Jim Thorpe

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Born in 1888 in Oklahoma Territory, Jim Thorpe was a Sac and Fox Indian. After attending the Sac and Fox agency school and Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas, he transferred to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle he led the football team to victories over some of the nation's best college teams-Army, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska. In 1912 he participated in the Olympic Games in Stockholm, winning both the decathlon and pentathlon. It was then that King Gustav V of Sweden dubbed him "the world's greatest athlete." Between 1913 and 1919, Thorpe played professional baseball for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves. In 1915 he began playing professional football with the Canton (Ohio) Bulldogs. When the top teams were organized into the American Professional Football Association in 1920, Thorpe was named the first president of the league, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922. Throughout his career he excelled in every sport he played, earning King Gustav's accolade many times over. Robert W. Wheeler is founder and President of the Jim Thorpe Foundation. Sport Illustrated credited him with primary responsibility for the restoration of Thorpe's Olympic awards in 1982. He has also been Director of Public Relations for the White House Conference for Children and Youth, Executive Director of the Heart of Ohio Girl Scout Council, and Executive Director of the Brighton (New York) Youth Service and Recreation Agency. He holds degrees in history and education from New York University and Syracuse University. "The book that Robert W. Wheeler has put together can only be described as phenomenal. What makes his book significant is the fact the work is no doubt the most definitive, most complete and certainly the most accurate biography ever published of Jim Thorpe" ---Canton(Ohio) Repository "Robert W. Wheeler is Jim Thorpe's Boswell, " ---Dick Schapp, ESPN "A major biography of America's greatest athlete." ---The Dallas Morning News "Wheeler's book is a sympathetic biography, but the author does not hesitate to deal with the trouble in Thorpe's public and private lives....Sports enthusiasts as well as readers interested in the Native American contributions to United States history will find this book commendable and entertaining." ---Chronicles of Oklahoma