THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY HEFFLEY, BRENNAN, R. BROWN, CLYMER, DiGIROLAMO, EVERETT, FLECK, GABLER, GEIST, GEORGE, GILLEN, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GRELL, GROVE, HAHN, HARPER, HENNESSEY, HESS, HICKERNELL, HUTCHINSON, KILLION, KNOWLES, MAHONEY, MAJOR, MILLARD, O'NEILL, PEIFER, PICKETT, READSHAW, ROCK, ROSS, SAYLOR, SCAVELLO, CULVER, SONNEY, STERN, SWANGER, VEREB AND VULAKOVICH, APRIL 16, 2012

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35, APRIL 16, 2012  

A RESOLUTION

Honoring Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe by designating May 19,

2012, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1888, and was raised

as a member of the Native American Sac and Fox Nation; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was the grandson of the nation's chief,

Black Hawk, and was given the native name of Bright Path; and

WHEREAS, The accomplishments and legacy of Jim Thorpe were

not only part of his great "bright path" but have also been an

inspiration to people worldwide; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe overcame great tragedy in his youth to

attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, beginning in 1907;

and

WHEREAS, While at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Jim

Thorpe was coached by the legendary football coach Glenn Scobey

"Pop" Warner and was awarded All-American honors in 1911 and

1912; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe honorably represented the Sac and Fox

Nation and the United States of America at the 1912 Olympic

games in Stockholm, Sweden; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was the first United States athlete to

win the pentathlon and the decathlon in one Olympic year; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's athletic feats and the worldwide

publicity established the viability of the modern Olympic Games;

and

WHEREAS, To honor him for his gold medals in the pentathlon

and decathlon, Jim Thorpe was awarded gifts by King Gustav V of

Sweden and Czar Nicholas II of Russia; and

WHEREAS, A ticker-tape parade was held in New York City upon

Jim Thorpe's return to the United States from Sweden; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals were revoked after he

was found to have violated strict rules regarding amateurism in

force at the time; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's medals were not reinstated until 1982,

30 years after his death, when the International Olympic

Committee recognized the improper application of the

disqualification procedures; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe had an illustrious professional career

after the Olympics, in which he played baseball for the New York

Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves, football for

the Canton Bulldogs and basketball for two years after his

retirement from professional football; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe is considered one of football's founding

fathers as a result of his career as a professional football

player with the Canton Bulldogs, one of the four teams that make

up the American Professional Football Association, which later

became the National Football League; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe, while coaching and playing for the

Canton Bulldogs, further supported the sport of football by

becoming the American Professional Football Association's first

president; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was voted America's Greatest All-Around

Male Athlete, was chosen as the greatest football player of the

half-century in 1950 by an Associated Press poll of

sportswriters and was named the American Broadcasting Company's

Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century, which earned him

the honor of having his picture on a special-edition Wheaties

cereal box; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was named the Greatest American Football

Player in history in a 1977 national poll conducted by Sport

Magazine; and

WHEREAS, In being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in

1963, Jim Thorpe was recognized for his dedication to the sport;

and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe served as a namesake for the Jim Thorpe

Award established in 1986 for the best defensive back in college

football; and

WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's final resting place is in Jim Thorpe,

Carbon County; and

WHEREAS, The life of Jim Thorpe is not only defined by his

athletic aptitude, but by his legacy of inspiring people around

the world to light the way of their own "bright paths";

therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 19,

2012, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.