Jim+Thorpe

= Jim Thorpe = (1988-1953) __Early Years__: Jim Thorpe was born in a small cabin near Prague, Oklahoma. He was born to a French father and a Pottawatomie Indian mother. He was a descendant of a great Indian Athlete Fox Chief Black Hawk, his Indian name Wa-Tho-Huk, which is translated to mean bright star, which is very Ironic because Jim Thorpe's future was extremely bright. He started school in Carlisle, PA. It was a trade school that taught over 20 trades. He started playing football there and running track, his football coach was Glenn Warner, who also went on being a success. He made 3rd team All American in football in 1908 and in 1909 and 1910 he made 1st team All American.

__ Achievments __
__Olympic Career:__ In 1912, Jim Thorpe joined the U.S. Olympic team at the young age of 24. He won a gold in the Decathlon and the Pentathlon in Antwerp, Belgium and was called the greatest athlete in the world by King Gustav V. But in 1913, his gold medals were taken away because he played two seasons of minor league baseball. The rules were that an Olympic athlete could not receive a payment to play a sport. The payment he received affected his amateur label and all of his awards were taken away along with his records being taken out of the record boo

__Baseball Career:__ After the Olympics, he decide to play baseball. He signed with the New York Giants and played outfielder for three seasons before being released and re-signing with the Cincinnati Reds in 1917. He played 77 games with the Reds until being sold back to the Giants were he finished the season. He finished his baseball career in 1919 with the Boston Braves.

__Football Career:__ Jim Thorpe from 1915-1917, 1919-1920, 1926 played for the Canton Bulldogs( presently the Cleveland Browns), in 1921 the Cleveland Indians, and from 1922-1923 he played for the Oorang Indians, an all Native American team, 1924 Rock Island Independents, 1925 New York Giants, 1928 Chicago Cardinals. He coached the Canton Bulldogs, Oorang Indians, and Rock Island Independents while playing almost every position on the field.



Influences A major influence in Jim Thorpe's life was his high school football coach and football legend Pop "Glenn" Warner Quote “The reason we can play, ... is that it's not about the golf swing. It makes no difference how you swing the club as long as you can win the money.”

__Sources:__ http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/bio.htm http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.aspx?player_id=213 http://www.notablebiographies.com/St-Tr/Thorpe-Jim.html http://thinkexist.com/quotes/jim_thorpe/ http://www.nflfootball101.com/uploaded_images/nfl-football-history-745456.jpg http://www.bestsportsphotos.com/image.php?productid=36838