JIM THORPE

"THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE"
Sac & Fox Nation, 1887-1953

Voted ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century.

Won Olympic 1912 gold medals for the Decathlon and thePentathlon.

American Olympic Gold: King Gustav V of Sweden presents an Olympic gold medal and wreath to 25-year-old Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox American Indian) and proclaims him "the greatest athlete in the world," Stockholm Summer Olympics, 1912.

"(Jim Thorpe) was the greatest athlete who ever lived.... What he had was natural ability. There wasn't anything he couldn't do. All he had to see is someone doin' something and he tried it... and he'd do it better."