CHICAGO — President Joe Biden is expected to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to recipients this Friday, but in Chicago on Wednesday, family members of Jim Thorpe said they will be in Washington D.C. to accept the award for him, more than 70 years after his death.
Thorpe’s name has become synonymous with many things. Once dubbed the world’s greatest athlete, he will now add another title to his name — Presidential Medal of Freedom winner — But at first, he was just grandpa to Gail Lynn Hannon.
“When we knew my grandfather as my grandfather, he was grandpa. It wasn’t until we got older, he was in Chicago during the second world war,” Hannon said. “At the time we were children, we didn’t know how famous he was, or how talented he was.”
Thorpe was both a professional baseball and football player, becoming a founding father of the latter in the National Football League.
“He and George Halas got together,” Hannon said. “I’ve got pictures of them planning the American football league, which is now the NFL. My grandfather was the first president in 1920.”
It wasn’t always an easy path for the legendary athlete. During the 1912 Olympic Games, Thorpe competed using shoes he had to dig out of the dumpster.
“So when he got there, he was getting ready for the first events, he went to get his shoes — They were gone,” Hannon said. “Somebody stole them so, if you look at the pictures very closely, he got out two odd shoes, and that is how he ran.”
Thorpe went on to win both the decathlon and pentathlon, the first and only athlete in the world to win both in one Olympic year.
The King of Sweden even called him the greatest athlete in the world, as he became the first Native American to win a gold medal in the Olympics for the United States, which at the time, was an additional barrier he had to overcome.
“He did feel at times that he was prejudiced against because of his Indian blood,” Hannon said. “It’s sad when you look at the history that we were treated very badly.”
Thorpe went on to die at the age of 65 on March 28, 1953, but now, he will have his granddaughter travelling to Washington D.C. to accept another reward on a long list of renowned accomplishments for the NFL Hall of Fame running back.
“I don’t know how you get even nominated for this award, I mean he deserves it, but we’re thrilled,” Hannon said. “We are so proud and so pleased and happy to be receiving it.”