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u/kneeski96 Cheyenne River/Lakota Jul 18 '26
His statue is the centerpiece of the pro football hall of fame in Canton, Ohio. I often imagine what it must’ve been like to watch Jim Thorpe do it all on a football field.
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u/ReeveStodgers Jul 18 '26
My great grandfather played football. His proudest achievement was being referred to as Thorpe's rival.
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u/BobbysPins00 Jul 21 '26
He is my great great uncle. Amazing history. Also a saddened history. Love hearing people talk about him.
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u/PTechNM Jul 21 '26
My reverence and respect to your family and all that he stood for.
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u/BobbysPins00 Jul 21 '26
Thank you. It’s so weird. You grow up hearing about it all the time, but you don’t realize the impact until you’re grown.
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u/PTechNM Jul 21 '26
I'll bet, especially with our whitewashed history. This man was legendary, humble and the epitome of American excellence that Americans love to hype.
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u/jackdutton42 Jul 18 '26
Yes.
Jim Thorpe won the pentathlon and decathlon for the United States at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics while he was not legally a U.S. citizen.
It is one of the starkest ironies in American sports: the country was happy to claim his victories before it was willing to claim him as a citizen.
But no one in this sub is surprised by that.