Three Not Well
Enough Known
Pocono America
D
uring our recent trip to the
Pennsylvania Poconos, we
had the opportunity to study
three notable Americans.
These three, although not
household words, made significant
accomplishments during their lives
and deserve further acclaim. They
are Jim Thorpe, Asa Packer, and
Gifford Pinchot.
Jim Thorpe
Thorpe, born in Oklahoma in 1888,
was 50% Caucasian and only 50%
Native American. Both of his parents
were half and half. But he always
seemed to consider himself a Native
American. On his own, he entered an
Industrial School (probably a high
school in Pennsylvania) and from
there entered Carlisle College. He
earned a reputation as an amazing
all round athlete, proficient in track
and field, football, baseball and even
basketball. One year, he led his
football team to the number one
college rating, by virtue of an upset
win over Harvard.
Thorpe’s records at the 1912
Olympics have never been equaled.
He won both the pentathlon and
decathlon events.
During his professional career,
Thorpe played both semiprofessional and wholly professional
baseball and football. In football, he
played with the New York Giants of
the young NFL. He played six seasons
of professional baseball, compiling a
batting average around .322.
An ugly incident which may have
involved racism clouded his life. It
came to light that, before the 1912
Olympics, Thorpe had played several
seasons of semi-professional
baseball. He wrote to the Olympics
President and did not deny this,
although several other players in
similar circumstances did. Although
the complaint against him was made
more than 30 days after the games
had ended, and therefore should
have been invalid, he was stripped
of all his medals.
Thorpe experienced difficulty in
earning a living after retiring from
football at age 41, just at the start
of the Great Depression. Alcoholism
plagued him for much of his later
life, until his death in 1953.
His widow was incensed that the
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state of Oklahoma would not prepare
a memorial for him after his death.
She turned to Pennsylvania, where
his college fame was earned, and
they were very receptive. Their
bargain was that the town of Mauch
Chunk would be renamed Jim Thorpe,
and his remains would be moved
there from Oklahoma.
Regaining Thorpe’s Olympic medals
was more difficult and wasn’t
achieved until 1983. At least
throughout the 1950s, there was
an almost fanatical determination
to require “amateurism” in its most
literal form. This was despite the
fact that Communist participants
in the games were full-time state
employees, whose “professional”
task was advancing Communist
propaganda. Eventually, rules
PHOTOS OF JIM THORPE MEMORIAL ARE COURTESY OF
POCONO MOUNTAINS VISITORS BUREAU
By Norman E. Hill Photos Maralyn D. Hill