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Jim Thorpe

Restoration Of Medals

In 1973 the AAU finally restored Thorpe's amateur status for 1909-1912. In 1975 the U.S. Olympic Committee reinstated Thorpe, and in 1982, after a lengthy campaign by Thorpe's sons and daughters and many supporters, the International Committee agreed to restore Thorpe's status and return replicas of the medals.

Thorpe is considered the greatest American male athlete in history. He was named "The Legend" on the all-time NFL team; his statue graces the lobby of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and his portrait hangs in the Oklahoma State Capitol. The NFL's annual most valuable player award is called the Jim Thorpe Trophy. In 1996, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games honored his memory by routing the Olympic torch relay through his birthplace of Prague, Oklahoma. In 1999, the U.S. House and Senate passed resolutions designating Thorpe America's Athlete of the Century.

Jim Thorpe-All-American

Although Thorpe sold the rights to his life story to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for $1,500 in 1929, the planned movie, to be called Red Son of Carlisle, was never produced, as the Great Depression settled in on America. In 1949, as Thorpe's fame was undergoing a revival, Warner Brothers studios announced that it had purchased the rights to his life story from MGM and was planning to make the film. Unfortunately, Thorpe never realized any further money from the deal, because his original contract gave him no rights in the event of a resale.

The film, titled Jim Thorpe-All-American, premiered in August 1951, the month that Thorpe was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame. The film became a box-office hit. Written by Russell Birdwell and Frank Davis and directed by Michael Curtiz, the film stars, in addition to Lancaster, Charles Bickford as Pop Warner, Steve Cochran as "Peter Allendine" (a character based on Albert Exendine), and Phyllis Thaxter as "Margaret Miller" (a character based on Thorpe's first wife, Iva Miller).

The story, like most films, does not follow Thorpe's life in true detail. It portrays him as striving to be a success for his mother and taking up football to impress his girl at Carlisle. It plays down racial issues and becomes melodramatic when Thorpe struggles with a drinking problem and tries to find work in his later years. However, it ends with Warner bringing Thorpe the good news that Oklahoma will erect a monument to the great athlete.

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Famous Sports StarsFootballJim Thorpe Biography - Beginning On The Bright Path, Carlisle Indian, The 1912 Olympics, Chronology, Greatest Football Season - SELECTED WRITINGS BY THORPE: