Bright Path

Bright Path: Young Jim Thorpe by Don Brown
no awards that I know about

Jim Thorpe competed in the 5th Olympic Games in 1912. His score in the decathlon remained unbeaten for 20 years. His score in the pentathlon was never equaled.

But his "training" for these events consisted of running around on the Oklahoma plains, helping out on the farm, and running away from the Indian boarding schools that he was sent to! He hated these schools that were military strict and designed to "break" Indian children from their culture. Once Jim ran off moments after being dropped off at school by his father and arrived home BEFORE his dad reached home on horse back!

Pick up football games were the bright spot in the drudgery of boarding school, but his beginnings as a world class athelete happened entirely by accident when in 1907 he happened by the track team at Carlisle and noticed that none of the high jumpers could clear the bar. He asked if he could try--- and cleared it on the first try, dressed in overalls! He was asked to join the team and suddenly this young man who was unhappily struggling through school was a star athlete.

There are a few pages of authors notes and bibliographic information at the end of book. Here I learned that because of Jim's playing baseball in a minor minor league one summer when school was out at Carlisle, the Olympic Committee stripped him of his medals and his name was stricken from Olympic records. Since receiving the gold medal was "the proudest moment of my life" according to Jim himself, I can't imagine the emotional impact that must have had on this young man.

He played professional sports for a time after leaving school --- baseball, football and even basketball. When he retired from professional sports he worked at various odd jobs and died of a heart attack at age 64, in 1953. It wasn't until 1973 that the Olympic Committee restored Jim's amateur status and presented replica's of Jim's gold medals to his children.

The heartbreaking info in the end notes are NOT presented in the picture book, which is a story that celebrates this remarkable athlete.