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James Francis "Jim" Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path";〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/St-Tr/Thorpe-Jim.html )〕 May 22, 1887March 28, 1953) was a Sac and Fox athlete of Native American and European ancestry. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, played American football (collegiate and professional), and also played professional baseball and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was 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. 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 would become the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41, the end of his sports career coinciding with the start of the Great Depression. Thorpe struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. Thorpe suffered from alcoholism, and lived his last years in failing health and poverty. In a poll of sports fans conducted by ABC Sports, Thorpe was voted the Greatest Athlete of the Twentieth Century out of 15 other athletes including Muhammad Ali, Babe Ruth, Jesse Owens, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, and Michael Jordan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/sports/exhibit/champions/thorpe/index.cfm )〕 == Early life == Information about Thorpe's birth, name and ethnic background varies widely.〔O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 129〕 He was baptized "Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe" in the Catholic Church. Thorpe was born in Indian Territory, but no birth certificate has been found. He was generally considered to have been born on May 22, 1887,〔 near the town of Prague, Oklahoma.〔 Thorpe himself said in an article in ''The Shawnee News-Star'' in 1949 that he was born May 28, 1888, on his mother's allotment "near and south of Bellemont – Pottawatomie County – along the banks of the North Fork River ... hope this will clear up the inquiries as to my birthplace." However, most biographers believe that he was born on May 22, 1887, as that is what is listed on his baptismal certificate. Bellemont was a small community, now disappeared, on the line between Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bellemont: "Ghost" town of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma )〕 While the town of Prague, Lincoln County, now claims to be the birthplace of Thorpe, there is no evidence that Thorpe himself called Prague his hometown. All his personal references were either Shawnee (the county seat of Pottawatomie County and about ten miles (16 km) southwest of his birthplace) or "Pott County". The Sac and Fox agency is in Stroud, Lincoln County, which could cause some of the confusion. Thorpe's parents were both of mixed-race ancestry. His father, Hiram Thorpe, had an Irish father and a Sac and Fox Indian mother. His mother, Charlotte Vieux, had a French father and a Potawatomi mother, a descendant of Chief Louis Vieux. He was raised as a Sac and Fox,〔 〕 and his native name, ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "path lit by great flash of lightning" or, more simply, "Bright Path".〔 As was the custom for Sac and Fox, he was named for something occurring around the time of his birth, in this case the light brightening the path to the cabin where he was born. Thorpe's parents were both Roman Catholic, a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his adult life.〔O'Hanlon-Lincoln. pg. 131〕 Thorpe attended the Sac and Fox Indian Agency school in Stroud, Oklahoma, with his twin brother, Charlie. Charlie helped him through school until he succumbed to a bout of pneumonia when they were nine years old.〔(Jim Thorpe – Fast facts ), cgmworldwide.com, Retrieved April 23, 2007.〕 He ran away from school several times. His father then sent him to the Haskell Institute, an Indian boarding school in Lawrence, Kansas, so that he would not run away again.〔 When his mother died of childbirth complications two years later,〔 he became depressed. After several arguments with his father, he left home to work on a horse ranch.〔(Jim Thorpe – Olympic Hero and Native American ), olympics30.com, Retrieved April 23, 2007.〕 In 1904 the sixteen-year-old Thorpe returned to his father and decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There his athletic ability was recognized and he was coached by Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner, one of the most influential coaches of early American football history.〔 Later that year he became orphaned after Hiram Thorpe died from gangrene poisoning after being wounded in a hunting accident,〔Hoxie. pg. 628〕 and Jim again dropped out of school. He resumed farm work for a few years and then returned to Carlisle Indian Industrial School.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jim Thorpe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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