James Francis Thorpe

Born in Oklahoma Territory in 1888, Jim Thorpe, a member of the Sac and Fox tribe, became renowned for extraordinary versatility across sports. Prophetically named Wa-tho-huck, meaning Bright Path, by his mother, he excelled in football, track and field, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, tennis, handball, bowling, golf, swimming, billiards, gymnastics, rowing, hockey, figure skating, and even dance, while also being skilled in marksmanship, hunting, fishing, archery, and forest lore. He was the only person ever to win both the Olympic decathlon and pentathlon, and after receiving his gold medals, King Gustav V of Sweden declared him the greatest athlete in the world. Less than a year later, he was stripped of his Olympic awards after the Amateur Athletic Union ruled that his playing summer baseball for expense money while a student at Carlisle Indian School made him a professional. Seventy years later, evidence uncovered by the Jim Thorpe Foundation, using research from his biography and the Library of Congress, proved that his disqualification had been illegal and invalid, correcting what many had called the greatest injustice in sports history. His career and legacy were further marked by honors in football and track, leadership in early professional football, repeated hall of fame inductions, memorials, films, awards bearing his name, and the restoration of his Olympic gold medals by the International Olympic Committee in 1982.

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania · United States