Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Sac and Fox Olympic champion whose Canton Bulldogs years (1915-1920) made Canton the cradle of pro football; he was the first president of the league founded there in 1920, which became the NFL.

Born May 22, 1887, near Prague, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)
Died March 28, 1953, Lomita, California

Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: May 22, 1887, near Prague, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) source
Died: March 28, 1953, Lomita, California source
Buried: Jim Thorpe Memorial, Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania source
Also known as: Jim Thorpe
Education: Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, PA, from 1904
Known as: Sports
Organizations: Canton Bulldogs

Life story

Jim Thorpe was born in 1887 near Prague, Oklahoma (May 22 or 28 are both given), to Hiram Thorpe of Sac and Fox descent and Charlotte Vieux of Potawatomi descent. He attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School from 1904, where Pop Warner saw his talent.

He won Olympic gold in the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912, played pro baseball from 1913 to 1919, and married Iva Miller in 1913.

He joined the Canton Bulldogs in 1915 at $250 a game, which reportedly lifted crowds from 1,200 to 8,000. As player-coach he won Ohio League titles in 1916, 1917 and 1919, and he served as first president of the American Professional Football Association in 1920-21, the group that became the NFL. He died in 1953. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, is named for him and holds his tomb.

Ohio ties

Canton (1915-1917, 1919-1920, 1926)
star halfback and coach of the Canton Bulldogs; Ohio League champions 1916, 1917 and 1919 Stark County · source
Canton (Ralph Hay's auto showroom) (1920-1921)
named first president of the American Professional Football Association, founded in Canton on September 17, 1920 Stark County · source
Cincinnati (1917)
outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds after a sale from the New York Giants Hamilton County · source
Cleveland (1921)
player-coach of the APFA Cleveland Indians (Tigers) Cuyahoga County · source
LaRue (1921-1923)
player-coach of Walter Lingo's Oorang Indians, the NFL's all-Native American team; also worked at the Oorang Airedale kennels Marion County · source
Marion (Lincoln Park) (1922-1923)
the Oorang Indians' only home field Marion County · source
LaRue (1926-1928)
featured player of the World Famous Indians, a barnstorming basketball team based in LaRue Marion County · source
Toledo (by 1922)
played minor-league baseball for the Toledo Mud Hens Lucas County · source

Timeline

1887 Born near Prague in Indian Territory; his baptismal certificate says May 22, the Jim Thorpe Museum says May 28, and Thorpe himself once gave May 28, 1888. source
1912 Won the pentathlon and decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics. source
1913 Stripped of his Olympic titles after newspapers reported he had been paid to play minor-league baseball in 1909 and 1910; signed with the New York Giants. source
1915 Signed by Canton Bulldogs manager Jack Cusack for $250 a game for the season-ending games with Massillon; 8,000 came to his Canton debut, against an average of about 1,200 before him. source
1915 Took over as Canton coach and kicked two field goals in a 6-0 win over the Massillon Tigers. source
1916 The Bulldogs went unbeaten, beat Massillon 24-0 and were recognised as professional champions. source
1917 Canton won its first eight games and a second straight Ohio League title; Thorpe also played for the Cincinnati Reds that baseball season. source
1919 Led Canton, now owned by auto dealer Ralph Hay, to a third Ohio League title in four years. source
1920 On September 17 ten teams met in Hay's Canton showroom and formed the American Professional Football Association; Thorpe was elected its president. source
1921 Replaced as league president by Joseph Carr; played for and coached the Cleveland Indians, but hurt his ribs in the second game. source
1922 Walter Lingo bought an NFL franchise for $100 and Thorpe ran the Oorang Indians; their first 'home' game, a 20-6 win over the Columbus Panhandles, was played at Lincoln Park in Marion on October 8. source
1923 Played his last Oorang season (1-10 in the NFL) and was named to the Green Bay Press-Gazette's first All-NFL team. source
1926 Returned to play nine games for Canton, his last season with the Bulldogs. source
1927 Headlined the World Famous Indians of LaRue, a barnstorming basketball team, a career rediscovered in 2005 through a 1927 ticket. source
1928 Played his final NFL game, for the Chicago Cardinals, ending with 52 NFL games for six teams. source
1953 Died March 28 in Lomita, California; his body was later taken to Pennsylvania towns that merged and renamed themselves Jim Thorpe. source
1963 Inducted in the charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, which opened on September 7, 1963; his statue stands in the rotunda. source
1983 The IOC presented commemorative medals to two of his children on January 18 after restoring him as co-champion in 1982; in 2022 he was restored as sole champion. source

What Jim is known for

Canton Bulldogs player-coach 1915-17 and 1919-20
First APFA president 1920-21 (nominal)
1912 Olympic decathlon and pentathlon golds, stripped 1913, restored 1983, sole champion recognized 2022
Canton Bulldogs player-coach
APFA/NFL first president

Stories

The $250 gamble that filled League Park

In 1915 the Canton Bulldogs and Massillon Tigers were spending heavily to win the unofficial Ohio League title. Before their two-game series, Canton manager Jack Cusack signed Jim Thorpe, the most famous athlete in the country, for $250 a game. Thorpe hardly played in the first game at Massillon, a 16-0 loss, but in the rematch he took over as coach, played the whole game and kicked two field goals in a 6-0 win. Crowds that had averaged about 1,500 rose to 6,000 and then 8,000, the capacity of Canton's League Park. The money let Cusack keep a team of former All-Americans, and Canton won titles in 1916, 1917 and 1919. Thorpe stayed pro football's biggest draw until Red Grange arrived in 1925.

Source

A league born on running boards

By 1920 the Bulldogs were winning but losing money on salaries, and players jumped from team to team. Thorpe had picked up the idea of a league from Rochester Jeffersons owner Leo Lyons in 1917. Canton owner Ralph Hay invited the leading Midwest teams to Canton on the evening of Friday, September 17, 1920. His office was too small, so the meeting moved into his Hupmobile showroom, and some owners sat on the running boards of the cars. The ten teams formed the American Professional Football Association, renamed the National Football League in 1922. Hay was offered the presidency but proposed Thorpe, whose fame he thought would help the new league. A plaque on the Bow Federal Building in downtown Canton, where the showroom stood, marks the meeting.

Source

Airedales, a bear and the NFL in LaRue

Walter Lingo ran the Oorang Kennels in LaRue, a Marion County village of about 800, and sold Airedale terriers by mail. He became friends with Thorpe after Thorpe defended his dogs against farmers who called them sheep killers, and in 1921 Thorpe and his Carlisle teammate Pete Calac came to LaRue to hunt. Lingo then bought an NFL franchise for $100, less than the $150 price of one of his best Airedales, on condition that Thorpe field an all-Indian team that also worked at the kennels. LaRue had no football field, so the Oorang Indians played almost every game on the road and used Lincoln Park in Marion for 'home' games. Halftime shows featured Airedales treeing a live bear, trick shooting and a staged battle scene with Red Cross dogs. The team won only four NFL games in two seasons, and LaRue remains the smallest town ever to hold an NFL franchise.

Source

Practising with the pros

In 2000, football historian Chris Willis interviewed William Guthery Sr., then 95, who had been a senior at LaRue High School in 1922. That year the high school fielded a football team for the first time in years, and because the town had only one usable field, the schoolboys often practised alongside the Oorang Indians. Guthery remembered Thorpe and the Indians teaching the boys how to tackle, block, straight-arm, pass and kick. He recalled Thorpe drop-kicking field goals from midfield toward both goals before a game against the Columbus Panhandles. The players boarded in town houses and at a rooming house, and some worked on local farms.

Source

Inventions and firsts

All Ohio inventions and firsts

American Professional Football Association founded (1920)

Honors and things named for them

Pro Football Hall of Fame, inaugural class 1963
NFL 1920s All-Decade Team
Town of Jim Thorpe, PA
Olympic golds restored 1983

Family

father: Hiram Thorpe
mother: Charlotte Vieux
wife: Iva M. Miller
daughter: Grace Thorpe

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

1 Pro Football Hall of Fame (Thorpe statue in the rotunda)
Canton Stark County · source
2 Ohio historical marker 8-76, The Cradle of Professional Football
Canton Stark County · source
Site of Ralph Hay's auto showroom, where the APFA was founded (plaque on the Bow Federal Building) (unknown)
Canton Stark County · source
3 Ohio historical marker 7-51, Home of the Oorang Indians, NFL's Most Colorful Franchise
LaRue Marion County · source
Lincoln Park, Marion (Oorang Indians home games, 1922-1923) (unknown)
Marion Marion County · source
4 Redland Field, later Crosley Field (Cincinnati Reds home, 1917) (demolished)
Cincinnati Hamilton County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Pro Football Hall of Fame (museum)
2121 George Halas Dr NW, Canton, Stark County ZIP 44708 · Canton · Stark County

Ohio places

Where Jim Thorpe was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Worked: Canton, Stark County ZIP 44702 · Canton · Stark County
Museum: Canton (Pro Football Hall of Fame), Stark County (2121 George Halas Dr NW) ZIP 44708 · Canton · Stark County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Jim Thorpe, and what the record shows.

Often said Thorpe answered King Gustav V's 'You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world' with 'Thanks, King.'

The record The king's compliment is confirmed in The Red Man of September 1912, but Thorpe's reply did not appear in newspapers until 1948, 36 years later, and his biographer Kate Buford doubts it. source

Often said The NFL was founded with Thorpe as a powerful first commissioner.

The record Thorpe was president of the American Professional Football Association, a figurehead chosen for his fame on Ralph Hay's suggestion; he spent most of 1920 playing for Canton and was replaced by Joseph Carr in 1921. The name National Football League was adopted in 1922. source

Often said Thorpe's Olympic medals were restored in 1982.

The record The IOC Executive Committee approved his reinstatement in October 1982 (the date the Pro Football Hall of Fame gives), but it named him co-champion and presented replica medals to his children on January 18, 1983. He was listed as sole champion only in 2022. source

Disputed: Wikipedia gives his birth date as either May 22 or May 28, 1887.

Documents

Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.

The Oorang Indians, by Bob Braunwart, Bob Carroll and Joe Horrigan (The Coffin Corner, vol. 3, no. 1, 1981), with game-by-game results 1981, Professional Football Researchers Association
Remembering the Oorang Indians: interview with William Guthery Sr. of LaRue, by Chris Willis (The Coffin Corner, vol. 24, no. 3) 2000, Professional Football Researchers Association
Ohio historical marker 7-51 text: Home of the Oorang Indians Ohio History Connection (Remarkable Ohio)
Ohio historical marker 8-76 text: The Cradle of Professional Football Ohio History Connection (Remarkable Ohio)
Football player (Jim Thorpe), Harris & Ewing glass negative 1910-1920, Library of Congress

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

The card gives the student name, sex, tribe, dates entered and left school, parents names, and age at entrance...
Public domain
Professional baseball player Jim Thorpe as a member of the New York Giants.
Public domain
Public domain
Black and white newspaper image of three men, outdoors, in dark shirts
Public domain
Photograph of Jim Thorpe while playing for the Canton Bulldogs
Public domain
Photograph of Jim Thorpe while playing for the Canton Bulldogs
Public domain
Photograph of Jim Thorpe while playing for the Canton Bulldogs
Public domain
Jim Thorpe Liviu Balea as a football player.
Public domain
The photo shows Jim Thorpe in a business suit shaking hands with a group of admirers.
Public domain
Jim Thorpe shaking hands with Moses Friedman while Glenn "Pop" Warner, Lewis Tewanima, and a crowd look on.
Public domain
Source: Digitally enhanced detail from an image in the private collection of Michael Moran, used with permissi...
Public domain
1933 Goudey Sport Kings football card of Jim Thorpe #6. PD-not-renewed.
Public domain