In Jim Thorpe, David Maraniss saw an opportunity to not just recount an unparalleled athletic career but to use the story as a way to examine the Native American experience.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author, Maraniss wrote “Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe” as the final biography in a trilogy of books about sports figures who transcend sports. His prior works examined the lives of football coach Vince Lombardi and baseball player Roberto Clemente.
Maraniss will be appear a book discussion and signing event from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Bosler Memorial Library, 159 W. High St., in Carlisle.
An associate editor at the Washington Post, Maraniss was encouraged by Indigenous academics and activists to take a deeper look at the Thorpe story, according to a press release issued by his publisher, Simon and Schuster.
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“This biography aims not only to recapture the drama and pathos of the athlete’s career but also to consider it in the context of the mistreatment and manipulation of American Indians during Thorpe’s lifetime,” the press release reads. “Known for his meticulous research, Maraniss paints an unforgettable portrait of Thorpe by drawing on letters, diaries, oral histories, contemporaneous newspaper accounts and primary documents from 22 archives.
“As a member of the Sac and Fox tribe, Thorpe was subject to endless discrimination, condescension and Indian stereotypes,” the press release reads. “Thorpe was arguably America’s greatest all-around athlete, but despite his vast skills, he struggled his entire lifetime against racism, he was unfairly stripped of his [1912] Olympic gold medals, and his later years were troubled by alcohol, broken marriages and financial distress.”
In today’s 5 Questions, The Sentinel gave Maraniss an opportunity to delve deeper into the life and legacy of Thorpe and his ties to the local area:
Q: In doing the research, did you use any sources local to Carlisle and Cumberland County?
A: Carlisle was the key to my research. I considered the archives of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School essential, and luckily all of the government records of the school had been digitized by the time I began research. The Cumberland County Historical Society provided much important material including letters from Thorpe to his second wife and many photographs. In addition, the time spent walking the old school grounds with Carlisle expert Barb Landis was invaluable.
Q: Why is a biography on Jim Thorpe important?
A: The story of Jim Thorpe remains relevant nearly 70 years after his death (in 1953) for many reasons. Not only were his athletic achievements unmatched as an Olympic gold medalist, All-American football player and major league baseball player, but the obstacles he faced and tried to overcome during his life were emblematic of the larger struggle of Indigenous people.
Q: How did Jim Thorpe regard Carlisle, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and his time in Cumberland County?
A: The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was a complicated force in the life of Jim Thorpe and most of its students during its existence from 1879 to 1918. No one would have heard of Jim had he not risen to fame there as an extraordinary athlete. He said later that the Carlisle years were some of the best in his life. Yet there was also a disturbing aspect to the school with its forced assimilation policy of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”
Q: Did Jim Thorpe stay engaged with his connections to Carlisle and Cumberland County?
A: Thorpe left Carlisle in January 1913 and returned less than a year later for his wedding with Iva Miller, a classmate at the school, but his feelings were mixed. Superintendent Moses Friedman and coach Pop Warner feigned ignorance and lied about their knowledge of his [Thorpe’s] pro baseball days before the Olympics to save their own reputations.
Q: What contributions did Jim Thorpe make?
A: Thorpe faced innumerable obstacles — many from society and some of his own doing, including his unfortunate struggle with alcohol. Throughout his life, he was romanticized and diminished at the same time. But he kept going. His is a story of glory, hardship and perseverance.
Photos: Jim Thorpe
Big Jim Thorpe, famed American athlete and former U.S. Olympic great, center, sets a fast pace for some girls during a "junior olympics" event on Chicago's south side June 6, 1948 sponsored by a V.F.W. post. Jim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon.
Jim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon — nearly 110 years after being stripped of those gold medals for violations of strict amateurism rules of the time.
The exhibit includes a painting of Jim Thorpe, an athlete who attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and competed in the Olympics, that was done by Paul Bloser in 1959.
The sports exhibit includes interactive features, including one that allows people to handle examples of an early basketball, football and a football helmet that resembles what Jim Thorpe would have worn.
Jim Thorpe, a Native American who was one of the country’s earliest sports heroes, died on March 28. Thorpe starred at the 1912 Summer Olympics, played baseball in the majors, and made the Hall of Fame as a football dynamo. In 1951, a Hollywood film about his exploits, “Jim Thorpe—All-American,” was released.
Jim Thorpe, center, attends a ceremony held in his honor on Aug. 16, 1912, at Biddle Field on the campus of Dickinson College.
1912 — Jim Thorpe wins the decathlon at the Stockholm Olympics and, in the closing ceremony, Sweden’s King Gustav proclaims Thorpe the world’s greatest athlete.
Ron Brady Jr. of Rowe’s Auction Services holds up a photograph of Jim Thorpe during the sale of memorabilia items that were inside Wardecker's Menswear.
An oil painting of Jim Thorpe is one of the many memorabilia items that were inside Wardecker's Menswear Store.
FILE - In this photo taken on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, the tomb of Jim Thorpe is shown in Jim Thorpe, Pa. The surviving sons of famed American Indian athlete Jim Thorpe won a crucial legal victory in April 2013 that put them close to their goal of bringing their father's remains from the Pennsylvania town named for him to tribal lands in Oklahoma, where he was born. But the town of Jim Thorpe isn't letting its Olympian namesake go without a fight. Residents and business owners are helping to raise money for the town’s appeal, saying they have honored, appreciated and respected a man long considered one of the 20th century’s best athletes. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
David Maraniss
Joseph Cress is a reporter for The Sentinel covering education and history. You can reach him at jcress@cumberlink.com or by calling 717-218-0022.
