Jose Canseco Pounded in the Ring Again. This Bash Brother Is No Jim Thorpe, All-American May 28, 2009

The Greatest American Athlete and Perhaps Greatest In World History

Vai Said Bye To Jose

But first…Jose Canseco…

the man who helped to bring steroids into the game of baseball then helped to reveal to the world the MLB steroid scurge, now has a new way to keep his name in the headlines…though the headlines this time may be on page 17-C.  Last year at this time, he was going to box another former athlete. Former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema pounded the much larger former Bash Brother(video). 

Jose Danced To a Draw with Danny Partridge

Almost exactly a year later, Canseco is at it again.  This time, he took on a guy much larger than him in a Mixed Martial Arts match.  (story) The results were the same, only Jose ended up in a fetal position and got pounded in less than a minute and a half (video).  So, let’s look at the score card for Jose.  He fought former child actor, former substance abuser, former disc jockey and much smaller Danny Bonaduce to a draw in a celebrity boxing match.  He was beaten by a retired football player in a boxing match and now he got pounded by a 7’2″ 330lb fighter in the MMA.  Jose says he had a hurt knee.  So, you have to give him credit for playing hurt.  But, why do I think that Jose is doing this for a paycheck?  Maybe he has another tell all book in him because the punches he throws on the pages seem to be more accurate than the ones he throws in the ring….and probably pays better.  By the way, what happened to the tattos on Jose? There everywhere with Bonaduce and gone with Hong Man Choi.  Temporary Tats?

King Presents Gold Medal and Laurel Wreath

On This Date In History:  King Gustav V of Sweden said to Jim Thorpe, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world” following Thorpe’s performance at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.  Two things are funny about the famous utterance that would precede just about every Thorpe appearance for the rest of his life.  First off, Thorpe had tried to walk away but before he could, the king reached out and grabbed his hand.  Then, after the comment, Thorpe simply said, “Thanks King!” The king then gave Thorpe a silver chalice in the shape of a Viking ship lined with gold and embedded with jewels

1932 Thorpe With Sons Phil and Billy

New York Giant...An American Sports Giant

James Francis Thorpe was born on this date in 1887 in what was then the Indian Territory of Oklahoma.  They say he was 5/8 Indian…whatever that means.  He was the great-great grandson of Black Hawk, the famous chief of the Sauk tribe that fought valiantly to preserve the tribes land against the European settlers in Illinois.  Black Hawk was known to be a tough and courageous warrior, though it is unknown what kind of football player he was.  But he great-great grandson was one of the best ever and then some.

Gold Medal Pentathlete

Football Star

Thorpe not only won the Decathlon AND the Pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics, he did so by finishing first in every single event except the Javelin.  He played football at Carlisle Industrial Indian School under Pop Warner where he became and All-American.  He played professional football and became the commissioner of what was to become the NFL.  While he was playing pro-football, he also played Major League Baseball for John McGraw’s fabled New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.  He was known world wide and still is today. He became an active spokesman for Indian affairs, had a dance troupe. At age 58, he showed his patriotism by joining the merchant marine toward the end of World War II.

Baseball Star

World Record Decathalete

But, like many American heroes, Thorpe’s tale of triumph has a tragic side.  A year or so after he returned to New York to a ticker tape parade, a newspaper reported that Thorpe had played for a semi-pro baseball team while he was in college for two years.  I think he made something like $60 a month.  Thorpe said he was just a poor Indian kid who didn’t know that was against the rules.  Well, the AAU and the US Olympic Committee as well as the International Olympic Committee all came down on Thorpe and took his medals away and struck his records from the books.  They even took back the Viking Ship!   In 1950, he was voted the best athlete of the first half of the 20thcentury by the Associated Press. By that time, Sports Illustrated says he was a bloated alcoholic living in a trailer.  He died of a heart attack in 1953 with very little to his name, not even his gold medals.

Brundage Sore Loser?

From 1952 to 1972, Avery Brundage served as the head of the International Olympic Committee and he staunchly held firm in preventing Thorpe from being reinstated, even after he

Brundage No Match For Thorpe on the Field

died.  Brundage used the old “ignorance is no excuse” routine.  Brundage died in 1975 and in 1982, the IOC changed course and said it had erred in taking Thorpe’s medals. His records were put back in the  books and by the end of the century, he was again honored as, not just the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century, but of the entire 100 year span.

Here’s the kicker.  It is speculated that Brundage held a racial grudge against Thorpe.  That is probably up for debate….but here is a more specific fact.  Avery Brundage did have an ax to grind against Thorpe.  You see….the man who ate Thorpe’s dust in 1912 by coming in 6th in the Pentathlon and 15th in the Decathlon was none other than, Avery Brundage.

Oh…and by the way…there’s a town in Pennsylvania called Jim Thorpe. 

You can read about Jim Thorpe, PA.

Front Plods Through on Thursday

Weather Bottom Line:  The story is really pretty much the same.   We had the numerous t’storms on Wednesday and now we have a front coming down on Thursday.  It will be a slow mover but the best chances for rain would be early Thursday and then another chance later in the day but by day’s end, the front should be sufficiently through and the dry air moving in enough to end the rain.  Look for a drier and cooler Friday morning and a warm but not so humid Friday.  I don’t think the storms Thursday will be overly ferocious, but there could be some windows rattling and furniture moving to wake you up.  Another system drops down and prior to its arrival we have a warm front.  The other day I mentioned that it may be too dry to have any precip.  But, the SPC has us in the edge of the slight risk area and really keeps us close through Monday.  The reason is that they feel as if the boundary will remain fairly close to our region and that there will be developing MCS situations periodically and they will be moving along the boundary southeast.  It’s tricky and certainly not a slam dunk but probably worth watching out for.  Either way, we get a return flow to start next week and that should start the mercury upward, perhaps the upper 80′s, and increasing humidity to start June.

Weekend Worth Watching as per SPC

DAY 4-8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK 
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0401 AM CDT WED MAY 27 2009
  
   VALID 301200Z – 041200Z
  
   …DISCUSSION…
   GFS AND ECMWF IN GOOD AGREEMENT AT LEAST THROUGH DAY 6…AFTER WHICH
   SUBTLE DIFFERENCES IN THE MODELS BEGIN TO INCREASE.  OVERALL
   HOWEVER…MODELS CONTINUE TO POINT AT A FEW DAYS OF HEIGHTENED
   SEVERE POTENTIAL OVER THE CENTRAL CONUS AND VICINITY.  BOTH MODELS
   CONTINUE TO FORECAST NW FLOW ACROSS THE CENTRAL US AND INTO THE
   MIDWEST ON THE BACK SIDE OF A ERN NOAM UPPER LOW/TROUGH FOR DAY 4
   /SAT. MAY 30/.  AS A PORTION OF THIS TROUGH MOVES QUICKLY EWD AND
   TAKES ON A NEGATIVE TILT DAY 5…FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE
   NWLY/WLY…WITH SEVERAL SHORT-WAVE FEATURES MOVING THROUGH THE
   RELATIVELY FAST FLOW FIELD OVER THE CENTRAL AND NRN
   PLAINS/MIDWEST/OH VALLEY.  FLOW ALOFT SLACKENS A BIT DAY 6…BUT
   BOTH MODELS PROG A SHORT-WAVE TROUGH TO ENTER THE CENTRAL PLAINS
   WHICH SHOULD MAINTAIN SEVERE POTENTIAL.
  
   DAY 4 /SAT. MAY 30/…IT APPEARS THAT STORMS SHOULD EVOLVE ACROSS
   THE NEB VICINITY…AS AMPLE MOISTENING/DESTABILIZATION OCCURS NEAR
   AND S OF A NW-SE BAROCLINIC ZONE RETREATING NWD ACROSS THE CENTRAL
   CONUS.  STORMS SHOULD EXPAND INTO ONE OR MORE MCS LATE IN THE
   DAY…AND THEN ACCELERATE SEWD TOWARD THE UPPER MIDWEST THROUGH THE
   SECOND HALF OF THE PERIOD — WITH DAMAGING WINDS EXPECTED TO BE A
   MAIN THREAT.
  
   DAY 5 /SUN. MAY 31/…A COLD FRONT IS FORECAST TO BEGIN MOVING SEWD
   ACROSS THE PLAINS…PROVIDING A FOCUS FOR STORM DEVELOPMENT –
   PARTICULARLY INVOF THE MID MO VALLEY REGION — WITHIN DESTABILIZING
   AFTERNOON AIRMASS.  AGAIN…ONE OR MORE MCS SHOULD EVOLVE BY
   EVENING…WITH A MORE EWD STORM TRACK INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST REGION.
  
  
   DAY 6 /MON. JUN. 1/…CYCLOGENESIS ACROSS THE SRN HIGH PLAINS IS
   HINTED AT ALONG THE TRAILING PORTION OF THE AFOREMENTIONED FRONT
   MOVING SEWD ACROSS THE CENTRAL CONUS — IN RESPONSE TO THE EJECTING
   SHORT-WAVE TROUGH.  WHILE FLOW ALOFT SHOULD BE WEAKER…A
   PARTICULARLY MOIST/UNSTABLE AIRMASS ACROSS THE KS/OK REGION SHOULD
   OFFSET THE SLIGHTLY-WEAKER FLOW FIELD…WITH THE SEVERE POTENTIAL
   POSSIBLY INCLUDING TORNADOES NEAR AND NE OF THE LOW/INVOF THE WARM
   FRONT WHICH IS PROGGED TO EXTEND ACROSS THE KS/NRN OK/MO VICINITY.
  
   ..GOSS.. 05/27/2009

Birth of A Nation of Lies-Baseball Follows Script? February 8, 2009

Clemens Said the Steroids Were For His Wife

Clemens Wife Before & After Steroids?

Barry Early and Late in Career

Steroids and Baseball:

Last year, Roger Clemens took his turn in front of Congress regarding steroids. He said such memorable things such as he “misremembered” many things.  But, he claims he never took steroids.  He said he bought some for his wife.  So, he threw his wife under the bus.  His former trainer claims that he did give Clemens steroids.  Part of the testimony regarded large cysts on his backside, an apparent side effect to injecting steroids.  Clemens is under investigation for perjury.  Barry Bonds is facing charges that he lied

Canseco Says A-Rod Did Steroids And Hit on His Wife...at least he didn't Hit his wife, Jose

to a grand jury regarding his steroid use.  The trial is supposed to be coming up and the government apparently has tests from 2003 and prior to that they say are positive tests against Bonds.  There is also a secretly taped conversation between one of Bonds’ former associates and his trainer.  The trainer has gone to jail for refusing to testify but, this recorded conversation has him telling the jilted associate ways to avoid getting detected in tests.  It included stuff about cysts forming where injections are given.  Before we slam the jail door shut on Barry…he seems to have an ally in the courtroom.  The judge appears to be poised to disallow the drug tests prior to 2003 as well as the secret tape.  Now, we have a report from Sports Illustrated regarding Alex Rodriguez saying that he not only tested positive for steroids, but that one of the union leaders was tipping him and other players off as to when they would be tested so they could prepare in advance to avoid detection.  They say where there’s smoke there’s fire.  I’d say there is a towering inferno brewing.

Idiotic Scene From "Historic" Birth of a Nation

On This Date in History: First, on an interesting note relating to baseball and Bonds as well as a recent post, I found out that Hank Aaron’s birthday was February 5.  The man he passed as the all time home run king, Babe Ruth, celebrated his birthday on February 6.  That’s kinda unusual.  Then, I got to thinking…which is dangerous…I had a post regarding the Great Baltimore Fire on Feb 7-8 1904.  Speculation is that it started from a carelessly tossed cigarette or cigar.  Now, Ruth would have just celebrated his 9th birthday and his father’s bar is located close by to where the fire started. I don’t think that Ruth had been sent away to St. Mary’s Orphanage when he was 9, so what about the possibility that the fire was started by the juvenile delinquent George Herman Ruth!

Griffith's KKK Saves The South from Reconstruction...Nonsense

That would make a good story line for our feature of the day…Kentuckian David Wark Griffith.  He was born not far from Louisville in La Grange and became famous for the first full length feature film, Birth of a Nation.  The film opened on this date in 1915 and is widely regarded as historic and monumnetal and such.  I could never figure out why because it’s stupid and it’s biased and racist and inaccurate.  It’s not the content so much as the techniques that Griffith used and pioneered that gives the film its place in history.

Griffith was born in 1875 to an Ex-Confederate.  Now, much of the nation today thinks of Kentucky as being in the South.  But, when I moved here, I couldn’t believe I was moving so far north.  I thought I was in Yankeeland.  Kim Stevens is from Alabama and she married a guy from Louisville. Her family said that they thought they could accept that she was marrying a “Yankee.”  People who are really in the South don’t think of Kentucky as being in the South.   Oh…the anger I get from people about that.  I tell people to move to Jackson, Mississippi if they want to find out what the South is like.  I point out that about 25,000 served in the Confederacy from Kentucky while over 130,00o served in the Union.  I point out that Louisville was home to the

Griffith's KKK Saves The Ladies! More Foolishness

Army of the Ohio and 75,000 Union Troops who were invited into the state by the legislature in late 1861.  I point out that Louisville averages over 15 inches of snow a year and often gets below zero.  I point out that St. Louis is exactly 250 miles due west, was a major city in a border state yet no one calls them the South.  My thesis had to do with Loiusville’s true roots being with the North but that they purposely realigned themselves with the South for economic reasons after the war.  That’s where the myth of the Kentucky Colonel comes from.  Louisville had the only working railroad into the South after the war and wanted to capitalize economically for the rebuilding south and so they basically said, “why, we wuz with ya all the time boys!! Do business with us, not them Yankees!”  Never mind that Braxton Bragg came into the state with an Army of 45, 000 hoping to get Kentuckians to join the Confederate cause.  Kentuckians declined, leaving Bragg to refer to Kentuckians as a bunch of “shuffling middlemen.”  Now, there were no book burnings, but Kentuckians simply left out all references to the North when they wrote the history of the state, specifically the Memorial History of Louisville to 1896.  They had a whole section on the Southern Exposition but said not one word about the National Industrial Exposition that lasted twice as long.  They made no reference to a huge event that became national in scope in 1885 celebrating the birthday of US Grant.  It’s on Grant’s Tomb in the form of a plaque but is found nowhere (except my published article…Ohio Valley History Fall 2008… and thesis) because they wanted no one to find out about it.  It messed up their story.

Protesters Were Pretty Close To the Mark

Well, DW Griffith was part of the mythmaking when he made Birth of a Nation.  For the first month of its release, it was called The Clansmen and was a biased view of the Civil War and Reconstruction.  It portrayed African Americans in an awful light and as evil and bad.  It created the illusion of the Ku Klux Klan as some heroic figures.  Now, US Grant had crushed the Klan in the 1870′s.  But, not long after Griffith’s stupid movie, the Klan re-emerged to be a scurge on the land for decades to come.  There is little doubt that Griffith’s film helped sway public support toward the reborn group that became “anti” all sorts  of things, not just African Americans.  It’s an idiotic film.  It was censored in some cities and sparked riots in many northern cities.  The newly formed NAACP tried to have it banned.  Griffith did agree to cut out some particularly offensive scenes.  But, the film itself is largely historically a fraud and I suppose it set the stage for historic movies to come as most Hollywood historically based films are not accurate…don’t believe everything you see.

There are some interesting things about the film though was that Griffith began the idea of feature length films. He also was the first to make actors rehearse before shooting scenes, thus increasing the quality of the acting.  Griffith helped pioneer the use of zooms and close ups and panning camera shots. He also had breakthroughs in editing techniques that are still used today.  His work with the actors helped launch the big careers of people like Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish.  He later went on to form United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.  So, Griffith does have a place in film history….just don’t buy his work of propaganda and foolishness AS history…its nonsense.

Weather Bottom Line: Told you that things may change…I mean come on…we’re talking about weather a couple of weeks out and the accuracy of a 7 day forecast has some pretty good grains of salt to ingest after day 2 and they get bigger as you go toward day 7.  Anyway, data is suggesting that we are cooler with some light rain Sunday. Fine.  Then we warm up but data really doesn’t support highs toward 70 on Wednesday.  And the models are not all that enthused about severe weather here.  The good stuff coming together appears to be more down in the Ozarks back into North Texas.  But, I would rest too easy just yet.  Still  could be of some interest but the models just aren’t on board yet.  There may be a bit of climatology in the equations of the models causing a bit of a bias.  Now, nothing else has much changed.  We look like we have a consensus of us getting into pattern after that of being on the edge of the freezing line.  Nothing really scarey at this point but it does look like a pain to forecast and generally seasonally chilly conditions.  Going out toward the 20th, the GFS wants to dig down cold air with some snow.  But, thats a long way out and I wouldn’t bet the ranch on that.  But, its still winter..its bound to get cold again.  So, enjoy the milder air for the first few days of the week while you can.

Jose, Roger Or Bill-Who Is The Best Fighter? July 17, 2008

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Same BORING Story Our weather is not changing through the weekend. Sunday has a scant chance for an isolated t’storm but that isn’t much of a chance. Next week, the prospects for scattered or isolated stuff shows up but that’s about it. Bertha is still boring as it hangs around and tries to hold together. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it end up in Europe. There is a disturbance in the Western Caribbean that looks decent but will probably move into Central America. I think that is the one that some models try to bring out in the Bay of Campeche in some shadowy circulation but that’s about it. In other words, that’s boring too. The guy just off the South American coast still looks to have some potential if it would just nudge a bit farther north. It is very very tough for a storm to get any circulation when its that close to 10 degrees north. So, for the time being it too is boring.

When bored, do what the professionals do…turn to steroids. Yes indeed. On Today’s Steroid list is some new information on an old story. If you recall, when we last left Roger Clemens, he was suing his old trainer, Brian McNamee for inventing, at the risk of going to prison, a story that he (McNamee) gave Clemens steroids. Clemens never said why McNamee would risk going to jail for a lie. But there was a lot of things Clemens said that he “misremembered”. Roger and I were in high school at rival schools at the same time and at the University of Texas at the same time, but I don’t recall that word ever showing up in my curriculum. Clemens finally manned up and said the steroids were for his wife! Always good to find a skirt to hide behind. There was another person in this story by the name of Kirk Radomski who has been convicted of distributing steroids to professional athletes. Now we have the story( Newsday)that Radomski, a former clubhouse attendant for the New York Mets, found mailing slips for packages sent from him to Clemens. Of course there is no proof (NYTimes) as to what was in the packages. I mean a convicted steroids dealer who worked for the New York Mets with no connections with Clemens probably sent him a box of chocolates, right?

Any mention of steroids would be absent without mentioning Jose Canseco, who opened the whole can of worms when he wrote a book about the subject. Well, people forget it was really the late Ken Caminiti who in a Sports Illustrated interview said that 60 to 70 percent of the players in the league used performance enhancing drugs. Of course when the players union heard that, a couple of “representatives” from the union paid Caminiti a visit and he changed his story saying he may have been exaggerating. Well, Ken is dead now and he can’t say I told you so but we have Jose to do that instead. Canseco had a fling with Madonna and Jose also got divorced from his wife, among other things. Canseco was famous as a “bash brother” and then infamous as the pharmacist. Now, Jose is making accusations against his former friend Alex Rodriquez, who has been linked to Madonna and who is supposedly getting divorced. There seems to be a lethal combination here that might come to a boil at any moment. So, Jose decided to vent with a boxing match against former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema who was one of those little, tough as nails players who was fearless. I’d say that Canseco is about 70 pounds heavier and 6 inches taller. Here is the pre-fight smack talk followed by some highlights of the fight, which is just about the whole fight because it only lasted 97 seconds. Take a guess who hit the canvas.

Jose Canseco/Vai Sikahema Smacktalk on the couch

Canseco/Sikahema “war by the shore” video lowlights

So, Canseco fights for less time than it took him to strike out and Roger Clemens fights by blaming his wife and misremembering. Let’s look to a real fighter…North Dakota Governor William “Fightin’ Bill” Langer who On This Date in 1934 did his fighting like a real American. He declared independence! See, he was a hard charging Republican depression-era governor who liked to tell good stories with funny anecdotes. He had a way of not just inspiring loyalty, but also demanding it of the state employees. They were required to turn over a percentage of their pay checks to his political machine. There was a snag and that was part of their salaries came from the Federal Government. By 1934, the Executive Branch of the Federal Government was run by Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was partisan enough to change the name of the Hoover Dam to the Boulder Dam out of spite for Herbert Hoover. So, Fightin’ Bill was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Langer was convicted but refused to resign his post, instead choosing to barricade himself in his office. He tossed a spittoon through a window, unilaterally declared that North Dakota was independent from the United States and declared martial law. He finally gave in when the state supreme court said he had no standing as governor and Lt. Governor Olson took over. Undeterred, he came back. He got his wife nominated for Governor against Democrat Tom Moodie. She lost but five days after Moodie took over, Langer played his last card. He made it known that Moodie had voted in another state less than five years prior, therefore making him ineligible for office! Moodie resigned and the Lt. Governor took over. North Dakota had four governors in 7 months.

History suggests that had Langer been involved in steroids, he would have blamed his wife instead of putting her in the fight, then he’d have divorced her, fallen on his face groveled at the feet of Madonna. The fight would have shrunk from Bill and this date in history would really be boring.

Jim Thorpe, All-American; Jose Canseco (fill in the blank) May 28, 2008

The weather is co-operating with the forecast.  We had the frontal boundary sag down our way and trigger some pretty good thunderstorms in the northern part of the viewing area. As it sagged down into the metro, an upper low from the southwest…perhaps an MCV…came across bringing pretty good storms to the southwest.  Biggest problem with this stuff was the heavy rain with some flooding problems in Jackson and Lawrence Counties.  All of that is out of the way…high pressure will build in and shove out the clouds by Wednesday afternoon.  Much drier and cooler air will take hold.  Thursday look for a cool start and warm afternoon.  Friday, the humidity returns as we move to the mid 80′s. On Saturday, we are hot and humid as another front comes down.  The timing is a bit in flux but I would think that this system may provide a better chance for strong thunderstorms than the last one.  I”m not going to worry about it at this point. Snow White and I will probably be found sculling on the river.

Jose Canseco…the man who helped to bring steroids into the game of baseball then helped to reveal to the world the MLB steroid scurge, now has a new way to keep his name in the headlines…though the headlines this time may be on page 17-C.  He is going to box another former athlete. 

See the Video of who will take on Jose Canseco!.

On This Date In History:  King Gustav V of Sweden said to Jim Thorpe, “Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world” following Thorpe’s performance at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.  Two things are funny about the famous utterance that would precede just about every Thorpe appearance for the rest of his life.  First off, Thorpe had tried to walk away but before he could, the king reached out and grabbed his hand.  Then, after the comment, Thorpe simply said, “Thanks King!” The king then gave Thorpe a silver chalice in the shape of a Viking ship lined with gold and embedded with jewels

James Francis Thorpe was born on this date in 1887 in what was then the Indian Territory of Oklahoma.  They say he was 5/8 Indian…whatever that means.  He was the great-great grandson of Black Hawk, the famous chief of the Sauk tribe that fought valiantly to preserve the tribes land against the European settlers in Illinois.  Black Hawk was known to be a tough and courageous warrior, though it is unknown what kind of football player he was.  But he great-great grandson was one of the best ever and then some.

Thorpe not only won the Decathlon AND the Pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics, he did so by finishing first in every single event except the Javelin.  He played football at Carlisle Industrial Indian School under Pop Warner where he became and All-American.  He played professional football and became the commissioner of what was to become the NFL.  While he was playing pro-football, he also played Major League Baseball for John McGraw’s fabled New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.  He was known world wide and still is today. He became an active spokesman for Indian affairs, had a dance troupe. At age 58, he showed his patriotism by joining the merchant marine toward the end of World War II.

But, like many American heroes, Thorpe’s tale of triumph has a tragic side.  A year or so after he returned to New York to a ticker tape parade, a newspaper reported that Thorpe had played for a semi-pro baseball team while he was in college for two years.  I think he made something like $60 a month.  Thorpe said he was just a poor Indian kid who didn’t know that was against the rules.  Well, the AAU and the US Olympic Committee as well as the International Olympic Committee all came down on Thorpe and took his medals away and struck his records from the books.  They even took back the Viking Ship!   In 1950, he was voted the best athlete of the first half of the 20thcentury by the Associated Press. By that time, Sports Illustrated says he was a bloated alcoholic living in a trailer.  He died of a heart attack in 1953 with very little to his name, not even his gold medals.

From 1952 to 1972, Avery Brundage served as the head of the International Olympic Committee and he staunchly held firm in preventing Thorpe from being reinstated, even after he died.  Brundage used the old “ignorance is no excuse” routine.  Brundage died in 1975 and in 1982, the IOC changed course and said it had erred in taking Thorpe’s medals. His records were put back in the  books and by the end of the century, he was again honored as, not just the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century, but of the entire 100 year span.

Here’s the kicker.  It is speculated that Brundage held a racial grudge against Thorpe.  That is probably up for debate….but here is a more specific fact.  Avery Brundage did have an ax to grind against Thorpe.  You see….the man who ate Thorpe’s dust in 1912 by coming in 6th in the Pentathlon and 15th in the Decathlon was none other than, Avery Brundage.

Oh…and by the way…there’s a town in Pennsylvania called Jim Thorpe. 

You can read about Jim Thorpe, PA.