| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
xii, 479 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-458) and index. |
| Contents |
pt. I. The rules of the game. Beginnings - Oklahoma territory - 1887-1904 ; Discovery - Winter 1904-Summer 1907 ; Warm-up - Fall 1970-Spring 1909 ; The minors - Summer 1909-Summer 1911 ; Football phenom - Fall 1911-Spring 1912 ; The most wonderful athlete in the world - Summer-Fall 1912 -- pt. II. The professional. The public glare - 1913-1914 ; The majors and Ohio - 1915-1919 ; Out of the public glare -- pt. III. Life after sports. Hollywood - 1930-1939 ; Divorce, World War, and river rouge - 1939-1945 ; Rediscovery - 1945-1953. |
| Summary |
The first comprehensive biography of the legendary figure who defined excellence in American sports: Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest all-around athlete the United States has ever seen. With clarity and a fine eye for detail, the author traces the pivotal moments of Thorpe's incomparable career: growing up in the tumultuous Indian Territory of Oklahoma; leading the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team, coached by the renowned "Pop" Warner, to victories against the countries finest college teams; winning gold medals in the 1912 Olympics pentathlon and decathlon; defining the burgeoning sport of professional football and helping to create what would become the National Football League; and playing long, often successful--and previously unexamined--years in professional baseball. But, at the same time, Buford vividly depicts the difficulties Thorpe faced as a Native American--and a Native American celebrity at that--early in the twentieth century. Here is the story of a complex, iconoclastic, profoundly talented man whose life encompassed both tragic limitations and truly extraordinary achievements. --From book jacket. |
| Subject |
Thorpe, Jim, 1887-1953.
|
|
Athletes -- United States -- Biography.
|
|
Indian athletes -- United States -- Biography.
|
| Local Subject |
Indigenous athletes -- United States -- Biography.
|
| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
|
| ISBN |
9780375413247 |
|
0375413243 |
|
