Although christened James Francis Thorpe , his Indian name given by his mother was WA-THO-HUCK, meaning Bright Path.

Jim and his twin brother, Charley, were born in what is now Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma in a one room log cabin home on May 28, 1888.  The exact 40 acres where Tim Thorpe was born in in the NW1/4 of the SW1/4 of the SW1/4 of Sec. 14, T11N, R5E, and is about a mile north of the North Canadian River.  This was a part of the original 160 acre Indian allotment given to his mother, Charlotte (View) Thorpe and later recorded by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on June 12, 1890, and eventually filed on record in the county after the original county "B" was organized.  Officially, the spelling on the Indian allotment was "Thorp."

James Thorpe's own allotment was the 160 acres directly north of his mother's, which was recorded in the county on November 2, 1916.

The little town of Bellemont, established in 1892, was the nearest town to the Thorpe homestead.  Their log cabin home was 2 miles south, one mile east, a little over another half mile south and 200 yards east from Bellemont.  Jim Thorpe's father, Hiram Thorpe, whose father was an Irishman, was the grandson of and Jim was the great-grandson of the great Indian War Chief Black Hawk.

It was Jim, not his twin or his 7 year old brother George, who inherited the greatest traits from his renowned ancestor, Black Hawk; the great strength, speed and the fighting heart of the Sac & Fox Chief.  Ironically, although so often referred to and immortalized as the "Sac & Fox Indian Athlete,"  Thorpe was in reality more Potawatomi Indian than Sac & Fox.  In Jim Thorpe's own words he once said, "I am not, as many believe, a full blooded Indian.  I am five-eighths Indian; three-eights Potawatomi on my mother's side, and two-eighths Sac & Fox on my father's side."  This would leave Thorpe with three-eighths white blood from his Irish grandfather who married Black Hawk's daughter, and from his mother who was one-fourth French.  Related to the distaff side of Jim Thorpe's family are several who settled among the early Potawatomis in the county, including the Martelle and Neadeau families.  Grover Martelle, a former Carlisle Indian School alumni, later lived in Shawnee.

Jim and his twin brother's early day schooling was at the Sac & Fox Boarding School near present Stroud, Oklahoma.  One of their teachers in 1896 was Harriet Patrick who later married a Mr. Gilstrap.  It was at this school that Charley died of pneumonia at the age of eight.

Before Jim went away to school to gain international fame, as a teenager he played on the local Bellemont baseball team.

He often went with his father to Bellemont to do their trading.  Jim's father taught him to hunt with bow and arrows, and much of the tribal ways of his ancestors.

Jim Thorpe's father, Hiram Thorpe is buried in the Garden Grove Cemetery only a mile west of Jim's birthplace.  His mother was buried in the Sacred Heart Cemetery in 1900.

Jim Thorpe went away to school first at the Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas.  It was later at Carlisle in Pennsylvania where he went in 1904 that ultimately was the  beginning of his fame and athletic success.  Then, in the world Olympics at Stockholm, Sweden in 1912, King Gustav of Sweden presented him the coveted bronze bust of the monarch for winning the Decathlon, the Silver Viking trophy from the Czar of Russia for winning the Pentathlon, and told the champion athlete..."Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world."  [He won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon.]Upon Thorpe's return to the United States he was in first place in the hearts of all Americans.  President Howard Taft said..."Jim Thorpe is the highest type of citizen."*

Jim Thorpe played American football collegiately and professionally, and also played professional baseball and basketball. He subsequently lost his Olympic titles when it was found he had played two seasons of minor league baseball before competing in the games (thus violating the amateur status rules). In 1978, Thorpe was given his own national holiday, which is still celebrated on May 28.

Thorpe struggled with racism throughout much of his life and his accomplishments were publicized with headlines describing him as a "Redskin" and "Indian athlete". He also played on several All-American Indian teams throughout his career and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of Native Americans.

Thorpe was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century by the Associated Press (AP) in 1950, and ranked third on the AP list of athletes of the century in 1999.  After his professional sports career ended, Thorpe lived in abject poverty. He worked several odd jobs, struggled with alcoholism, and lived out the last years of his life in failing health. In 1983, thirty years after his death, his medals were restored.**

To read more about Jim Thorpefollow this link to WIKIPEDIA, The Free Encylopedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thorpe

*Transcribed from THE ESCORT section of THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR, dated Sunday, January 25, 1970, by Charles Wm. Mooney, Sr. (used by permission.)

**"Jim Thorpe." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Nov 2007, 15:20 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 18 Nov 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jim_Thorpe&oldid=172289209>.