The Spirit of Jim Thorpe
Wonder Cabinet
Wonder Cabinet Productions
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jim Thorpe was one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known — a legend in the NFL, MLB, NCAA, and in the Olympics. Today he is being celebrated by a new generation of Native Americans.
- Rapper Tall Paul’s album is called, “The Story of Jim Thorpe." Tall Paul is an Anishinaabe and Oneida Hip-Hop artist enrolled on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota.
- Biographer David Maraniss is the author of "Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe."
- Activist Suzan Shown Harjo is the recipient of a 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom. She is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee.
- Patty Loew is the director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern University. She is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.
Special thanks to Robert W. Wheeler and the Smithsonian for archival audio.
Original Air Date: January 14, 2023
Interviews In This Hour:
Was Jim Thorpe the greatest athlete who ever lived? — The white man's trophy — A hero who looks like me — Indigenous excellence: Hip hop and the legacy of Jim Thorpe
Guests:
Tall Paul, Suzan Shown Harjo, Patty Loew, David Maraniss
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Anne. |
| 0:02.0 | Today on to the best of our knowledge, we're celebrating one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known. |
| 0:10.0 | The greatest athlete in the world. |
| 0:12.0 | One of the greatest athletes of all time. |
| 0:14.0 | Just that much better than everybody else. |
| 0:16.0 | A pro football player, Major League Baseball player, gold medal winner in the Olympics. |
| 0:21.3 | Everything, anybody else knew, he can do it better. |
| 0:24.0 | He could do anything. |
| 0:25.7 | His name was Jim Thorpe. |
| 0:29.0 | And because he was Native American, he battled racism and discrimination every day of his |
| 0:34.1 | life. |
| 0:35.4 | It's been 70 years since Jim Thorpe died, |
| 0:37.7 | but today he's inspiring a new generation |
| 0:40.2 | of activists, artists, and athletes. |
| 0:43.8 | I'll tell you his story after this. |
| 0:51.1 | From WPR. |
| 0:57.6 | I'm not going to tell, and welcome to the best of our knowledge. |
| 1:02.2 | Today, we celebrate an American icon. |
| 1:06.7 | The greatest all-round athlete America has ever produced. |
| 1:11.1 | Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Thorpe, All-American. |
| 1:18.1 | Jim Thorpe was a Native American athlete who died 70 years ago |
| 1:21.9 | and is still one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. |
... |
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