After the disappointment surrounding his Olympic loss, Jim Thorpe flourished in professional sports. In 1913, after declining a $50,000 offer to become a boxer, he signed a $6000 contract with the National League champion New York Giants and a $250-per-game contract with the Canton Bulldogs, beginning 17 consecutive years in which he played professional baseball and football concurrently before retiring in 1929. Though John J. McGraw recognized that Thorpe had no Major League baseball experience, Thorpe proved himself more than a drawing card, finishing his big league career in Cincinnati with a .327 average while showing power, speed, and a strong, accurate arm in the outfield. In football he achieved spectacular success, captaining the Canton Bulldogs to six titles in seven years, including an undefeated 1916 team that scored 257 points in ten games while allowing only seven. His ability, sportsmanship, and competitive spirit were remembered by George Halas and Knute Rockne, and his feats included an 81-yard drop-kicked field goal and punting the ball 100 yards on the fly twice in one game. At a time when professional football generally drew small crowds, his presence raised attendance from about 1,200 to 8,000, and believing the sport would one day rival professional baseball, he helped organize the American Professional Football Association in 1919 and its successor, the National Football League, in 1920; in both cases, owners wanted him as president. He trained year-round, playing baseball in spring and summer and football in fall and winter, and away from competition he was devoted to his three daughters and four sons, sharing with them activities such as hunting, fishing, baseball, bowling, swimming, dancing, and cooking. His children remembered his laugh, smile, integrity, mild manner, and warmth, and took pride in a father who, they said, never spoke badly of anyone.
