Jim Thorpe (Wa-Tho-Huk)
Sak and Fox
"Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.”
-King Gustav V of Sweden
James Francis Thorpe was declared by the Associated Press in 1950, “the greatest athlete of the first half of the century.” Thorpe was born in 1888 and grew up in Oklahoma. At the Haskell Institute and Carlisle Indian School, he excelled in football and track, becoming a football superstar, professional baseball player, and one of the greatest track and field stars of all time. At the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Thorpe became the first athlete to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon. Today, in the wake of his leadership, the North American Indigenous Games (“the Indian Olympics”) bi-annually convenes outstanding Native athletes from states and provinces of the U.S. and Canada.
