Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Born: May 22, 1887
Died: March 28, 1953
in Prague, Indian Territory [now Oklahoma], USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Francis Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), professional baseball, and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.

Thorpe grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma, and attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time All-American for the school's football team. After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, he added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union. In 1913, Thorpe signed with the New York Giants, and he played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships; he later played for six teams in the National Football League (NFL). He played as part of several all-American Indian teams throughout his career, and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of American Indians.

From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which became the NFL in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. He struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. He suffered from alcoholism, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. He was married three times and had eight children, before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953.

Thorpe has received various accolades for his athletic accomplishments. The Associated Press named him the "greatest athlete" from the first 50 years of the 20th century, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its inaugural class in 1963. A Pennsylvania town was named in his honor and a monument site there is the site of his remains, which were the subject of legal action. Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American.

Movies for Jim Thorpe...

Wagon Master
Title: Wagon Master
Character: Navajo Indian
Released: April 22, 1950
Type: Movie
Two young drifters guide a Mormon wagon train to the San Juan Valley and encounter cutthroats, Navajo, geography, and moral challenges on the journey.
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White Heat
Title: White Heat
Character: Big Convict (uncredited)
Released: September 2, 1949
Type: Movie
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.
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Road to Utopia
Title: Road to Utopia
Character: Collins - Ship's Passenger (uncredited)
Released: February 27, 1946
Type: Movie
While on a ship to Skagway, Alaska, Duke and Chester find a map to a secret gold mine, which had been 'stolen' by thugs. In Alaska to recover her father's map, Sal Van Hoyden falls in with Ace Larson, who secretly wants to steal the gold mine for himself. Duke, Chester, the thugs, Ace and his henchman chase each other all over the countryside—for the map.
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The Vampire's Ghost
Title: The Vampire's Ghost
Character: Native
Released: April 13, 1945
Type: Movie
In a small African port, a tawdry bar is run by a old man named Webb Fallon. Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming weary of his "life" of the past few hundred years.
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Outlaw Trail
Title: Outlaw Trail
Character: Spike
Released: April 29, 1944
Type: Movie
Carl Beldon has disappeared and the Trail Blazers have been sent to investigate. Arriving in town, they find that 'Honest John' controls everything. He even prints his own money. He also has a gang and they set out to finish off the heroes.
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They Died with Their Boots On
Title: They Died with Their Boots On
Character: Indian (uncredited)
Released: November 20, 1941
Type: Movie
The story follows General George Armstrong Custer's adventures from his West Point days to his death. He defies orders during the Civil War, trains the 7th Cavalry, appeases Chief Crazy Horse and later engages in bloody battle with the Sioux nation.
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Mexican Spitfire Out West
Title: Mexican Spitfire Out West
Character: Indian
Released: October 29, 1940
Type: Movie
Dennis heads west to work on an important business deal minus the Mexican Spitfire, Carmelita. His hot-tempered spouse decides to surprise him, but ends up as the surprised one when she sees him with another woman. Instead of a second honeymoon, Carmelita begins divorce proceedings
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Prairie Schooners
Title: Prairie Schooners
Character: Chief Sanche
Released: September 29, 1940
Type: Movie
Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott) leads a wagon train of settlers from Kansas to Colorado. Along the way, they cross a group of Indians who don't want any more settlers on their land.
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Arizona Frontier
Title: Arizona Frontier
Character: Gray Cloud
Released: August 19, 1940
Type: Movie
A government agent uncovers the truth behind a series of raids on a freight company.
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Henry Goes Arizona
Title: Henry Goes Arizona
Character: Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Released: December 8, 1939
Type: Movie
A New Yorker moves West when he inherits an Arizona ranch.
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The Man from Texas
Title: The Man from Texas
Character: Posse Rider (uncredited)
Released: April 19, 1939
Type: Movie
Hall is after Dennison's land and hires the Shooting Kid to finish him off. The Marshal sends Tex to help Dennison, but the Kid has been helped by Tex in the past and changes sides.
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Frontier Scout
Title: Frontier Scout
Character: Henchman
Released: September 16, 1938
Type: Movie
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant has a job for Wild Bill Hickok (George Houston) and his sidekick (Al St. John).
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Start Cheering
Title: Start Cheering
Character: Head Linesman
Released: March 3, 1938
Type: Movie
After retiring from movies to get an education, a man discovers his ex-staff is trying to have him expelled.
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Big City
Title: Big City
Character: Jim Thorpe
Released: September 3, 1937
Type: Movie
Anna and Joe are newly married, playful and deeply in love. Joe is scraping by as cab driver in New York City during a period of corruption, mob control and violence between cab companies.
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Trailin' West
Title: Trailin' West
Character: Black Eagle
Released: September 4, 1936
Type: Movie
A singing secret agent tracks down renegades at President Lincoln's request.
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Wildcat Trooper
Title: Wildcat Trooper
Character: Indian Fur Trapper
Released: July 1, 1936
Type: Movie
A Royal Canadian Mountie is assigned to bring in a criminal called "The Raven." The problem is that no one has ever seen him.
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Treachery Rides the Range
Title: Treachery Rides the Range
Character: Chief Red Smoke
Released: May 2, 1936
Type: Movie
The Indians need the Buffalo to survive and the Government has promised to keep the herds free from hunters. But Carter, of Carter and Barton, just signed a big contract for furs and Buffalo meat so they want the herds. The only way they can get them is to rile the Indians up enough to go on the warpath and break the treaty. After the trouble starts, the Indians get the Colonel's daughter and hold her prisoner. Written by Tony Fontana
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Hill-Tillies
Title: Hill-Tillies
Character: 1st Indian
Released: April 24, 1936
Type: Movie
The girls camp out in the woods for a publicity stunt.
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Silly Billies
Title: Silly Billies
Character: Medicine Man
Released: March 20, 1936
Type: Movie
The boys are a dentist and his assistant traveling to the Old West to open a new practice. Once in town, they buy a business--only to wake up the next day and see that the entire population of this bustling town had left for the California gold fields early that morning! Then, they discover an evil plot to sell out these settlers to some hostile Indians, so they spring to the rescue.
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Sutter's Gold
Title: Sutter's Gold
Character: Man
Released: March 1, 1936
Type: Movie
Story of the gold strike on an immigrant's property that started the 1849 California Gold Rush.
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Klondike Annie
Title: Klondike Annie
Released: February 21, 1936
Type: Movie
A San Francisco singer flees Chinatown on murder charges and poses as a missionary in Alaska.
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Captain Blood
Title: Captain Blood
Character: Pirate (uncredited)
Released: December 26, 1935
Type: Movie
Dr. Peter Blood, unjustly convicted of treason and exiled from England, becomes a notorious pirate.
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La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Title: La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Character: Indian Chief (uncredited)
Released: December 7, 1935
Type: Movie
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara is a 1935 American comedy short film directed by Louis Lewyn. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject (Color). It features a young, pre-stardom 13-year-old Judy Garland singing "La Cucaracha" with her two sisters (billed as "The Garland Sisters"). In the film, Hollywood stars participate in a Mexican-themed revue and festival in Santa Barbara. Andy Devine, the "World's Greatest Matador," engages in a bullfight with a dubious bovine supplied by Buster Keaton, and musical numbers are provided by Joe Morrison and The Garland Sisters. Comedy bits and dance numbers are also featured.
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The Ivory-Handled Gun
Title: The Ivory-Handled Gun
Character: Henchman Jack (uncredited)
Released: November 11, 1935
Type: Movie
Buck Ward and the Wolverine Kid, who each own one of the ivory handled guns, continue the feud started by their fathers.
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Moonlight on the Prairie
Title: Moonlight on the Prairie
Character: Henchman
Released: November 2, 1935
Type: Movie
A singing medicine-show cowboy and his magician partner catch a killer.
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Fighting Youth
Title: Fighting Youth
Character: Carlisle Football Player
Released: November 1, 1935
Type: Movie
A radical campus group persuades student Carol Arlington to lead a protest of a college's football team. She manages to recruit Larry Davis, even though he is a star player for State's team.
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The Last Days of Pompeii
Title: The Last Days of Pompeii
Character: Spectator Tossing Coins (uncredited)
Released: October 18, 1935
Type: Movie
In this action-filled spectacle set in ancient Pompeii, a blacksmith becomes a Roman gladiator, though his rise to wealth and power is jeopardized by his son's Christianity and the eruption of Vesuvius.
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It's in the Air
Title: It's in the Air
Character: Indian Father (uncredited)
Released: October 10, 1935
Type: Movie
Con men Calvin Churchill and Clip McGurk know how to fix a horse-race or boxing match. Calvin wants to go straight and win back his estranged wife, but first the men must dodge a dogged IRS agent and bilk a bunch of aviation investors out of the backing boodle for a balloon excursion into the stratosphere.
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Wanderer of the Wasteland
Title: Wanderer of the Wasteland
Character: Charlie Jim
Released: September 9, 1935
Type: Movie
Adam Larey becomes a fugitive from justice when he escapes after being blamed for a crime he did not commit. He wanders into the desert wastelands and joins an outlaw gang who prey on gold prospectors. Years later, he meets his wife and her gold-prospecting father as they have come there seeking their fortune, and not knowing the danger of the treacherous desert wastes, the poisoned-water holes and the outlaw bands of marauders who roam the desert in search of the gold found by others. He comes to their aid and, eventually, manges to clear his name of the false charge against him.
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The Daring Young Man
Title: The Daring Young Man
Character: Convict
Released: July 17, 1935
Type: Movie
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system.
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The Arizonian
Title: The Arizonian
Released: June 27, 1935
Type: Movie
Clay Tallant comes to Silver City, Arizona in the 1880s and encounters wide-spread lawlessness and disorder, unscrupulous politicians, outlaws galore and brow-beaten citizens. He accepts the position of town marshal and, with his brother and a reformed outlaw , Tex Randolph, who comes over to his side, sets out to bring law-and-order where none exists. He also wins the hand of the singer appearing at the Opera House.
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Code of the Mounted
Title: Code of the Mounted
Character: Murdered Indian
Released: June 7, 1935
Type: Movie
A thug robs and kills a fur trapper. He is caught and locked up by the Mounties, but is soon broken out by his partner. As the Mounties investigate, they discover that the two are part of a ruthless crime ring run by a female gangster.
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Rustlers of Red Dog
Title: Rustlers of Red Dog
Character: Chief Scarface [Chs. 6, 11]
Released: January 1, 1935
Type: Movie
A movie serial in 12 chapters: After gold is discovered in the town of Nugget, the titular band of thieves and cutthroats inundates the frontier settlement. A group of three compatriots -- upstanding ex-sheriff Jack Woods, his harmonica-playing friend Laramie and tricky, smooth-talking gambler Deacon -- combine their respective skills in a fateful struggle to deceive and disarm the gang.
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The Red Rider
Title: The Red Rider
Character: Bill Abel, Portos Henchman
Released: July 16, 1934
Type: Movie
"Red" Davison(Buck Jones), the sheriff of Sun Dog, sacrifices his job and his good name to save his best friend, "Silent" Slade from the hangman's noose, following a framed-up court decision which sentences Slade to hang for the murder of "Scotty McKee (J.P. McGowan). Davidson allows Slade to escape from jail and follows him to aid him in proving his innocence.
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Sweepings
Title: Sweepings
Character: Indian (Uncredited)
Released: April 14, 1933
Type: Movie
Daniel Pardway, starting with almost nothing after the great Chicago fire, builds the biggest department store in town. He wants to pass on the business to his three sons and daughter, but has to deal with their lack of interest or aptitude.
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Wild Horse Mesa
Title: Wild Horse Mesa
Character: Indian Chief
Released: November 25, 1932
Type: Movie
Chane Weymer, an Arizona rancher, goes after a gang that is trapping wild horses by the use of barbed-wire enclosures.
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Air Mail
Title: Air Mail
Character: Indian (uncredited)
Released: November 3, 1932
Type: Movie
A group of air mail pilots risk their lives to deliver important mail through bad weather conditions.
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Always Kickin'
Title: Always Kickin'
Released: October 9, 1932
Type: Movie
When Russel Gleason is thought to have made a kick by Jim Thorpe, he is reinstated on the college team in time for the big game.
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Off His Base
Title: Off His Base
Character: Jim Thorpe
Released: September 18, 1932
Type: Movie
It begins with the Mustangs in trouble in their championship series... all the players are banged up and they're being clobbered. But a sports reporter insists that his nephew, Minor, can really play ball and will help the team win.
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The Dark Horse
Title: The Dark Horse
Character: Blackfeet Indian Chief
Released: June 16, 1932
Type: Movie
The Progressive Party convention is deadlocked for governor, so both sides nominate the dark horse Zachary Hicks. Kay Russell suggests they hire Hal Blake as campaign manager; but first they have to get him out of jail for not paying alimony. Blake organizes the office and coaches Hicks to answer every question by pausing and then saying, "Well yes, but then again no." Blake will sell Hicks as dumb but honest. Russell refuses to marry Blake, while Joe keeps people away from Blake's office. Blake teaches Hicks a speech by Lincoln. At the debate when the conservative candidate Underwood recites the same speech, Blake exposes him as a plagiarist. Hicks is presented for photo opportunities and gives his yes-and-no answer to any question, including whether he expects to win.
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My Pal, the King
Title: My Pal, the King
Character: Black Cloud
Released: April 3, 1932
Type: Movie
The king of a European country, who is a child, meets the cowboy star of a traveling circus.