Trivia

Thorpe played baseball for the Rocky Mount club in North Carolina in 1909 and 1910, receiving small payments for each appearance. After he won 2 gold medals at the 1912 Olympic Games, the payments were reported in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. Thorpe was stripped of his Olympic titles because he had broken the rules regarding amateurism. On 18 January 1983, the International Olympic Committee officially reinstated Thorpe's medals.

In addition to his many athletic accomplishments, he also won the 1912 Intercollegiate Ballroom Dancing Championship.

He died in his trailer home in Lomita, CA. Thorpe was eating dinner with his wife, Patricia, when he suffered a heart attack. Patricia's screams attracted a neighbor, Colby Bradshaw, who administered artificial respiration for nearly half an hour. A county fire rescue squad took over and was momentarily successful. He revived, recognized persons around him and spoke to them. Thorpe was conscious for only a brief time before he suffered a relapse and died.

Had a twin brother, Charles Thorpe, who died of pneumonia at the age of nine. Jim loved his brother and never ceased to mourn him.

After he died in 1953, the town of Mauck Chunk, Pennsylvania, in exchange for the right to bury his body, offered to change its name to Jim Thorpe, PA. A movement has since been started to have his body returned to his native Oklahoma.

Named America's greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century.

Charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, 1983 (charter member).

Pictured on a 20¢ US commemorative postage stamp issued in his honor, 24 May 1984.

Halfback for the Canton Bulldogs (1915-1920,1926), Cleveland Indians (1921), Oorang Indians (1922-1923), Rock Island Independent (1924), New York Giants (1925) and Chicago Cardinals (1928).

According to "Peanuts and Crackerjack", a book of baseball anecdotes, while the early twentieth-century New York Giants teams were fun-loving, nobody dared to try to mess with Jim Thorpe. Thorpe was described as a man with a "gold medal temper" with brute strength to back it up. One teammate described Thorpe fighting a man as a dog would grab a rat.

The Jim Thorpe Award has been presented annually by The Jim Thorpe Association to the best defensive back in college football since 1986.

Of combined Irish and Native American (Sac and Fox) ancestry.

Inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. The hall of fame is administered by The Jim Thorpe Association.

Inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 1972 (inaugural class).

Inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1963.

Thorpe got into an altercation one night with actor Errol Flynn in a Hollywood restaurant. The story goes, Jim Thorpe hit Flynn so hard, he lifted his entire body off the ground with a single punch. Flynn fell to the floor and was out cold.

His Native American name was Wathahuck (Bright Path).

Pictured on one of fifteen 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps in the "Celebrate the Century" series, issued 3 February 1998, celebrating the 1910s; honored for his accomplishments in the 1912 Olympics.

Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 (charter class).

Inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975.

Outfielder for the New York Giants (1913-1915, 1917-1919), Cincinnati Reds (1917) and Boston Braves (1919).

Inducted into the San Pedro [California] Sportswalk to the Waterfront.

Inducted into the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame in 2008 (inaugural class).

Inducted into the Twin County [North Carolina Sports] Hall of Fame in 2005.

Inducted into the Jim Thorpe [Pennslyvania] Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 (inaugural class).

Inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame.