What sport DIDN'T Jim Thorpe dominate?

candymann I'm a HUGE Michael Jordan fan, but not him nor any other athlete could compare to Jim Thorpe. Michael Jordan failed at baseball and he really only dominated one sport. Jim Thorpe dominated in football, baseball, basketball, track, swimming, bowling and just about anything else he tried. He is the ONLY athlete in history to win gold in both the decathlon and pentathlon in the same Olympic games.

Keep in mind that Jim Thorpe was an athlete beginning in the early 1900's. What type of protective gear do you think they had in football and baseball back then? Jim Thorpe played EVERY POSITION in football and he EXCELLED at all positions. He was known to have punted a ball and then run down the field to make the tackle of the opposing teams returner. Former President Dwight Eisenhower was injured by Jim Thorpe while trying to tackle him in the 1912 game of Carlisle vs. Army. In later years Eisenhower said, "My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."

His career started in college. Soon after arriving at college, he saw a group of guys attempting a high jump. Never before seeing this type of thing, he went over and wanted to try. While wearing plain street clothes, on his first attempt he jumped and beat the standing school record in the high jump by an ENTIRE FOOT.

I could go on all day....he dominated in swimming and bowling but you don't really hear much about that. In fact, in this century you don't hear much about Jim Thorpe at all. But if you only knew what he was capable of and what his accomplishments were you would definitely agree that there is no question that Jim Thorpe was and IS the greatest athlete of all time. The King of Sweden proclaimed this when awarding Jim his Olympic crown and medals in 1912 and in March of 2000 ESPN named him the greatest athlete of the century. If you're still not convinced that Jim Thorpe is the greatest athlete of all time, please ask yourself which other athlete on this list has an entire town named after him in their honor. The residents of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania will attest to that there is no other athlete deserving of the title GREATEST ATHLETE OF ALL TIME.

Comments

Sunods great to me BWTHDIK - visitor

Simple, because 20-year olds do the voting. Many times, there are nothing but young people who do not have any idea of what they are typing put lists together. Not one of these 20-year olds were around to see Wilt Chamberlain or even Joe Louis.

Jim Thorpe will always be the greatest athlete of all time. The man simply excelled at more than one sport. Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali did not. Joe Louis, Mike Tyson or Jack Johnson in their primes could have beaten Ali. - visitor (6/18/2013)

Pretty much every sport. Jim Thorpe is a good athlete, sure. But we're not just dealing with American sports here. The biggest sport in the world? Soccer. And he wasn't there. The second biggest? Cricket, he still didn't play. Third? Tennis, and nope, he wasn't part of that either. Sure, it's not about what sports you played, it's about the athletic ability. But I'm specifically commenting on you saying "What sport DIDN'T Jim Thorpe nominate? " If you want to know, well, here's your answer. - visitor (8/25/2014)