Jim Thorpe
...Prague, Oklahoma. His Indian name is "Wa-Tho-Huk" which meant "Bright Path."
Being Indian brought some challenges with it in his early life. When Jim started primary school, he hated it because of the discipline. "The government believed that the only way to break in Indians to white culture was through a strict regime" (Richards 21). The discipline was used if Indians used Indian language, were caught roughhousing, came late to meals or had a sloppy appearance (Richards 24). Those years were not fun for him. He only enjoyed the game of baseball. Jim and his twin brother Charlie, who died of pneumonia when Jim was nine years old, had outdoor adventures like swimming, fishing, camping, hunting and Indian games like "Follow the Leader", "Fox and Geese" (Richards 20). "That kind of life-style was the foundation of Jim's athletic development," says Gregory Richards. There were no organized sports or any coach to train him at that time. So he learned what agility, stamina, and endurance meant in competition by these games.
When Jim turned eleven, he was sent to Haskell Institute in Kansas to face tough challenges like living alone, and learning to be an Indian in the society. He also met with a new white man's game that let him rise above the rest, was football.
His mother passed away when he was seventeen years old. He left Kansas and signed up for Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Then his father passed away. So he had no parents to go back to Oklahoma. The government found him a guardian to help his payments. He took part in the "outing system," which was placing Indian students to white citizens for a few months to learn more about white's way of life. "He cleaned the house, helped out the kitchen but it was not a happy situation for someone who enjoyed outdoors so much" (Richards 34). Jim had to do house work instead of practicing baseball or...
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