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261Jim Thorpe's is considered to be the greatest player and Charlotte Thorpe were mixed Native American and European So when Jim was born he was given a native name which was Wa Tho Huk which meant bright path which was correct for his future ahead Jim and Charlie Thorpe were very close siblings They did everything together they fished they hunted and they wrestled When they were both six their parents sent them to a Sac and Fox agency school located 20 miles away from their home Charlie was the academic student while Jim was more into sports An epidemic swept the school and Charlie became I ll and never recovered from it and died at the age of nine Jim was devastated by this and ignored school and sports for a while and ran away a lot Later on he joined the Carlisle Indian School where he was seen for his incredible athletic skills by Pop Warner who was a Football and track and field coach While in Carlisle he played Semi professional baseball for two years and left because Pop Warner saw a bright path for him Warner wanted Thorpes to join the football team Thorpe joined playing as a halfback place kicker punter and defender on the varsity team and leading Carlisle to win the season beating Harvard and ended with their record being 23 2 1 As the 1912 season
Thorpe was a great baseball player he made a bigger impact in football with the Canton Football team He joined them in 1915 and made 250 dollars a game which was a lot back then but it was justified since many wanted to see Thorpe play and every time Thorpe played the stadiums were filled He leads the Bulldogs to win the league in the seasons 16 17 and 19
The Bulldogs were one of the 14 team that made up the American Professional Football Association It was later changed to the National Football Association N F L After playing for the Bulldogs Thorpe went on to coach the Native American team Oorang Indians from 1922 to 1923 After finishing coaching the Oorang Indians he went on to divorce Iva and remarried to Freeda Kirkpatrick Thorpe and Freeda had four sons In 1926 Thorpe played his final season of football with the Canton Bulldogs and after retiring sports in general Since Thorpe retired from sports he had to find other jobs since he had to feed seven children He worked in small Hollywood films but never got a play big enough for a stable job He started to have a drinking problem and didn t have much after his sports career In1990
He remarried for the final time to Patricia Gladys Askew They had one kid and Thorpe went on to become a motivational speaker and sharing his experiences and his love for sports He also helped train the Israeli soccer team for their match against the U S In 1950 he was named Greatest Football player for the Half century as well as the greatest Male Athlete of the Half Century In 1953 Thorpe died of his third major heart attack in Lomita California After his death Thorpe was conducted in the hall of fame and the A A U restored his status for the 1909 1912 Olympic wins As well as the Olympics committee restored Thorpe s names back into the books and returned his medals back to the family Lastly in 1999 U S congress came to the resolution to name the Thorpe athlete of the Century Even after his death Thorpe was remembered as a great athlete who loved the sports for the competition and will always be considered the best