Carlisle Indian School---in depth

JIM THORPE
Students can analyze why Jim Thorpe, highly recognized graduate of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, accomplished feats unlike any other athlete in history.

 Associated Press named Jim Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century and ABC's "Wide World of Sports" poll named him the "greatest athlete of the 20th century."  He won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Sweden and played both professional football and baseball and organized barnstorming basketball teams. His prowess on the football field put him on the 1911 and 1912 All-American Football teams. In 1920 he became the first president of the American Professional Football Association (later to become the NFL).

When Jim was born in 1887 50% of his tribe lived in the traditional way – bark shelters and cultivating small patches of land with corn and vegetables.  Jim’s father, Hiram, bred horses and hunted for deer, turkey, squirrel, quail, fish and pheasants.  The family raised hogs, cattle and chickens and grew beans, corn, squash, pumpkins and melons.

Jim Thorpe was born in Prague, Oklahoma 1889.  His mother’s heritage included French, Potawatomi, and Kickapoo Indian, and his father’s heritage included Sac and Fox Indian, Dutch, Welsh and Irish. His mother called him Wa-Tho-Huck, meaning Bright Path, and his father, also a gifted athlete, taught Jim about physical fitness and good sportsmanship.

Thorpe had a twin brother named Charlie, and the two, inseparable as children, attended an Indian school where Charlie died at the age of eight.  Jim ran away from the school, but his father was determined Jim receive an education, so he sent Jim 300 miles to Kansas, hoping the distance would prevent further attempts at running away. While there, Jim first encountered football, but still restless, he ran away. He traveled over 270 miles on foot to return home.  Jim was greeted fondly upon his return, but only a short time later his mother died of blood poisoning. Jim was nearly thirteen.

Jim was sixteen when he was recruited to play for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. On some reservations, there were those Native Americans who considered the school as having an excellent reputation, and for many, it was a great ambition to send their children there. His father agreed, saying, “You are an Indian. I want you to show other races what an Indian can do.” His father died two months after Jim arrived at CIIS, and transportation was so poor that Jim did not arrive in time for his father’s funeral.
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While at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Thorpe was known as a football player, but he also excelled in track, baseball, lacrosse, boxing, basketball, hockey, archery, rifle shooting, canoeing, handball, swimming, skating, and a sport the Indian’s call rough and tumble. Football playing was interrupted for a year when the director of the school, Richard Pratt, banned football as being too violent after a player was injured. However, the following year, after listening to the petition of students, Pratt reinstated the game. He hired Glenn Warner to make the team as strong as possible.

Initially Glenn Scobie Warner, (known by the more popular “Pop Warner”), did not want Thorpe to play football. He feared that his track star would be seriously injured in the game. Thorpe’s argument to be allowed to play ball prevailed. With Thorpe on the football squad, the team had a remarkable record.  Sports helped Jim to settle down. His growing skill as an athlete was comparable to the former prestige of warrior among his people.

A story is told that Warner inspired his players to victory against West Point by reminding the young men that they were about to play against the sons and grandsons of those who fought the Indians. One West Point football player named Dwight D. Eisenhower, who forty years later would be elected to the presidency said of Thorpe, “On the football field, there was no one like him in the world.  Against us, he dominated all the action.”

Jim Thorpe won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics. These events were composed of fifteen separate competitions.  The pentathlon included the running broad jump, javelin throw, 200-meter dash, discus throw, and 1500-meter race. He came in first in each event but the javelin throw. He placed fourth in that event even though he had thrown a javelin for the first time only two months earlier. While other pentathlon athletes rested, Thorpe competed in the high jump and the long jump.

Decathlon events followed. This competition was comprised of ten events. Once again Thorpe took a gold medal. The pentathlon and decathlon had been included in the 1912 Olympics at the bequest of the Swedes. When the games were over, Jim Thorpe had accumulated 700 more points than the second place finisher from Sweden.

King Gustav V of Sweden presented the gold medal for the pentathlon, placed a wreath of laurels on his head and gave Thorpe a life-size bronze bust of the king. For the decathlon ceremony, Gustav presented him with a jewel encrusted silver trophy two feet long and weighing thirty pounds from the czar of Russia. King Gustav hailed, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” To this Thorpe replied, “Thanks, King.”

Although Thorpe won the medal as a representative of the United States, he was not officially a citizen until 1924 when Indians were granted rights of citizenship.

There was a huge turnout when Thorpe and Louis Tewanima, the 10,000-meter silver medallist, returned to Carlisle.

Within months of the Olympics a newspaper reported that Thorpe had received two dollars a day for expenses while playing minor league baseball in North Carolina during the summers of 1909 and 1910.  The Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) stripped him of his amateur standing and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) struck his name from the record book and took back his medals to bestow upon the second place winner.

The question of Thorpe’s amateur status is not a simple one. Contrary to popular belief, the Olympic competitors of ancient Greece were supported for a full year while they trained for the Olympic Games. “Amateurism” as we understand it today was a way for 19th century aristocrats to prevent the under classes from participation in the competition. Only wealthy individuals could afford to be true amateurs. Those who made money from their athletic ability were looked down upon.

Most likely Thorpe was unaware that his decision to play minor league baseball would affect his standing. Athletes commonly played for expenses in the minor leagues and his coach encouraged him to do the same. His innocence is suggested by the fact that he played under his own name rather than an alias as other players did.  Students can compare the interpretation of professional play in 1912 to the present day Dream Team Basketball Team and the sponsorship of companies such as Nike, Adidas, Gatorade, Reebok, and Oakley.

Both national and international newspapers supported Thorpe. Scandinavian newspapers unanimously told Thorpe to retain his awards.  On Warner’s advice, Thorpe returned his awards, which according to his friends, he later regretted.  The runners up accepted their trophies but announced that if the decision were ever reversed they would give them up.

Thorpe did nothing to try to get his medals returned to him and rarely spoke of his achievements. He coached college and professional teams and played professional baseball and football until 1928. His family never stopped trying to have Thorpe’s medals restored.  Thorpe died in 1953, but in 1982 the Jim Thorpe Foundation was established to work towards the restoration of his medals.  In 1973 the AAA reinstated his amateur standing, and a technicality was discovered in 1982 that made the 1912 decision invalid.  In 1983 replicas of his medals were presented to his heirs.

Thorpe’s original medals are missing and he is only listed as a participant in the 1912 games. His trophy from King Gustav is also missing. It was never passed on to the second place winner.
 
 

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