1. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania
After he died, Jim’s third wife, Patricia, wished to have him buried in Oklahoma, where he was born and lived in his early years. However, state authorities declined to create a memorial for him, so Patricia practically auctioned off his bones.
The little communities of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk in Pennsylvania claimed that they would join the towns and form Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and they would construct a tomb to keep his bones. Patricia consented to the requirements and delivered them the bones a year after Michael died.
The residents of the town, which had a population of roughly 5,000 people, contributed $10,000 for the mausoleum. They were hoped it would be a tourist attraction, but it didn’t work out that way. Thorpe had children with his first and second marriages, and the three kids from the second marriage weren’t thrilled with the manner his corpse was auctioned off. They wanted him buried in Oklahoma.
They sued to obtain the corpse in 2010 and won, but it was reversed in 2014 and Jim’s remains are still in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
2. The Personal Problems Myth
Many internet biographies about Jim Thorpe depict his life after sports as a slide into drunken poverty and living in a trailer. But according to one of Thorpe’s biographers, this isn’t a realistic picture of his latter life and it’s based on Native American misconceptions.
For much of his career, Thorpe kept out of the spotlight and was casual about his skill and training. Since the public didn’t see how hard he trained, rumors began to arise that he didn’t workout at all. Instead, he drank before contests. This led to others assuming he was merely a drunk and lazy Indian, who lucked fortunate and was awarded God-given athletic abilities.
It isn’t much different from the way many black athletes are treated now. By stating they were just blessed with ability, it utterly ignores all their hard work and training. No one ever gets to be the greatest in the world by coasting on their innate abilities alone. Every successful individual in every respective profession got to where they are because they worked tremendously hard.
Jim Thorpe was no exception. Teammates claimed that he exercised tirelessly and even led team sessions.
However, there is some truth to his living out the remainder of his life in a trailer. but it wasn’t because he was forced to. Jim was a highly paid athlete, he earned money in Hollywood, and he made quite a deal of money for public speaking engagements all the way up to his dying days. Jim opted to live in the trailer since he and his wife enjoyed to travel. Jim was a passionate outdoorsman and enjoyed to hunt and fish, so he went about in his senior years doing that.
Also, although Jim was known to drink, there is no indication that he drank excessively, or he was an alcoholic. Jim Thorpe suffered a heart attack and died on March 28, 1953, at the age of 65.
3. Hollywood
After his sporting career, Thorpe decided to give acting a go. The challenge that he confronted there shouldn’t be a surprise if you know anything about the history of Hollywood. Native leading males weren’t exactly in great demand. So instead, Jim received parts as Indian clichés.
Besides acting, he formed the Native American Actors Guild, which put actual Native Americans in movies, generally westerns. Jim also advocated for equitable pay and health care for Native actors and stuntmen. This is all hilarious since, when he was still living, there was a movie on his life, with white actor Burt Lancaster as Jim Thorpe, and he wears heavy make up to make him appear Native American.
Jim Thorpe – All American was published 1951. It’s a melodrama that is very loosely based on Jim’s life and achievements, but it unduly dramatizes the connection between Jim and Pop Warner.
4. His Amazing Pro Career
Jim’s aim before he departed for the Olympics was to show that he could earn a livelihood as a professional athlete and when he returned, the offers flooded in. He went on to play baseball with the New York Giants, and because he was earning a livelihood off baseball, he was able to wed his fiancée.
Jim was a good baseball player, but he had a difficulty with curve balls. He ended up playing six seasons overall. In 1915, two years into his baseball career, he accepted a huge deal with the football club the Canton Bulldogs. He guided them to championship triumphs in 1916, 1917, and 1919.
In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14 teams who entered the American Professional Football Association, which would eventually become the National Football League (NFL). Jim Thorpe was chosen President, making him the first President of the NFL. He served for just one season as President.
In 1922 and 1923, he coached and played for an all-Native American team, the Oorang Indians. They would dress traditional Native clothes and conduct traditional dances before games. In all, he played 13 years of football and besides playing for the Bulldogs and the Oorgang Indians, he played for the Cleveland Indians, the Rock Island Independents, the New York Giants, and the Chicago Cardinals.