Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe has been called the greatest male athlete of the twenthieth century. He was great in sports like, football, baseball,and track and field.

He wo two Olympic gold medals in 1912. Unfortunaeiy because of his nationality it was difficilt for him to be acccecpted and because of his faced much discrimination. Thorpe was borne on May 22,1887, him and his twin brother, Charlie were borne near Prague, Oklahoma. They lived on an Indian reservation that was set aside especially for the native Americans. In 1893, Jm and Charlie were enrolled at the closest school. Jim began to take interest in the games played at the school, such as baseball. He was an all-round athlete even at his young age. When he was a child, they did not have much to play with. They used sticks for bats, and rocks for bases, and they made their qwn rules. Jim absolutely hated the school. In 1907 Jim and Charlie had been at the school for three and a half years, when the typhold epidemic had spread throughout the school. Charlie became ill and soon passed away. The following fall he was sent to the Haskell institute bording school. Jim hated Haskell just as much as saux and fox, the schools he had previously attended. The only thing he enjoyed was the schools strong sports program. He returned home because his father was injured, by the time he had arrived his fathers injuries had been healed. He the discovered information about his mother, who had had died due to complications whilr giving birth. His father refused to give up on Jims education. In 1904, Jim boarded a train for Carlisle,Pennsylvania. He was on his way to the Carlisile Indian industrial school. Carlisle was the largest school jim attended. Two months after attending Carlisle his father died. By 17 Thorpe had not only lost his twin brother but his mother and father as well. Although he did not realize his life was about tot drastically change. The head coach pop Warner had called Thorpe into his office to tell him that he had broken the schools high jump record. In the spring of 1907 Thorpe began training with other track team members.