Read more
Informationen zum Autor James Buckley Jr.; Illustrated by Stephen Marchesi Klappentext "While most athletes excel in just one sport, Jim Thorpe was different. Born in Oklahoma in 1887, he played both professional football and baseball, and ran track and field. Jim was not only a sports icon but also a trailblazer. Raised as part of the Sac and Fox tribal nation, he was the first Native American person to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States. And although his personal life was not always as successful as his career, Jim remains one of the greatest athletes in American history"-- Leseprobe Who Was Jim Thorpe? On November 11, 1911, the eleven members of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team ran out onto a field in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They would be playing the team from Harvard University. So far that season, Harvard had been very successful, winning five games and losing only one. They had given up only fourteen points in those six games. Harvard’s was the most famous team in college football. Carlisle was not nearly as well-known. Many fans had not even heard of the small Pennsylvania school where the students were all from Native American tribal nations. At the age of twenty-four, Jim Thorpe was Carlisle’s star player and a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. He was joined by teammates who were from other tribal nations and bands, including Chippewa, Pomo, Blackfeet, and Colville. Most had grown up on reservations—areas of land created by the government to relocate Native Americans—after their ancestors had been forced to leave their homes many years earlier. Members of Harvard’s team, on the other hand, were all white men who most likely came from wealthy families. The twenty-five thousand Harvard fans in the stadium, along with football experts, figured Harvard would win easily. Although Harvard’s team was very good, it didn’t have Jim Thorpe. Tall and broad-shouldered, Thorpe had powerful legs and a strong will to win. Time and again, Jim carried the ball on long runs while Harvard tried to tackle him. He used his great strength to steamroll his opponents. When he had room, he had speed to outrun them. Jim was also his team’s kicker, and he made two field goals in the first half. Meanwhile, Carlisle used plays Harvard had never seen, with the quick Carlisle players running rings around Harvard’s heavier athletes. Alex Arcasa scored a touchdown for Carlisle after a long run by Jim brought the ball close to the end zone. After three quarters, Carlisle led 15 to 9. Harvard’s team was bigger and hit harder, and Carlisle’s players, most of whom were smaller than Jim, were getting tired. Time was running out, and Carlisle needed another score to secure the victory. With just a few minutes left, Jim had a chance for an important field goal—but he had a problem. He had hurt the ankle of his kicking foot a week earlier. He wore extra padding on the ankle and taped it tightly, but it was swelling up. He wasn’t sure he could make the kick—but his team needed him! “As long as I live,” Jim said later, “I will never forget that moment.” As the Harvard crowd screamed to distract Jim, he booted the ball forty-eight yards over the crossbar for three points. The crowd got very quiet very quickly, while Jim’s teammates surrounded him, cheering. Harvard scored once more, but it was not enough. Jim’s kicks proved to be the winning points. Jim Thorpe and Carlisle had pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college sports history: Carlisle 18, Harvard 15. “Jim . . . showed to everyone in Harvard Stadium that he had the heart of a lion,” said Carlisle’s coach, Glenn “Pop” Warner. That famous game was the start of one of the greatest careers in American sports. Jim Thorpe became a two-time Olympic champion, a pro-football star, and a Major League Baseball player. He also be...
