one of the greatest and most versatile american athletes of all time. won olympic gold in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 olympics. also played college and pro
football.
in college he played running back, defensive back, placekicker and punter for carlisle, a little indian school. while at carlisle he was the key component in what is considered to be one of the greatest games ever played, carlisle vs army. in this
game carlisle upset the national powerhouse army
27-6. in mordern terms this would be
like the New
Mexico blowing out OU or Auburn.
as a couple of fun side note in a
game against Penn, Thorpe acting in his role as punter, punted the ball down the field. he then sprinted down field and caught his own punt before it
hit the ground and ran it a further 20 yards for a touchdown. in the
game against army, thorpe had a 92-yard touchdown run which was called back due to a teammate's penalty. so he followed up with a 97-yard touchdown run the very next play. once again against army: army linebacker Dwight Eisenhower, the very same Eisenhower who would go on to be a war
hero and president of the
united states, and a fellow army teammate attempted to high-low Thorpe late after a play. Thorpe saw them coming and nimbly jumped out of the way, however he waited long enough before evading the hit that Eisenhower and his teammate collided, giving each of them an injury that would eventually end their careers as football players.
