On This Date in Sports October 13, 1982: Thorpe's Medals Restored
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
A long-held injustice is finally resolved as Jim Thorpe has his Gold Medals won in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm posthumously restored. After dominating the Decathlon and Pentathlon, Thorpe was stripped of his medals for previously for previously playing semiprofessional baseball. The IOC announced it would declare Thorpe as the co-champion in both events, to not affect the athletes who benefited from the initial ruling.
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Jim Thorpe was born in 1887 in Indian Territory in what is now the state of Oklahoma. His athletic prowess was first discovered at the Carlisle Indian School, where he learned how to play football. Thorpe seemed to excel at every sport he tried, from baseball to football, even basketball, which was invented shortly after he was born.
At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, the Pentathlon and Decathlon were added to the Track and Field program. Jim Thorpe, the multi-sport athlete seemed like a natural to compete in both events. Thorpe easily won both events, becoming the biggest sports start in the world. Sweden was expected to dominate the Decathlon, but Thorpe finished ahead of a trio for the host nation, winning the event by more than 800 points. Jim Thorpe’s performance was so impressive; the King Gustav V of Sweden presented him with a special honor during the closing ceremonies.
Several months after Olympics, it was discovered that Jim Thorpe had accepted $2 a game for playing baseball in North Carolina. At the time, many amateur players from college played in similar type leagues, using fake names. With stricter rules at the time, Thorpe was disqualified from the Olympics, due to not maintaining amateur status. This led to Hugo Weislander of Sweden getting the Gold in the Decathlon and Ferdinand Bie of Norway taking the Pentathlon Gold. Each was given new medals as Thorpe’s medals were taken and placed into storage. Making matters even worse, Jim Thorpe was not allowed to appeal, because of a 30-day rule the Olympics had. Even though his medals were stripped several months after the games, he had to appeal within 30 days of the end of the Olympics. Making the ruling the ruling all the more outrageous.
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Losing his amateur status led Jim Thorpe into baseball, where he played seven seasons with the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, and Boston Braves. In the off-season, he played football with the Canton Bulldogs. In 1920, his Bulldogs team was one of the driving forces behind a new professional league called the American Professional Football Association. Thorpe while still playing served as the league’s first president for two years. In 1922, the league changed its name to the National Football League. Thorpe was one of the first stars of the NFL playing a big role in the early marketing of professional football.
While Jim Thorpe was genuinely revered and recognized as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century ever where he went until his death at the age of 65 in 1953. Even though he lost his Gold Medals, people still recognized him as the true winner. After his death, a petition began to get the medals officially back in his name. However, Avery Brundage who severed as head of the IOC for two decades was a rival of Thorpe at the 1912 games and was a staunch supporter of strict amateur rules.
After Brundage stepped down the IOC began to loosen up the rules, as the 1970s began showing that in the modern day that true amateurism could no longer exist. After 30 years of lobbying the family of Jim Thorpe finally got the news, they waited for as the medals were restored, though to not create more controversy both events had co-winners declared, with the medalist who were upgraded after the initial ruling would not have to give up their medals.