Jim Thorpe

His first marriage was to Iva Miller from 1913 to 1925. The couple had four children.

He married again in 1926. His second wife was Freeda Kirkpatrick who worked as a manager of the baseball team he played for. They had four sons and divorced in 1941.

He tied the knot yet again with Patricia Askew in 1945. His third wife remained with him till his death.

The details of his childhood are often disputed—the exact facts about his date of birth or birth place have not been verified. His parents were of mixed ancestry. His father was Hiram Thorpe, a farmer, while his mother was Charlotte Vieux. He was raised according to native Indian customs.

He went to the Sac and Fox Indian Agency School before being sent off to the Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Kansas.

He became depressed after his mother died while he was still young and left home after arguing with his father; however, he returned to his father when he was 16 and resumed his education at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.

During his school days he stood out from his peers due to his phenomenal athletic abilities. The legendary football coach Glenn “Pop” Warner noticed his abilities and coached him.

Another tragedy struck Jim when his father died leaving him orphaned.

The concrete records of his achievements date from 1907. As a student in high school and college, he participated in competitive football, baseball, and lacrosse.

He received considerable attention in 1911 when as a football player, he scored all his team’s field goals and a touchdown in an 18-15 win over the Harvard, a top ranked team in those days. His team finished the season 11-1.

Football was his favourite sport. In 1912, he scored 25 touchdowns and 198 points. The same year he started training for the Olympics in several sports: jumps, hurdles, pole vaulting, javelin, and hammer. He was noticed during the trials due to his all-round ability.

There were two new multi-events in the 1912 Summer Olympics, Sweden: the pentathlon and the decathlon. The versatile Thorpe participated in both these events, and also in long jump and high jump. He won the Gold Medals in the Pentathlon and Decathlon.

After winning the Olympics, he competed in the Amateur Athletic Union’s All-Around Championship. He competed against Bruno Brodd and J. Bredemus and won seven of the ten events contested.

He won two Gold Medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics held at Stockholm, one each in the events Pentathlon and Decathlon.