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Jim Thorpe is a largely forgotten name in most American homes today.

When the topic of great athletes and highly driven men comes up,

young men usually think of modern stars like Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Steph Curry, or Mike Trout.

If you're a generation older, you might conjure images of Barry Sanders, Michael Jordan, Carl Lewis,

or Bo Jackson. But before any of these men made a name for themselves on the world stage,

Jim Thorpe accomplished more in the sports arena than the modern sports fan can probably

wrap their minds around.

Jim Thorpe, baptizing the Catholic Church as Jacobus Francisus Thorpe, was born in Indian

territory, later Oklahoma on May 28, 1887, along the banks of

the North Fork River. A mix of Native American and Irish heritage, Thorpe was raised in the

sock culture, and his sock name was Wathow Huck, which translates as, bright path a lightning

makes as it goes across the sky. Thorpe's parents were both

Roman Catholic, a faith which Thorpe observed throughout his life. Thorpe had a rough and tragic

childhood, losing his twin brother Charlie to pneumonia when they were nine, and then his mother

to childbirth complications when he was 11. During this time, his father had trouble keeping him

from depression, and Jim often ran away from the boarding schools where he was enrolled. In 1904, at the

age of 16, Thorpe decided to attend Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

There, his athletic ability was first shown the light of day as he played under coach

Glenn Scobie Warner, later to be known as Pop, one of the most influential coaches of

early American football history.

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