Thorpe Hall

Thorpe Hall, built in 1887 with funds contributed by Carlisle Indian Industrial School students, served as the school’s gymnasium. Sports flourished there, producing top athletes such as Lewis Tewanima, a star long distance runner, and Jim Thorpe, the famed track and football player. Wa-Tho-Huk, known to most as Jim Thorpe, was born near Prague, Oklahoma, on May 28, 1887, excelled as an athlete, and participated in the school’s football, lacrosse, and track teams. In 1912, he traveled with Tewanima and his coach, Glenn “Pop” Warner, to the Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won both the pentathlon and the decathlon. At those games, King Gustav V of Sweden told him, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” After it became known that Thorpe had played two years of semi-professional baseball, his Olympic medals were taken away, but he continued in sports by playing professional baseball and football. He died of a heart attack in 1953, the gymnasium was renamed Thorpe Hall in his honor the next year, and his Olympic medals were restored in 1982.

Schlusser, Pennsylvania · United States