1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: All right, answer me this. How can one individual raised 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: on a Native American reservation, his twin brother and his 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: parents dead by the time he was sixteen go on 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,239 Speaker 1: to win Olympic gold medals in track and field and 5 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: then play professional football, baseball, and basketball. He wound up 6 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,799 Speaker 1: in more than a dozen Halls of Fame and was 7 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: repeatedly named the greatest athlete of the twentieth century. I'm 8 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Jim Thorpe's unprecedented talent and achievements, how he 9 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: got there and the sad ending to his life. That's 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: next on the backstory. The backstory is back, all right. 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: First off, I want to thank backstory listener Drendahba for 12 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: turning me on to this amazing story. Thank you so much. 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: I don't even know how you tell a story about 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: a guy like this because there's so many twists and turns, 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: so many sports in which he excelled. It is absolutely 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: mind boggling. Now not going to I'm the one who 17 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: got picked maybe not last, but pretty far down the 18 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: line when it came to any and I mean almost 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: any sports activities in school. Yes, I was on the 20 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: swim team as a diver, but trophies or ribbons. Yeah, no, 21 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: not so much. So I'm just always blown away by 22 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: people who are just great natural athletes. I love that 23 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: there are people like that. And when we talk about 24 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: the greatest athlete that ever lived, a lot of names 25 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: pop up. Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Babe Ruth Muhammad, Ali, 26 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, to name just a few. But 27 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,119 Speaker 1: if you look at the accomplishments of one individual, Jim 28 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: Thorpe is pretty clearly the goat. Like me. You may 29 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,559 Speaker 1: not know much about him because his heyday was over 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: one hundred years ago, but this guy dominated every sport 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: he played. That included Olympic track and field, pro baseball, 32 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: Pro football, and pro basketball. He was also a terrific 33 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: hockey player and believe it or not, a champion ballroom dancer, 34 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: but football was his favorite sport and arguably the one 35 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: that brought him the most glory. Thorpe was such a 36 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: phenom that researchers back then looked at his anatomy and 37 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: called him the perfect specimen for an athlete. But where 38 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: did he come from and how did he wind up 39 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: dying broke? Jim Thorpe was born on the sac and 40 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: Fox Indian Reservation in what is now Oklahoma. His childhood 41 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,079 Speaker 1: wasn't well documented, and it sure wasn't easy. It's believed 42 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: he and his twin brother were born in eighteen eighty seven. 43 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: There were apparently around ten children in the family, but 44 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: many of them died as babies or young children. When 45 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: Jim was nine, his twin brother died of pneumonia, which 46 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: devastated him, and that same year his mother died in childbirth. 47 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: So he's left now with a father who was a 48 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: gambler and bootlegger as well as an alcoholic. Jim had 49 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: no support. He ran away from home a number of times, 50 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: until finally his dad sent him to the Carlisle Indian 51 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: Boarding School in Pennsylvania. Despite being thousands of miles from 52 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: home and being forced to assimilate into white culture, Jim 53 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: actually really thrived for one main reason. Sports football was 54 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: where he really began to shine. Under the leadership of 55 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: the legendary kids coach Pop Warner. He was All American 56 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: with the school's team three times. In his teams, he 57 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: started playing minor league baseball, but in nineteen twelve he 58 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: was named to the US Olympic Track and field team. 59 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: He won two gold medals in the decathlon and the pentathlon, 60 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: smashing world records. The King of Sweden, who presented the medals, 61 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: told Thorpe, you, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world. Now. 62 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: On the downside, just months after the nineteen twelve Summer 63 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: Olympic Games, a newspaper reported that Thorpe had gotten a 64 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: few minuscule payments for playing minor league baseball. At the time, 65 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: the Olympics did not allow pro athletes, and Jim was 66 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: stripped of his medals. Oddly, it didn't happen that everybody 67 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: who got paid, but he was Native American and that 68 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: might have been a problem. Replica medals were eventually given 69 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: to his family in nineteen eighty three, but the IOC 70 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: didn't reinstate his wins in the official record books until 71 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,679 Speaker 1: July of twenty twenty two. But the public didn't seem 72 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: to care. They were obsessed with him. Historians say he 73 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: was the earliest international celebrity athlete. Those Olympic wins had 74 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: made him hugely famous, but that was just the beginning. 75 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: As much as he loved football, there was no NFL 76 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: in his early days and no real way to make 77 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 1: any money, and Jim wanted to be a pro athlete. 78 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: After all the publicity, he was offered contracts with baseball teams, 79 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 1: so he played Major League Baseball as an outfielder for 80 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: six teams, including the New York Giants, beginning in nineteen 81 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: teen thirteen. But get this, in baseball's off season, he 82 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:07,680 Speaker 1: started playing pro football because he did love football, a 83 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,839 Speaker 1: sport pretty much in its infancy. In nineteen fifteen, he 84 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 1: signed with the Canton Bulldogs for two hundred and fifty 85 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: bucks a game that was a huge payday in those days. 86 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: His football team normally had about twelve hundred fans in 87 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: the Stans per game, but when Thorpe debuted there were 88 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: over eight thousand. Between nineteen twenty and nineteen twenty eight, 89 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: he played for six football teams, and in nineteen twenty 90 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: two he was named the first ever president of the 91 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: brand new National Football League, which he had helped organize. 92 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: He was by far the biggest draw to the games 93 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: he played, and he coached his teams as well, and 94 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen twenties he also played pro basketball 95 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: for several years. When he finally retired from playing in 96 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,359 Speaker 1: any sports in nineteen twenty eight, he didn't have that 97 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: much money. Of course, there was no broadcasting to move into, 98 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,719 Speaker 1: so he did the next best thing. He moved to 99 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: California and attempted to become an actor. He played mostly 100 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: minor roles in around seventy movies. There were lots of 101 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: Westerns in those days, and he actually formed a casting 102 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: company to pressure movie studios to cast real Native Americans 103 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:21,919 Speaker 1: in those roles. But again it wasn't easy. In fact, 104 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: when his life story was made into a movie in 105 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, which he helped with, Thorpe was played 106 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: by legendary actor Bert Lancaster, who was clearly not Native American. 107 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,239 Speaker 1: His heritage was Irish or something. But Jim had a family. 108 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: He was married three times had a total of eight 109 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: children to support. He needed money, so later in life 110 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: he worked odd jobs as a construction worker, a doorman 111 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: and bouncer, a security guard, even a ditch digger. He 112 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: briefly joined the United States Merchant Marines in nineteen forty 113 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: five during World War Two, but through it all he 114 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: was a chronic alcoholic. After his playing years, finally, he 115 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: ran out of money sometime in the early nineteen fifties. 116 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: In fact, when he was hospitalized for lip cancer in 117 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty, Thorpe was admitted as a charity case. At 118 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: a press conference, his third wife, Patricia, cried and asked 119 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: for help, saying, we're broke. Jim has nothing but his 120 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: name and his memories. He has spent money on his 121 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: own people and has given it away. He's been exploited. 122 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: She wasn't wrong there. Jim Thorpe went into heart failure 123 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: at home in a California trailer park and died on 124 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: March twenty eighth, nineteen fifty three, at the age of 125 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: sixty five. In the ensuing decades, he's been named the 126 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: greatest athlete in history by ABC Sports and by numerous publications. 127 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: But his story has an unusual ending. About a year 128 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:54,239 Speaker 1: after his death, his widow Patricia, unbeknownst to the rest 129 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: of his family and all his kids, took Jim's body 130 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: and shipped it to Pennsylvania. She had heard that the 131 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: small towns of Maudchunk and East Mauchunk were trying to 132 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: attract business. She made a deal with town officials, apparently 133 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,679 Speaker 1: for some cash. They agreed to bury him and create 134 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: a monument to him, as well as renamed the two 135 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: now United Towns Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Thorpe had never even 136 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: been there, but the monument site has his tomb, two 137 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: statues of him in different athletic poses, and historical markers 138 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: telling his life story, and it has continued to attract 139 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 1: tourists to the little town. Jim Thorpe's monument has engraved 140 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 1: on it the quote from Sweden's King Gustav as he 141 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: presented Jim with his Olympic medals. You, sir, are the 142 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,959 Speaker 1: greatest athlete in the world. Again, I really want to 143 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: thank Drenda Heba for turning me on to this story. 144 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: I always knew who Jim Thorpe was, but I really 145 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 1: had no idea what an amazing athlete he was and 146 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: what his story was all about. I hope you like 147 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:01,839 Speaker 1: the Backstory with Patty's Please leave a review. I would 148 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to 149 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: get new episodes delivered automatically, and also feel free to 150 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: DM me if, like Brenda, you have a story you'd 151 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and 152 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories 153 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 154 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 155 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 156 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 157 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 158 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 159 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 160 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.