1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey y'all, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show where we one day ship 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: nuggets of history straight to your brain through your ear hole. 5 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: Today it's January m The day was January eighteenth, nineteen 6 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: eighty three. More than seventy years after athlete Jim Thorpe 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: won gold medals at the nineteen twelve Olympics, the International 8 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: Olympic Committee restored his medals posthumously. James Francis Thorpe, also 9 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: known as Bright Path, was born in what is now Oklahoma. 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: He was a member of the Stock and Fox Nation, 11 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: a tribe of sock and Masquwaukee people's. Thorpe participated in 12 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: many sports over the years. He played football and competed 13 00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:00,279 Speaker 1: in track and field at Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania. 14 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen o nine, Thorpe went to 15 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: Rocky Mount, North Carolina to play minor league baseball for 16 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: a reported fifteen dollars a week. College athletes often used 17 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: pseudonyms when they did this so they could keep their 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: status as amateurs, but Thorpe used his own name and 19 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,119 Speaker 1: he went back to play baseball in the Eastern Carolina League, 20 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,279 Speaker 1: splitting time between Rocky Mount and Fayetteville. In the summer 21 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: of nineteen ten, Thorpe excelled as a football player and 22 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: track and field star, and he began training for the Olympics. 23 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen twelve, he headed to Stockholm, Sweden for the 24 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: Summer Olympics. Chosen for the pentathlon and decathlon teams, he 25 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: won gold medals in both events. Later that year, he 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: returned to Carlisle to play football. His victories had gained 27 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: him more fame, and he noted disliking all the attention, 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: but all the positive attention soon turned into negative press. 29 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: Olympic athletes had to follow rules regard amateurism. Those who 30 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: previously played professional sports could not compete in the game. 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirteen, the Wooster Telegram out of Massachusetts reported 32 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: that he was paid to play baseball in the summers 33 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: of nineteen o nine and nineteen ten, and news spread 34 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: to other sources. This meant that he was barred from 35 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: competing in the Olympics. In a letter he wrote to 36 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: James Edwards Sullivan, the secretary of the Amateur Athletic Union, 37 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: he said the following I hope I will be partly 38 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: excused by the fact that I was simply an Indian 39 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: schoolboy and did not know all about such things. But 40 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: his lack of awareness of the rules did not fly 41 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: as an excuse with the Amateur Athletic Union. It revoked 42 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: his amateur status, and the International Olympic Committee stripped him 43 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: of his medals and took his name out of record books. 44 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:54,160 Speaker 1: Thorpe soon left Carlisle. For the next couple of decades, 45 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,920 Speaker 1: he played Major League Baseball and professional football. After he 46 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: retired from professional sports, he took various jobs as an 47 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: m C actor and public speaker. In nineteen forty three, 48 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: the Oklahoma Legislature adopted a resolution that the A A 49 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: U B petitioned to reinstate his records, and there were 50 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: later calls for the restoration of his medals, but he 51 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: died of a heart attack in nineteen fifty three. It 52 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: wasn't until nineteen seventy three that the A A YOU 53 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: restored his amateur status. In January eighth, nineteen eighty three, 54 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: when the International Olympic Committee presented Thorpe's children with commemorative medals, 55 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: I'm Eve Jeff Coo and hopefully you know a little 56 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If there's 57 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: something I missed in the show today, you can let 58 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: us know at t D I h C Podcast on Twitter, Facebook, 59 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: or Instagram. You can also email us at this day 60 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: at i heart media dot com. Thank you for listening 61 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: to today's episode. We'll see you again tomorrow with another one. 62 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: Mm hmmm mm hmm. 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