Guest Author - Judith Hodges

I have been a big fan of Jim Thorpe for many years. I recently took over the Today in History site on Bellaonline and I added Jim Thorpe’s death date. So, I wanted to tell the football readers about him too.

Who is Jim Thorpe? He was a star in his day. He should still be a star to any player that loves football, baseball, and track and field. He did it all. Jim was born in 1888. Being a Native American, he grew up on a reservation.
He played football for Pop Warner. He played major league baseball. He won the Olympic pentathlon. He also did the Olympic decathlon. Jim was named the Athlete of the Century.

In researching Jim Thorpe’s life, I found stories that were passed down generation to generation from family members who saw Jim in action. The stories read like a Greek myth. The feats were something only a great hero could perform, or a camera trick for a Powerade commercial for Michael Vick or Lebron James today. These stories are part of his legend and his greatness.

Jim Thorpe died in 1953 after a great sports career. He crossed boundaries in sports as a Native American that we still fight, unfortunately, in today’s society. He was a natural athlete before steroids were used to manipulate the game. He was a star before it was worth millions. We have had great two-sport athletes like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, but how many three-sport athletes do we have? Even Michael Jordan had a hard time with two sports and he is arguably the greatest player to touch a basketball.

To read some of the stories about Jim, check out this site. It is from the school he attended.
Jim Thorpe stories
Today in History- Thorpe’s Death


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