First published 2022
David Maraniss tells the complete story of Jim Thorpe, the Sac and Fox Nation athlete who became America's greatest multi-sport champion. Maraniss traces Thorpe's rise from his football stardom at Carlisle Indian School through his double gold medal triumph in decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The author follows Thorpe into professional sports, playing baseball for John McGraw's New York Giants and later earning induction as a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Maraniss exposes how institutional racism destroyed Thorpe's achievements at every turn. Olympic officials stripped his gold medals because of a brief minor league baseball career. School and sports leaders abandoned him when he needed support. His later years descended into alcoholism, failed marriages, and poverty as he drifted across the country taking whatever work he could find, including small Hollywood parts. This biography shows how Thorpe maintained his dignity through betrayal and personal struggles while securing his place in American sports history.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, sports, american-history
Vibes: inspiring, intimate, thought-provoking, tragic, unflinching
Tropes: historical-injustice, overcoming-adversity, personal-redemption, rise-and-fall
Setting: Carlisle Indian School, New York, Stockholm
Period: 1912
672 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: addiction, racism