Path lit by lightning, p.75
Path Lit by Lightning, page 75
Grace would not forget: People, Jan. 8, 1996; Grace Thorpe interview with Bob Greene, Oct. 14, 1992.
EPILOGUE: THE GREAT SPIRIT
A cold wind: Account of death rite drawn from Gilbert Hill, Oklahoma City Times, April 13, 1953; United Press, Associated Press, April 12–13, 1953; Erik Brady, USA Today, Aug. 10, 2015; Neely Tucker, Washington Post, March 16, 2012; Kurt Streeter, ESPN, July 28, 2016; Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated, Oct. 25, 1982.
Jim had stressed to his sons: Affidavit of William K. Thorpe, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, John Thorpe, Richard Thorpe, William Thorpe and Sac and Fox Nation v. Borough of Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, Dec. 28, 2012.
The viewing was in Los Angeles: Associated Press, April 2, 1953; Muskogee Daily Phoenix, April 2, 1953; Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1953.
a requiem mass at St. Benedict’s: United Press, Associated Press, April 13–14, 1953.
When a bill to fund: Daily Oklahoman, June 21, 1953: “Gov. Murray swung a slashing veto ax Saturday” killing twenty bills that trimmed $890,000 from the state budget. Also Wheeler, Jim Thorpe, 192, 228.
One of Patsy’s key contacts: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 15, 2001; Sports Illustrated, Oct. 25, 1982; Robert S. Lyons, On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell (Temple University Press, 2009), 5–7; Bell obituary, Associated Press, Oct. 11, 1959.
As Patsy later told the story: Mauch Chunk Times-News, Nov. 17, 1953; Allentown Morning Call, April 4, 1954; Sports Illustrated, Oct. 25, 1982.
In early November, Boyle formed: “Telegram from Tulsa, Okla., Expresses ‘Delight, Happiness,’ ” Mauch Chunk Times-News, Nov. 9–10, 1953.
Patsy swept into town: “Jim Thorpe’s Widow and Daughter Happy with Local Proposal,” Mauch Chunk Times-News, Nov. 21, 1953.
In a weeklong campaign: Patsy’s whirlwind effort in town was front-page news in the Mauch Chunk Times-News each day Nov. 21–28, 1953.
After meeting her, Betty Cossman: “Patricia Thorpe Is a Woman with a Mission,” Allentown Morning Call, Nov. 21, 29, 1953.
It was treated as a solemn celebration: New York Sunday Mirror, Feb. 7, 1953; Mauch Chunk Times-News, Feb. 8, 1953; Allentown Morning Call, Carlisle Sentinel, Feb. 9, 1983. Sentinel lede: “The much-traveled body of Jim Thorpe…”
When the votes were counted: Allentown Morning Call; Hazleton (PA) Standard Sentinel; United Press, Associated Press, May 19–20, 1954. An AP wirephoto showed a town leader standing next to a new Jim Thorpe, Pa., road sign.
“Whether the people of Mauch Chunk”: Scranton Times-Tribune, May 20, 1954.
The first “therefore”: Three-page document signed by Patricia G. Thorpe and the presidents of the Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk Borough Councils, May 20, 1954.
“I seldom go out on limbs”: Rice, The Tumult and the Shouting, chapter 18, “Jim Thorpe the American Indian,” 235–36; “Grantland Rice Completed Autobiography in Last Days,” Boston Globe, July 24, 1954.
“Any time they wanted publicity”: Sport, December 1966.
The move led President Richard Nixon: “Notes on People,” New York Times, Dec. 23, 1972; Proclamation 4209—Jim Thorpe Day, April 16, 1973, the American Presidency Project.
At the urging of Grace: Congressional Record, S10230, June 10, 1975.
In tandem with the Senate: Olympic Records, featuring materials related to Olympics from collections at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
Still sixth-grade students: Letters to and from Robert Paul and the elementary school students in Norman, Oklahoma, October 1979, Thorpe Individual File, Avery Brundage Collection, UIABC.
A combination of the relentless efforts: McCallum, Sports Illustrated, Oct. 25, 1982; Trace Lara Hentz, “Honor Restored,” July 11, 2015; Olympics at the Millennium (Rutgers Press, 2001), James Ring Adams, “The Jim Thorpe Backlash,” American Indian, Summer 2012.
That moment arrived: “Thorpe’s Victory,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 19, 1983; “Thorpe Medals Finally Returned,” New York Times, Jan. 19, 1983; Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 21, 1983; Dave Anderson, “Jim Thorpe’s Family Feud,” New York Times, Feb. 7, 1983.
Burt Lancaster shared: New York Times News Service, Oct. 15, 1982.
“It made him an asterisk”: Sally Jenkins, “The All-American,” Smithsonian, July 2012.
The question was put to a public vote: William Ecenbarger, “When Will Jim Thorpe’s Soul Rest?” Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, Aug. 8, 1982; Streeter, ESPN, July 28, 2016; Tucker, Washington Post, March 16, 2012.
Gene Kilroy, who was Muhammad Ali’s: Interview with Kilroy, Sept. 14, 2021.
“Now if we can only”: New York Times, Jan. 19, 1983.
When Olinka Hardy: Associated Press, April 11, 1983.
The Thorpe sisters: Associated Press, June 24, 2010; John Branch, “Thorpe Family Split Over Sons’ Lawsuit,” New York Times, May 18, 2011; Streeter, ESPN, July 28, 2016.
When Black Hawk died: Account of Black Hawk’s final days, death, and stealing of his bones drawn from Trask, Black Hawk, 303–304; Keokuk (IA) Daily Gate City, Dec. 13, 1961; Ottumwa (IA) Courier, Nov. 18, 1966; Davenport (IA) Democrat and Leader, Oct. 12, 1926; Fairfield (IA) Daily Ledger, Sept. 24, 1946; Fort Madison (IA) Evening Democrat, Feb. 25, 1939; Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye, April 25, 1979; DHTC, Black Hawk file.
White men had been looting: Robert E. Bieder, “A Brief Historical Survey of the Expropriation of American Indian Remains,” Indiana University, April 1990; Report to Congress, “Native American Graves and Repatriation Act,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, July 2010; Thomas, Skull Wars, 29–32.
His sensibility in going to court: Suzan Shown Harjo and Mary Kathryn Nagle, “My Father’s Bones” (play), 2013.
The case was heard: Account of legal fight over Thorpe’s bones drawn from Daily Oklahoman, April 20, 2013; Philadelphia Inquirer, June 3, 2015; Allentown Morning Call, Feb. 15, 2014; Joe McDonald, Reuters, May 6, 2013; Streeter, ESPN, July 20, 2016; Tucker, Washington Post, March 16, 2012.
Most of the buildings: Depiction of former grounds of Carlisle Indian School and student cemetery at what is now the Army War College drawn from walking tour with archivist and historian Barbara Landis.
The bones of these Carlisle students: Charles Fox, Philadelphia Inquirer, “Oneida Indian Reservation,” Sept. 22, 2019; Amy Worden, “There Is One Less Child in This Cemetery,” Washington Post, June 28, 2021; “Rosebud Sioux teens… return to claim relatives’ remains from Carlisle Indian School Cemetery,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 2021.
One evening in May: Final scene drawn from handwritten notes and typed copy of speech delivered by Grace Thorpe at Carlisle High auditorium, 1968, Grace F. Thorpe Collection, NMAI.
Selected Bibliography
Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875–1928. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1995.
Aleiss, Angela. Making the White Man’s Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies. Praeger, 2005.
Anderson, Lars. Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle. Random House, 2007.
Barry, John M. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Penguin, 2005.
Benjey, Tom. Carlisle Indian School Football Immortals. Tuxedo Press, 2009.
Black Hawk. Life of Black Hawk, Dictated by Himself. Penguin Classics, 2008.
Bloom, John. To Show What an Indian Can Do. University of Minnesota Press, 2000.
Blumenson, Martin. The Patton Papers. Houghton Mifflin, 1972.
Buford, Kate. Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
Carroll, Bob. The Ohio League: 1910–1919. PFRA, 1997.
Carroll, Bob, Michael Gershman, David Neft, and John Thorn. Total Football. Harper Collins, 1997.
Chelland, Patrick. One for the Gipper. Regnery, 1973.
Child, Brenda J. Boarding School Seasons. University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
Crawford, Bill. All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe. Wiley, 2004.
Danzig, Allison. The History of American Football. Prentice-Hall, 1956.
Davis, Jeff. Papa Bear: The Life and Legacy of George Halas. McGraw-Hill, 2005.
Davis, Kenneth S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soldier of Democracy. Doubleday, 1946.
D’Este, Carlo. Patton: A Genius for War. Harper Perennial, 1996.
Eisler, Benita. The Red Man’s Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman. W. W. Norton, 2013.
Elfers, James E., The Tour to End All Tours, Bison Original, 2003.
Fear-Segal, Jacqueline. Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories, and Reclamations. University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
Grann, David. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. Doubleday, 2017.
Hagan, William T. The Sac and Fox Indians. University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
Halas, George, with Gwen Morgan and Arthur Veysey. Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas. McGraw-Hill, 1979.
Hoxie, Frederick E. A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880–1920. University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Lardner, Ring W. You Know Me Al. Scribner, 1960.
Jenkins, Sally. The Real All Americans. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Natural (ESPN Sports-Century). ESPN Books, 1999.
Mallon, Bill, and Ture Widlund. The 1912 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland, 2002.
McGraw, Blanche S. The Real McGraw. Van Rees Press, 1953.
Miller, Jeffrey J. Pop Warner: A Life on the Gridiron. McFarland, 2015.
Newcombe, Jack. The Best of the Athletic Boys: The World’s Impact on Jim Thorpe. Doubleday, 1975.
Oriard, Michael. Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle. University of North Carolina Press, 1995.
Peterson, Robert W. Pigskin: The Early Years of Pro Football. Oxford University Press, 1997.
Pratt, Richard Henry. Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian. 1867–1904. Yale University Press, 1964.
Ratteree, Kathleen, and Norbert Hill, eds. The Great Vanishing Act: Blood Quantum and the Future of Native Nations. Fulcrum, 2017.
Reich, Susanna. Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin. Clarion Books, 2008.
Rice, Grantland. The Tumult and the Shouting. A. S. Barnes and Company, 1954.
Rode, Alan K. Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film. University Press of Kentucky, 2017.
Roessner, Amber. Inventing Baseball Heroes: Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and the Sporting Press in America. Louisiana State University Press, 2014.
Rosenthal, Nicolas G. Reimagining Indian Country: Native American Migration and Identity in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles. University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
Sheinkin, Steve. Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team. Roaring Brook Press, 2017.
Standing Bear, Luther. My People, the Sioux. Houghton Mifflin, 1928.
Sullivan, Edward. The Olympic Games, Stockholm 1912. Spalding Red Cover Series, 1913.
Thomas, David Hurst. Skull Wars: Kennewick Man, Archaeology, and the Battle for Native American Identity. Basic Books, 2000.
Thorpe, Grace. “The Jim Thorpe Family, Parts 1 and 2.” Chronicles of Oklahoma Volume 59, Numbers 1 & 2, Spring & Summer 1981.
Trask, Kerry A. Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America. Henry Holt, 2005.
Treuer, David. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native American from 1890 to the Present. Riverhead Books, 2019.
Warner, Glenn S. Pop Warner: Football’s Greatest Teacher. Gridiron Football, 1993.
Warren, Kim Cary. The Quest for Citizenship: African American and Native American Education in Kansas, 1880–1935. University of North Carolina Press, 2010.
Wheeler, Robert W. Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete. University of Oklahoma Press, 1981.
Wilson, Charles Banks. Search for the Native American Purebloods. University of Oklahoma Press, 1983.
Yttergren, Leif, ed. The 1912 Olympics: Essays on the Competitions, the People, the City. McFarland, 2012. Image Credits
INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
A. G. Spalding company, 72
Abourezk, James G., 554
Adams, Richard C., 185
Afraid-of-a-Bear (Samuel McClain), 75, 85, 87, 96, 98
African American athletes, see also individual names of African American athletes early football players, 108–9, 317, 347–49
early Olympians, 154, 164, 168, 423, 432
segregation in baseball and, 224, 295, 323, 406–7, 527
Aitkens, Della, 150
Akron Numatics, 319, 327
Akron Pros, 323–25, 343
Albertini, Francis, 158, 162
alcohol Hiram Thorpe’s drinking and bootlegging, 24–25, 120, 321
Jim Thorpe’s diminished health (1942) from, 454–58
Jim Thorpe’s drinking and effect on his marriages, 286–89, 292, 355, 360, 537, see also individual names of Thorpe’s wives
Jim Thorpe’s drinking and effect on his work, 119–21, 201–2, 229, 268–69, 336–39, 346–47, 369
Jim Thorpe’s drinking at Carlisle, 94, 111, 146–47, 189–90
Jim Thorpe’s drinking on way to Olympics, 159–60
Patsy Thorpe’s use of, 462, 481, 537
Prohibition (Eighteenth Amendment), 320–21, 413
Ali, Muhammad, 560
All-American football teams, 17, 56, 96, 110–11, 142, 198, 317
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, 483
Allen, Eddie (journalist), 471–72
Allen, Edgar A. (Chilocco superintendent), 40, 187
Allendessen, Mr. (U.S. consulate), 241
allotment, see Dawes Act (General Allotment Act, 1887)
“Alumnus Football” (Rice), 552
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Olympic medals restored by, 555
Olympic medals withdrawn by, 10, 203, 209, 210, 213–15, 267, 447, 469
American Association, 285–86, 327
American Football Coaches Association, 394, 479
American Heritage Foundation, 477
American Horse, Chief, 49
American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame, 372
American Indian Movement, 1
American League, 303
American Legion, 326
American Olympic Committee, see U.S. Olympic Association
American Professional Football Association (APFA), 321–22, 325, 327–28, 340
Anaconda Mining, 374
Angel De Cora Museum, 69
Angle, L. E., 457
anthropometry, 17–19
anti-Semitism Berlin Olympics (Nazi Olympics, 1936), 4, 176, 424–25, 432, 533–34
Friedman subjected to, 101–2, 261
Munich Olympics (1972) and terrorism, 425, 553
Smith’s petitions and Thorpe, 454–55
Arbor Day, inception of, 64–65
Arcasa, Alex, 146, 187, 188, 192–94, 257, 444
Archambault, Harry, 63, 66–67
Archiquette, Chauncey, 36, 43
Army, see U.S. Army
Arrow (Carlisle School publication) on Arbor Day, 149
on barnstorming show, 132
on Christmas at school, 89
on Friedman, 261
on Outing system, 69
on Susan Longstreth Literary Society, 144
on Thorpe, 66, 93, 126, 138
on Warner, 72
Arthur, Jean, 430
Asbrink, Gosta, 169
assimilation policy, 38, see also Bureau of Indian Affairs; Dawes Act (General Allotment Act, 1887); Potawatomi people; Sac and Fox Agency; Sac and Fox nation; individual names of battles all-Indian traveling teams and, 404, see also Harjo’s Indians; Oorang Indians; World Famous Indians (WFI)
American Indian Movement on, 1
bison killed by professional hunters, 106
Black Hawk War (1832), 11–14
“blanket Indians” characterization, 23
blood quantum calculation, 21
Brotherhood of North American Indians on, 185
burials of Native Americans and, 565–67
as Carlisle School goal, 43–49, 52–58, 101–2, 106
citizenship refused to Native Americans, 5–6, 284–85, 447, 463
Dawes Act effect on, 21–23, 28, 43–44, 285, 436–38, 544
The End of the Trail statue (Fraser), 264, 428
Five Civilized Tribes and, 91
Indian Termination Policy (1953), 544
Interior Department on Carlisle’s treatment of students, 109–10
“Lo, the poor Indian” stereotype, 208–15, see also film career of Thorpe; Jim Thorpe—All-American (film); media coverage
mandated schools for children, 31–37, see also Carlisle Indian Industrial School; Haskell Institute
Native American population before vs. after European arrival, 264–65
Native Americans in Wild West shows, 132–33
NCAI on rights of, 504–5
Nez Perce War, 45–47
Oklahoma Land Run (1891), 21, 28–29
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, 44
Thorpe lecture circuit speech about Native Americans, 446–48
Washita Massacre (1868), 391
World’s Fair depictions of Native Americans, 145, 264, 427–28
