Jim Thorpe retired from professional sports in 1928 at the height of his popularity. The years following his departure, however, would stand in stark contrast to those in which his star rose steadily. Almost immediately, Thorpe began to realize just how different the life of the non-athlete can be. He was unable to find suitable employment outside the sports arena and was forced to take whatever jobs came his way. Throughout the 1930s, Thorpe held a series of low paying, labor intensive jobs. At one point in his post-athletic career, he was employed as a ditch digger in California, earning 30 cents per hour. His indomitable spirit, however, would carry him through these difficult times.
Thorpe experienced a series of personal as well as professional setbacks in the years following his retirement. These setbacks stemmed from his inability to locate stable, gainful employment and were made worse by alcohol dependency. Bouts of depression, precipitated by this uncertain economic climate, began to have a deleterious effect on his personal life. Both his physical well being as well as his interpersonal relationships were seriously jeopardized during this next stage of his life.
In 1913, Thorpe married Iva Miller, whom he had first met while a student at Carlisle Indian School. The couple would have four children--one boy and three girls. Sadly, Thorpe’s first son died at the age of four during a polio epidemic. His career as a professional athlete often took him away from home, which caused a considerable strain on his marriage to Iva. His frequent absence as well as his alcohol dependency caused a rift between Thorpe and his first wife and the couple divorced in 1925. The following year, Thorpe married Freeda V Kirkpatrick and the couple had four children together--all boys. His marriage to Freeda, however, was marred by a period of financial uncertainty as Thorpe ended his athletic career and was forced to drift from one back breaking job to another. Working at times as a construction worker and in the evenings as a bouncer at bars in the Los Angeles area, he struggled to provide for his seven children.
As a means of supplementing his income, Thorpe broke into the film industry with small but noticeable roles in Hollywood westerns. Often cast as the stereotypical Indian Chief, Thorpe saw no point in protesting the inaccuracies of the film industry’s portrayal of Native Americans. To him, these parts were another source of income and nothing more.
During the years of the Great Depression, Thorpe found more financial stability with both his labor intensive jobs as well as his relatively easy side job as a movie extra. He even allowed the publication of a book, written by a ghost author, detailing his Olympic career and his views on a sports in general. Still, there was a noticeable strain on his second marriage and Freeda filed for divorce in 1941. Throughout the years following the end of his second marriage, Thorpe continued to hold a variety of jobs. However, during World War II, Thorpe enlisted in the Merchant Marine and served until the end of the war. In 1946, he married Patricia Askew.
In 1950, Thorpe sold the rights to his life story to Warner Bros. for the sum of $1500. The film, Jim Thorpe: All American, debuted in 1951 and starred Mr. Burt Lancaster in the title role. Also in 1950, the Associated Press declared Jim Thorpe to be the “Greatest American Football Player” as well as the “Greatest Overall Male Athlete.“ This allowed for additional exposure for Thorpe and he soon began to accept speaking engagements at local colleges and sports associations. On the evening of March 28, 1953, Jim Thorpe suffered his third and final heart attack while dining with Patricia. Despite efforts to revive him he slipped into unconsciousness and died that evening. Only towards the end of his life did his star once again rise and upon his death the nation marked his passing. Even President Dwight Eisenhower spoke highly of the man whom he felt was one of American’s most talented athletes. In 1953, the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk merged and petitioned the Thorpe estate to rename their municipality after Jim Thorpe. Patricia agreed and Jim’s body was relocated to the newly minted town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
Efforts were made by members of the Thorpe family to convince the International Olympic Committee to reinstate Thorpe’s gold medals. In 1982, Robert Wheeler and Florence Ridlon formed the Jim Thorpe Foundation and successfully lobbied the Amateur Athletic Union and the U.S. Olympic Committee to overturn its 1913 ruling on Thorpe’s status as a professional athlete. In 1983, the International Olympic Committee reinstated Thorpe’s two gold medals and they were returned to his estate.
Lars Anderson. Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle. (New York: Random House, 2007).
Mark C Carnes, Ed. U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996).
