Jim Thorpe, 1912 and American Indians in the Olympics

With the Summer Olympics being held in London this year, the National Museum of the American Indian has an exhibit focused on a unique aspect of Olympic history. In the exhibit Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics, enlarged photos and wall text show how Native Americans have been a part of one of the world’s premier sporting events with a special focus on the games of 100 years ago in 1912.

Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics

In those games Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox) won gold in the pentathlon and decathlon, Duke Kahanamoku (Native Hawaiian) won silver the 100 meter freestyle swimming event, Lewis Tewanima (Hopi) won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters and Andrew Sockalexis (Penobscot) came in fourth in the marathon.

At the gold medal ceremony for Thorpe, the story is that King Gustav V of Sweden shook Thorpe’s hand and said “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world” and Thorpe’s response was, “Thanks, King.”

Thorpe was caught up in controversy when after the games, the International Olympic Committee stripped him of his medals because he had played semi-pro baseball violating the rule banning professional athletes.  He died in 1953, but in later years many advocated that Thorpe’s medals should be restored. In 1983 commemorative medals were given to two of his children replacing those that had been taken away.

The exhibit doesn’t go into it, but Thorpe’s story in itself is pretty amazing. Although he had been born in Oklahoma, he went to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. That school had been established by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in 1879 to “civilize” or assimilate Indian children from 140 tribes across the country. Sports had become an important part of the school by the time Thorpe arrived including football and track and field. And the legendary Pop Warner was the coach. After the Olympics, Thorpe would play on the Carlisle’s football team that would defeat Army’s team at West Point and Thorpe would be named to college football's All-American Team for a second year.

Thorpe would go on to play professional basketball, baseball and football, the latter from 1920-28 and was nominally the first President of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which would become the National Football League (NFL) two years later. His statue is right in front when you walk into the National Football League Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

There are several other medals in the exhibit, including Kahanamoku’s 1912 silver and Billy Mill’s (Oglala Lakota) gold which he won in the 10,000 meters in 1964 in Tokyo.

A list of other American Indians that have participated and won medals in both summer and winter games over the years is a part of the exhibit. This includes a nod to Clarence “Taffy” Abel (Ojibwe) who won a silver medal as part of the 1924 U.S. Ice Hockey team and later became the first U.S. – born player in the NHL.

So if you can’t make to London this summer, you can at least revel in some of past glories right here in D.C. The exhibit runs through September 3^rd.

The link below will take you away from this website to the exhibit website Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics at the National Museum of the American Indian site.

Best in the World: Native Athletes in the Olympics