned, although no news has been put out recently. Through 2022, all players in the Hall, except Buffalo Bills guard Billy Shaw , played at least some part of their professional career in
4482-493: The list to 25 semi-finalists. In November, the committee then selects 15 finalists by mail balloting. A Seniors and Contributors Committee, subcommittees of the overall Selection Committee, nominate Seniors (those players who completed their careers more than 25 years ago) and Contributors (individuals who made contributions to the game in areas other than playing or coaching). The Seniors Committee and Contributors Committee add one or two finalist(s) on alternating years, which makes
4565-573: The local media to the committee; a city with more than one franchise sends one representative for each franchise. There are also 15 at-large delegates, including one representative from the Pro Football Writers Association . Except for the PFWA representative, who is appointed to a two-year term, all other appointments are open-ended, and terminated only by death, incapacitation, retirement, or resignation. To be eligible for
4648-558: The minor league Toledo Mud Hens . 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. He signed with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915. They paid him $ 250 ($ 7,530) a game, a tremendous wage at the time. Before signing him Canton
4731-555: 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. 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
4814-531: The national collegiate championship largely as a result of Thorpe's efforts: he scored 25 touchdowns and 198 points during the season, according to CNN 's Greg Botelho. 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. Carlisle's 1912 record included
4897-486: The new inductee ceremonies. Previous induction ceremonies were held during the next day (Sunday from 1999 to 2005, Saturday in 2006), situated on the steps of the Hall of Fame building. Starting in 2002, the ceremony was moved to Fawcett Stadium (now Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium ), where it was held from 1963 to 1965. Since 2007, the enshrinement ceremony has been held on the Saturday night, since 2017 two days after
4980-599: The nominating process, a player or coach must have been retired for at least five years; any other contributor such as a team owner or executive can be voted in at any time. Fans may nominate any player, coach or contributor by simply writing via letter or email to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Selection Committee is then polled three times by mail (once in March, once in September, and once in October) to eventually narrow
5063-425: The only people to receive the award and also become a Hall of Fame inductee. The small number of candidates elected each year has helped foster what some perceive as an inequality of representation at certain positions or in certain categories of player, to the exclusion of defensive players in general ( defensive backs and outside linebackers in particular), special teams players, wide receivers , and those from
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#17327984494435146-424: The public did not seem to care much about Thorpe's past, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and especially its secretary James Edward Sullivan , took the case very seriously. Thorpe wrote a letter to Sullivan, in which he admitted playing professional baseball: 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
5229-457: The rights and memorialized Thorpe in Jim Thorpe – All-American (1951), starring Burt Lancaster . The film was directed by Michael Curtiz . 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. The movie included archival footage of the 1912 and 1932 Olympics. Thorpe
5312-443: The set of The NFL Today to personally tell Bill Cowher , who was working as an analyst on that pregame show, that he was selected as one of the members of the Centennial Slate. One day later, Baker went on the set of Fox NFL Sunday to inform Jimmy Johnson , working as an analyst on Fox's studio show, that he was also selected. The rest of the Centennial Slate members were revealed on January 15. The remaining 13 members of
5395-885: The sport, as the public soon learned. 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
5478-574: The team's record was 3–6 in 1922, and 1–10 in 1923, 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. 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. Most of Thorpe's biographers were unaware of his basketball career until
5561-511: 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. 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
5644-411: 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. Overall, Thorpe won eight of the 15 individual events comprising the pentathlon and decathlon. As
5727-439: The youth became depressed. After several arguments with his father, he left home to work on a horse ranch. In 1904, the sixteen-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
5810-582: The youth was orphaned after his father Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning, after being wounded in a hunting accident. The young Thorpe again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years before returning to Carlisle School. 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. His earliest recorded track and field results come from 1907. He also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse , and ballroom dancing , winning
5893-484: Was a third-team All-American in 1908 and a first-team All-American in 1911 and 1912. Football was – and remained – Thorpe's favorite sport. He did not compete in track and field in 1910 or 1911, 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
5976-565: Was averaging 1,200 fans a game, but 8,000 showed up for Thorpe's debut against the Massillon Tigers . 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. In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams to form the American Professional Football Association , which became
6059-411: Was born on May 22, 1887, the date listed on his baptismal certificate . Thorpe referred to Shawnee as his birthplace in his 1943 note to the newspaper. Thorpe's father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox Indian mother. His mother, Charlotte Vieux, was the daughter of Citizen Potawatomi Nation members Elizabeth and Jacob Vieux, and was a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. Thorpe
6142-449: 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. The AAU decided to withdraw Thorpe's amateur status retroactively. 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. Although Thorpe had played for money,
6225-432: Was extremely busy in the Olympics. Along with the decathlon and pentathlon, he competed in the long jump and high jump. The first competition was the pentathlon on July 7. He won four of the five events and placed third in the javelin, an event he had not competed in before 1912. Although the pentathlon was primarily decided on place points, points were also earned for the marks achieved in the individual events. Thorpe won
6308-417: Was increased to 34,000 square feet (3,200 m ) by adding another room. The pro shop opened with this expansion. This was also an important milestone for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as yearly attendance passed the 200,000 mark for the first time. This was at least in some part due to the increase in popularity of professional football caused by the advent of the American Football League and its success in
6391-552: Was married three times and had eight children, including Grace Thorpe , an environmentalist and Native rights activist, before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953. Thorpe has received numerous accolades for his athletic accomplishments. The Associated Press ranked him as the "greatest athlete" from the first 50 years of the 20th century, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its inaugural class in 1963. The town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania ,
6474-486: Was named in his honor. It has a monument site that contains his remains, which were the subject of legal action. Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American . Information about Thorpe's birth, name and ethnic background varies widely. He was baptized "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church . Thorpe was born in Indian Territory of
6557-450: Was raised as a Sac and Fox, and his native name, Wa-Tho-Huk , is translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path". As was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. Thorpe's parents were both Roman Catholic, a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his adult life. Thorpe attended
6640-580: Was seen in one scene as a coaching assistant. It was also distributed in the United Kingdom, where it was called Man of Bronze . 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. Thorpe was a chronic alcoholic during his later life. He ran out of money sometime in
6723-415: 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
6806-578: 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. Thorpe played sporadically with the Giants as an outfielder for three seasons. After playing in the minor leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1916, 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
6889-437: Was working for the manager of the baseball team for which he was playing at the time. 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. After his athletic career, Thorpe struggled to provide for his family. He found it difficult to work
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