Path lit by lightning, p.73
Path Lit by Lightning, page 73
When Jim left Kansas: Associated Press, Ponca City, OK, Oct. 13, 1930; Mike Koehler unpublished manuscript. “Thorpe visited his two children who are attending Chilocco Institute.”
His athletic career seemed distant: “Rockne Picks His All-Time Backfield,” Associated Press, Dec. 6, 1930; advertisement in Cincinnati Enquirer, Nov. 3, 1930; “Then and Now,” Vineland (NJ) Daily Journal, Dec. 16, 1930.
Scrapping around for another way: “Pro Grid Circuit Planned,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 25, 1931.
Jim’s next job: “Red Son of Carlisle,” 79; Buford, Native American Son, 264.
With that in mind: Account of Thorpe working as laborer drawn from Red Son of Carlisle, 79; Jean Bosquiet, Associated Press, March 2, 1931 (“The once mighty Indian of Carlisle… is not ashamed of his job.”); AP wirephoto, Austin American Statesman, March 12, 1931; Lawrence Perry column, Oakland Tribune, March 6, 1931; Newspaper Enterprise Association article, March 14, 1931.
Pop Warner was also on the West Coast: Stanford coaching record, College Football, Sports Reference website.
As for the real Indians: Collier’s, Oct. 24 and 31, 1931.
In the days leading up: Account of Thorpe’s treatment leading up to the 1932 Olympics drawn from Stockholms-Tinningen, April 21, 1964; Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1932; Los Angeles Times advertisement, July 17, 1932 (“Great American Athlete Now an Author”); United Press correspondent George H. Beale, July 21, 1932; Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Aug. 1, 1932; 1932 Olympics file, DHTC; Buford, 275–76.
CHAPTER 26: “A MAN HAS TO KEEP HUSTLING”
His closest neighbors: Interview with Vicky Armstrong, Frank and Kate Miller’s granddaughter, Dec. 18, 1920.
At one point her field: Michael E. Welsh, “The Road to Assimilation: The Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1839–1936,” University of New Mexico dissertation, 1983; letter from Acting Field Clerk C. L. Ellis to Department of Interior, June 21, 1927, drawn from DHTC Harjo’s Indians files and RG75, Central Classified Files, Seminole, 34605, NARA.
This was an ambitious enterprise: “Hardball and Headdresses: Jim Thorpe, Harjo’s Indians, and Playing Social Stereotypes in Oklahoma Native American Baseball,” Horsehide Historian blog, Feb. 3, 2017; Associated Press, April 28, 1933; Sioux City Journal, May 22, 1933; Camden (NJ) Morning Post, July 20, 1933; Drumright (OK) Daily Derrick, May 17, 1933.
The first game was on May 21: “Big Crowd Sees Game,” Emporia Gazette, May 22, 1933.
After a game in Topeka: Postcard provided by Miller granddaughter Vicky Armstrong.
The Monarchs were now managed: Tulsa Daily World, May 28, 30–31, 1933; St. Joseph (MO) News-Press, June 3, 1933; Charles Wilber (Bullet) Rogan entry, National Baseball Hall of Fame website. Rogan began his career playing baseball in the army for the all-black Twenty-Fifth Infantry before spending nineteen seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs. Along with his excellent pitching, he also batted cleanup.
the Indians again faced an all-black club: “The Pittsburgh Crawfords,” Negro Leagues History website; “1933 Pittsburgh Crawfords,” Negro Leagues Database, Seamheads.com; Akron Beacon Journal, June 19–22, 1933. In the 16–1 drubbing, the Crawfords “scored four times in the first, twice in the second, three times in the third, seven times in the fifth and could have been scoring yet if they had been so minded.”
When Jim reached Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Press, June 23, 1933.
The Harjo’s bus rolled across: Altoona Tribune, June 24–26, 1933; Shamokin (PA) News-Dispatch, June 26, 1933; Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 1933.
Iva had remarried: Account of Iva’s new life as Iva Davies and her relationship with her daughters drawn from Fort Worth Star-Telegram article on the wedding, Dec. 27, 1929; Mike Koehler unpublished manuscript; Grace F. Thorpe Collection, Series 5, NMAI; Buford, Native American Son, 244–45.
Nat C. Strong, a promoter and owner: Layton Revel, “Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: Nat Strong,” Center for Negro League Baseball Research website; New York Age, Feb. 6, 1926.
“The Indians are coming”: Account of Harjo’s Indians playing in New York and New Jersey drawn from Brooklyn Times Union, June 15, 28, 30, July 3, 1933; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 29, 1933; Hackensack Record, June 29, July 1, 1933; Middletown (NY) Times Herald, July 5, 1933; Camden (NJ) Morning Post, July 20, 1933.
During a break in the schedule: Frank (Buck) O’Neill, International News Service sportswriter, “Jim Thorpe Tells Bambino How He Chased Curve Ball,” July 22, 1933.
“My dear Frank”: Letter provided by Vicky Armstrong.
In truth, Jim’s time on the road: Poughkeepsie Eagle-News, Aug. 2, 1933; Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel, Aug. 18, 1933; Boston Globe, Aug. 14, 1933.
In the first game: Hartford Courant, Aug. 7 and 21, 1933.
On a return trip: “Calling ’Em Right with Albert W. Keane, Sports Editor,” Hartford Courant, Aug. 24, 1933.
Ben Harjo… had no money: Account of Thorpe’s struggles to get paid drawn from Daily Oklahoman, Nov. 17, 1933; telegram from Thorpe to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Oct. 4, 1933; letter from Commissioner Collier to Susey Walker Harjo, Oct. 7, 1933; letter from Thorpe to Senator William McAdoo, Oct. 7, 1933; letter from Harjo to Collier, Oct. 10, 1933; letter from Thorpe to Collier, January, 1935; letter from Thorpe lawyer E. A. Kline to Oklahoma governor E. W. Marland, Nov. 12, 1935; Marland letter to Kline, Nov. 22, 1935; Thorpe letter to Collier, May 22, 1935; Thorpe letters to President Roosevelt, Feb. 1, 1935 and May 31, 1937, all in DHTC Harjo’s Indians file and RG75, Central Classified Files, Seminole, 34605, NARA.
CHAPTER 27: AKAPAMATA IN HOLLYWOOD
For the rights: Brooklyn Standard Union, Dec. 26, 1931; Buford, Native American Son, 272; Life, Nov. 28, 1960; Time, Aug. 31, 1936.
He landed his first credited role: Films in Review, July 1966; “Jim Thorpe,” IMDb.
Thorpe’s career in movies: United Press, Aug. 10, 1932; Dan Thomas, “Hollywood Gossip,” Waterbury Democrat, Aug. 13, 1932; United Press, March 30, 1935; Hollywood Citizen, April 11, 1935 and May 30, 1938; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 17, 1937.
But those Hollywood years were affirming: Bob Wheeler, Florence Ridlon, and Rob Wheeler, “Akapamata: The Forgotten Hollywood Legacy of Jim Thorpe,” American Indian, Spring 2015.
Concerns about how Hollywood treated Indians: Moving Picture World, March 18, 1911.
After a few years in Hollywood: “Luther Standing Bear,” IMBd; Aleiss, Making the White Man’s Indian, 54, 184; New York Times, April 14, 1916. In 1935, Luther Standing Bear was arrested and jailed for eight months for making inappropriate advances toward an eight-year-old Paiute girl, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1935.
The stereotypes… were encrusted: Associated Press, March 15, 1934; Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 1934; “Indians Object to Being Imitated in Movies,” Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1932; Aleiss, 54–55.
One film in which he was an extra: Details of filming Under Pressure drawn from Detroit Free Press, Sept. 25, 1934; New York Daily News, Sept. 27, 1934; “Under Pressure,” Letterbox.com; author viewing of movie.
It was not a classic western: “Behold My Wife! Synopsis,” TCM.com; “Behold My Wife!” IMDb.com; “Sylvia Sidney Excels in Role of Indian Girl,” Paducah Sun-Democrat, Dec. 23, 1934.
As Jim became more of a presence: George Kirksey, United Press Staff Correspondent, March 30, 1935.
An investigation requested by the Swedes: International News Service, April 22, 1935; Associated Press, April 22, 1935; Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1936.
The accolades made Jim take notice: Associated Press, June 29, 1935. “Seldom given to vain regrets of any sort, Jim Thorpe, the super-athlete of an era long gone, is harboring one now. It comes from envying Jesse Owens.”
A wirephoto in newspapers: Associated Press, April 10 and 24, 1935.
Hitler found a strong ally: Andrew Maraniss, Games of Deception, (Viking, 2021), 36–42; David Maraniss, Rome 1960, (Simon & Schuster, 2008), 67.
Thorpe’s position… evolved: Hollywood column by Sidney Skolsky, New York Daily News, July 6, 1935 and Dec. 7, 1935; Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, July 10, 1936. (WNS newsletter) “Opposition to American participation the Berlin Olympics was expressed by Jim Thorpe….”
Wilcox was the newly minted: Hollywood Reporter, July 21, 1935.
Phil later told the writer Paul Zimmerman: Paul Zimmerman, “Calling Signals,” Cincinnati Enquirer, Oct. 26, 1974.
After a trip to the Midwest: People, Jan. 8, 1996; Bob Greene column, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 10, 1992.
Now came a third variation: Santa Rosa Republican, May 28, 1935; Los Angeles Times, May 30, Sept. 9, Sept. 20, 1935.
“Lo, the poor Indian”: United Press, Hollywood, Sept. 24, 1936; Los Angeles Times, Sept. 24, 1936. “Jim Thorpe Takes Warpath.”
In this case, it was not just the hiring: Aleiss, 56.
Enraged by it all: Louella Parsons, Universal Service, Oct. 19, 1936. DeMille wrote a letter to Parsons the next day arguing that he cast two white actors to play Indian chiefs because “after we had conscientiously auditioned all the real Indians available, we found them inadequate for the roles.”
“Hollywood’s 250 Po Lo’s”: Variety, Sept. 30, 1936.
Every few years, Grantland Rice: Column by Grantland Rice, North American Newspaper Alliance, Dec. 17, 1936.
The question of whether Owens: New York Daily News, Aug. 6, 1936.
It was left to Damon Runyon: “Runyon Says,” Universal Service, July 27, 1936. “Aha,” Runyon’s column began. “So there were goings-on aboard the good ship Manhattan, eh?”
He drove across America: Account of Ernie Pyle’s columns from the road and interview with Thorpe drawn from “The Hoosier Vagabond: On the Road with Ernie Pyle,” Ray E. Boomhower’s Books (blog), Aug. 1, 2019; Ernie Pyle, “Once Famous Athlete Is Just a Nobody Now,” Hawthorne, CA, Jan. 6, 1937, Scripps-Howard syndicate.
Jim Thorpe opposed part: Account of Thorpe lobbying against new Sac and Fox constitution drawn from Arthur Edson, North American Newspaper Alliance, Dec. 26, 1937; Oklahoma News, Dec. 5–6, 1937; Cushing (OK) Daily Citizen, Dec. 6, 1937; Associated Press, Dec. 6–9, 1937; (“Thorpe into Politics” read a headline on the AP story in the Manhattan (Kan) Mercury); “Sic Transit Jim Thorpe,” Kansas City Times, Dec. 10, 1937; Constitution and By-Laws of the Sac and Fox Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Ratified Dec. 7, 1937, U.S. Government Printing Office; Buford, 302–303: Brian F. Rader, “Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act,” OHS.
His Indian compatriots: Wheeler, Ridlon, and Wheeler, “Akapamata”; Buford, 264.
CHAPTER 28: NEVER FORGOTTEN
Rockne, born in Norway: Time, April 6, 1931; Chelland, One for the Gipper, 78; Knute Rockne coaching record, College Football, Sports Reference website.
Nothing gilds a legend: AP Bulletin, Cottonwood Falls, KS, March 31, 1931: “A loud explosion and spurting flames in a murky sky heralded the disaster,” Also Time, April 6, 1941; Jim Lefebre, “Explaining the Rockne Crash,” Forever Irish on ND Football History website.
In 1940, Warner Bros.: Associated Press, April 13, 1940; “Knute Rockne, All American, Full Cast and Crew,” IMDb; Frederick C. Othman, United Press Hollywood Correspondent, April 12, 1940. Othman quoted Rockne’s widow as saying O’Brien in makeup looked so much like her husband “I almost expect him to make love to me.”
There were also two Thorpe sightings: Associated Press, April 6, 1940; “Knute Rockne, All American, Full Cast and Crew,” IMDb; author observations after viewing movie. According to a report that made its way to a sports columnist in Massachusetts, Thorpe during the movie at age fifty-two “got away a punt which went 52 yards on the fly and then contributed another which, including the bound, covered 72 yards.”
Rockne’s was a journey: Account of the Rockne movie and comparisons with Thorpe drawn from author viewing of Knute Rockne, All American.
Then there is the matter: Coles Phinizy, “Win One for the Gipper,” Sports Illustrated, Sept. 17, 1979; Chelland, chapter 11, “Problems of a Superstar,” 128–39; full text of Rockne’s “Win One for the Gipper” speech in movie, University of Notre Dame Archives.
He had given speeches: “Indian Jim Thorpe’s Life Just Beginning at 50,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1940; Wheeler, Jim Thorpe, 199; Stanley Woodward, “Views of Sport: A Visit with Jim Thorpe,” New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 23, 1941; Chicago Tribune, Sept. 24, 1940; promotional brochure from W. Colston Leigh, Inc., DHTC Colston Leigh file.
“I came from the Sac and Fox tribe”: Wheeler, 203–204.
When the tour took Jim to New York: Stanley Woodward, “Views of Sport.”
A collegiate All-Star football game: “British Relief Grid Tilt Is Cancelled; Tom Harmon, Mates are Called ‘Pros,’ ” Associated Press, Jan. 4, 1941; Louella Parsons, International News Service, Jan. 4, 1941.
One summer night: DHTC Thorpe Letters file.
Less than a week later: Marion (OH) Star, Aug. 13, 1941.
“We spent the evening chatting”: Luella Hoffmire remembrance in DHTC Carl Hoffmire file.
Freeda had definitively reached that conclusion: Los Angeles Times, Oct. 30, 1941; Final Judgment of Divorce, Freeda Thorpe Plaintiff vs. James F. Thorpe, Defendant, Docket no. 204206, Superior Court of the State of California; International News Service, Oct. 30, 1931. (“Although he once was the sports idol of America, Jim Thorpe… proved a neglectful husband…”); “Champ’s Image Tarnished, Freeda Thorpe Has Bad Memories of Marriage,” Associated Press, Aug. 31, 1996.
“Dear Friend Gus”: DHTC Thorpe Letters file.
With America at war again: Jimmy Corcoran, “Ol’ Jim Thorpe Would Do Bit,” Chicago Record-Herald, Jan. 31, 1942; Hugh Fullerton Jr., Wide World Sports Writer, Associated Press. April 27, 1942; Medford (OH) Mail Tribune, April 22, 1942; Nashville Banner, May 8, 1942.
the connection to Ford went back: Pete Calac Student File, CISDRC; “Carlisle Boys Making Good in a University of Citizenship,” Carlisle Arrow, May 7, 1915; “Ford Motor Company’s School,” Carlisle Arrow, March 31, 1916.
Bennett and his top lieutenant, Stanley Fay: Account of Thorpe’s work at Ford Motor Company drawn from Watson Spoelstra, “Through the Gates of Ford Empire Pass World’s Greatest Athletes,” Associated Press, May 1942; Frank Scully and Norman Sper, “The Little Man in Henry Ford’s Basement,” American Mercury, May 1942; letter from Sharon James, Request Coordinator, Ford Motor Co., to Grace Thorpe, Aug. 13, 2002, and Robert Wheeler interviews with Luther Bass and Chief Nevitt, plant security, Kate Buford personal papers.
On May 4: DHTC Thorpe Letters file.
On one shift that summer: Letter from FBI, Detroit, to Washington, D.C., July 17, 1942, Kate Buford personal papers.
It was also that summer: Jack Thorpe remembrance, Kate Buford personal papers; DHTC Ford Motor Co. file; Wheeler, Jim Thorpe, 207, citing undated column by Jim McCulley of the New York Daily News in Jim Thorpe’s personal scrapbook; Grace F. Thorpe Collection, Series 5, NMAI.
Doctors determined: Associated Press, Feb. 11, 1943; Sport, February 1949; Whitney Martin, Associated Press, Feb. 19, 1943; “Scully’s Notebook,” Variety, Aug. 29, 1951; Buford, Native American Son, 320; “Jim Costin Says,” South Bend (IN) Tribune, Feb. 13, 1943. “So the old ticker is running out on Jim Thorpe…”
What happened next is unclear: Associated Press, Feb. 19, 1943; Thorpe letter to Lon Scott, March 28, 1943, Lon Scott file, Jim Thorpe House, Yale, Oklahoma.
When news of Jim’s heart attack: Sport, February 1949; DHTC Ford Motor Co. file.
The piece drew the attention: Associated Press dispatch in Tulsa Daily World, Feb. 12, 1943; letter from Lon Scott to Personnel Director, Ford Motor Co., Lon Scott File, Jim Thorpe House.
He reached out while Jim: Account of Scott trying to help Thorpe with a job and placing his sons in schools in Oklahoma drawn from letters from Scott to Thorpe, April 10, May 16, June 12, June 16, July 15, 1943; Thorpe to Scott, March 28, June 4, Aug. 22, 1943; Scott to Col. L. E. Angle, June 12, 1943; Gov. Kerr to Scott, June 29, 1943; Burton Logan to Thorpe, July 8, 1943; Emmet Brown memos, June 11, Aug. 10, 1943, all found in Lon Scott file, Jim Thorpe House, Yale, OK; DHTC Lon Scott file; Kate Buford personal papers, Lon Scott file.
Most of the problems: Tulsa Daily World, Sept. 18, 1943.
CHAPTER 29: ROAD TO UTOPIA
The Pawnee Indian School: Pawnee Agency and Boarding School Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service; Jack Thorpe file, Kate Buford personal papers; “The Gravy Had No Lumps,” Theda GoodFox Kresge, Native Times, June 15, 2009.
Jim was long gone from Oklahoma: Associated Press, March 9, Oct. 26, 1943; United Press, July 29, 1943; AP, Nov. 9, 1943; “Jim Thorpe Dream Fades; Goes West.” Also Lon Scott letter to George Reif, traffic section, Tulsa police, Sept. 21, 1943, Lon Scott file, Jim Thorpe House, Yale, OK; DHTC Scott file.
“Well, Xmas is over thank God”: Lon Scott papers, Jim Thorpe House, Yale, OK; Scott file, Kate Buford personal papers.
The banquet was the first annual: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 28, 1943.
The opportunity to rub shoulders again: “Road to Utopia,” TCM.com; “Road to Utopia,” IMDb; author observations of movie.
he obtained a seaman’s certificate: Seaman’s Certificate Application. United States Coast Guard, Port of Los Angeles, May 19, 1945. Certificate of identification No. Z-612083, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis.
His third wife was different: DHTC, Thorpe outline, 68; Al Zagofsky, Jim Thorpe (PA) Times News, July 13, 2013; Mike Koehler unpublished manuscript; Wheeler, Jim Thorpe, 209; Buford, Native American Son, 329; UPI, San Bernardino County Sun, April 8, 1975.
At four on the afternoon: Details of the preparations and voyage of SS Southwestern Victory drawn from: SS Southwestern Victory No. 29683, NARA, Northeast Region, NY; General Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, RG 24.2.2. Operational and Signal Logs of U.S. Navy Armed Guard units. Class: Liberty ship. Type, VC-2-AP2. Keel laid: March 6, 1945. Delivered: May 23, 1945.
