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    Jim Thorpe， an American Indian， is generally accepted as the greatest all-round athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Yet the man， who brought glory to his nation， had a heartbreaking life. What caused his sadness and poverty？

    JIM THORPE

    Steve Gelman

    The railroad station was jammed. Students from Lafayette College were crowding onto the train platform eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Carlisle Indian school's track and field squad. No one would have believed it a few months earlier. A school that nobody had heard of was suddenly beating big， famous colleges in track meets. Surely these Carlisle athletes would come charging off the train， one after another， like a Marine battalion.

    The train finally arrived and two young men — one big and broad， the other small and slight — stepped onto the platform.

    "Where's the track team？" a Lafayette student asked.

    "This is the team，" replied the big fellow.

    "Just the two of you？"

    "Nope， just me，" said the big fellow. "This little guy is the manager."

    The Lafayette students shook their heads in wonder. Somebody must be playing a joke on them. If this big fellow was the whole Carlisle track team， he would be competing against an entire Lafayette squad.

    He did. He ran sprints， he ran hurdles， he ran distance races. He high-jumped， he broad-jumped. He threw the javelin and the shot. Finishing first in eight events， the big fellow beat the whole Lafayette team.

    The big fellow was Jim Thorpe， the greatest American athlete of modern times. He was born on May 28，1888， in a two-room farmhouse near Prague， Oklahoma. His parents were members of the Sac and Fox Indian tribe and he was a direct descendant of the famous warrior chief， Black Hawk.

    As a Sac and Fox， Jim had the colorful Indian name Wa-Tho-Huck. Which， translated， means Bright Path. But being born an Indian， his path was not so bright. Although he had the opportunity to hunt and fish with great Indian outdoorsmen， he was denied opportunity in other ways. The United States government controlled the lives of American Indians and， unlike other people， Indians did not automatically become citizens. It was almost impossible for an Indian to gain even a fair education and extremely difficult， as a result， for an Indian to rise high in life.

    Young Bright Path seemed destined to spend his life in the Oklahoma farmland. But when he was in his teens， the government gave him the chance to attend the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Soon Carlisle was racing along its own bright path to athletic prominence. In whatever sport Jim Thorpe played， he excelled， He was a star in baseball， track and field， wrestling， lacrosse， basketball and football. He was so good in football， in fact， that most other small schools refused to play Carlisle. The Indian school's football schedule soon listed such major powers of the early twentieth century as Pittsburgh， Harvard， Pennsylvania， Penn State and Army.

    Thorpe was a halfback. He was six feet one inch tall， weighed 185 pounds and had incredible speed and power. He built upon these natural gifts daily. He would watch a coach or player demonstrate a difficult maneuver， then he would try it himself. Inevitably， he would master the maneuver within minutes.

    During every game， opponents piled on Thorpe， trampled him， kicked him and punched him， trying to put him out of action. They were never successful. Years later someone asked him if he had ever been hurt on the field. "Hurt？" Thorpe said. "How could anyone get hurt playing football？"

    But Jim never played his best when he felt he would have to no fun playing. "What's the fun of playing in the rain？" he once said. And his Carlisle coach， Pop Warner， once said， "There's no doubt that Jim had more talent than anybody who ever played football， but you could never tell when he felt like giving his best."