The Summer Olympics start next month. And it got me thinking about a show we are rebroadcasting this week about Olympic star Jim Thorpe.
Thorpe won the gold for the US in both the Pentathlon and Decathlon in the 1912 Olympics. But in 1913 the International Olympic Committee stripped him of his medals (because he had played two seasons of summertime semi-pro baseball years earlier).
Many in the native community saw the stripping of his medals as racism. Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox nation in Oklahoma. Native Americans had few rights in that time. They were not even US citizens until 1924. His story runs parallel to the worst of American history - forced relocation to reservations, boarding schools, and attempted genocide.
And the disgrace continued.
This may be hard to believe but during his funeral (a traditional Sac and Fox ceremony) Thorpe's body was stolen and sold to a small Pennsylvania town. They renamed themselves "Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania." And get this, his body is still there. Like a white man’s trophy amidst an Indian tourist trap.
Native Americans fought for years to get his Olympic gold reinstated. Finally, in 2022, they did.
Thorpe (and Native Americans) is not the sum of his suffering. Far from it! He went on to be an athletic legend playing in the NFL, MLB, and the NCAA. When I watch the Olympics this summer, I am going to take a moment and think about Thorpe winning those two gold medals, as legend goes, in mismatched shoes! And, the story continues, then King Gustav V of Sweden told Thorpe, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.” And Thorpe replied: “Thanks, King.” I love that.
Thanks, Thorpe.
– Charles