OLYMPICS - JIM THORPE

Jim Thorpe, whose Indian name of Wa-Tho-Huk, roughly translates as "Bright Path," was born in 1888 in Indian Territory, near what is now Prague Oklahoma. In the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Thorpe won a gold medal in the Pentathlon, finished fourth in the long jump and seventh in the high jump, and then won the Decathlon. King Gustav of Sweden told him, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King."


After it was discovered Thorpe had accepted small amounts of money to play minor league baseball before the Olympics, his medals were ordered returned. Thereafter, he played professional baseball, football and basketball. Thorpe's gold medals were finally returned to his family in 1983. In 1998, the medals were stolen from the Oklahoma State Capitol, but were soon returned. In 1999, the US House of Representatives declared him the greatest athlete of the 20th Century.


Jim Thorpe's home is now a museum in Yale OK. A large portrait hangs in the Oklahoma State Capitol building in Oklahoma City, depicting Thorpe at the Olympics. The Jim Thorpe Award is given annually to the best defensive back in college football and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and Jim Thorpe Museum is scheduled to open in September 2008 in Oklahoma City.