Sample

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete  By  cover art

Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete

By: Robert W. Wheeler
Narrated by: Chaz Allen
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
activate_primeday_promo_in_buybox_DT

Publisher's summary

Born in 1888 in what would soon be Oklahoma Territory, Jim Thorpe was a member of the Sac and Fox Nation. After attending the Sac and Fox agency school and Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas, he transferred to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. At Carlisle he led the football team to victories over some of the nation's best college teams—Army, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska. In 1912 he participated in the Olympic Games in Stockholm, winning both the decathlon and pentathlon. It was then that King Gustav V of Sweden dubbed him the world's greatest athlete.

Between 1913 and 1919, Thorpe played professional baseball for the New York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves. In 1915 he began playing professional football with the Canton (Ohio) Bulldogs. When the top teams were organized into the American Professional Football Association in 1920, Thorpe was named the first president of the organization, renamed the National Football League in 1922. Throughout his career he excelled in every sport he played, earning King Gustav's accolade many times over.

The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©1979, 2023 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2024 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"This is the gold standard!" (Tom Benjey, author of Gridiron Gypsies)

"The finest biography I have ever read on any athlete." (Bill Mallon, author of Historical Dictionary of Golf)

"Undoubtedly the best-documented account of Thorpe's life." (Jim Campbell, co-author of Hell with the Lid Off)

What listeners say about Jim Thorpe: World’s Greatest Athlete

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.