The Shadow
Competing for the U.S. in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Jim Thorpe became the first Native American to win gold.
Hailed by many sportswriters as the best American athlete of the 20th Century, Thorpe was stripped of each of his two gold medals, one for winning the pentathlon and the other winning the decathlon.
The reason he was stripped of his gold medals is that he performed for pay in a minor league baseball league two summers prior to the Olympics.
The strict amateurism rules that were applied to athletes during that day and time have drastically changed over the past century to allow highly paid professional athletes to compete in the Olympic Games.
The IOC restored his gold medals on Jan. 18, 1983, but the two silver medal winners who were designated as the winners of the two events were not removed as gold medal winners from the record book.
The recent action taken by the IOC has now designated Hugo Wieslander as the silver medal winner of the 2012 Olympics rather than the gold medal winner of the decathlon, and Ferdinand Bie has been removed from gold to be listed as the silver medal winner of the pentathlon.
The Bright Path Strong, a nonprofit organization, has been credited for its advocacy that led to the restoration of Thorpe’s name as the sole winner of gold in the two events.
As a college football player, Thorpe stunned the nation by leading tiny Carlisle Indian Industrial School to an impressive 27-6 victory of Army when Dwight David Eisenhower was a member of Army’s football team.
Carlisle had a 9-0-1 record going into the game that was dominated by Thorpe in the second half when he ran for two touchdowns and kicked three field goals to erase Army’s 6-0 halftime lead.
An unlikely ending occurred for the powerful athlete who succumbed to alcoholism and died in squalor in a trailer park in Loma Linda, Calif. in 1953.
As a Major League Baseball outfielder, Thorpe, who stood 6’1” and weighed 185 lbs., hit seven home runs during his career in which he registered 698 official times at bat.
He garnered 176 hits, scored 91 runs, had 82 RBIs, and stole 29 bases for the New York Giants from 1913-1919.
Thorpe also played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs, leading his team to championships in 1916, 1917 and 1919. He is one of 17 charter members of the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
