American professional athlete and Olympic gold medallist who won awards in over seven events; 100 Metre Dash, the 1500 Metre Run, the Broad Jump, the Discuss, the 100 Metre Hurdle, the High Jump and the Shot Put. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States. He was called the greatest athlete in the world.
His athletic glory was marred when he was forced to return his gold medals after it was disclosed that he had played semi-pro baseball in 1909 and 1910, violating his Olympics amateur status. His name was erased from the record books and it was not until 1982 that the medals were restored to his family, almost 30 years after his death.
Thorpe was born in a one-room cabin. He played football and began to run track while attending an Indian school in Pennsylvania and was 24 when he competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
After being stripped of his medals, he went on to play baseball with the Canton Bulldogs (1915–1917, 1919–1920, 1926), Cleveland Indians (1921), Oorang Indians (1922–1923), Rock Island Independents (1924), New York Giants (1925), Rock Island Independents (1925), Tampa Cardinals (1926) and Chicago Cardinals (1928).
Thorpe married three times and had eight children. He died of a heart attack at age 65 at his Lomita, California home while having dinner with his third wife on 28 March 1953.
Link to Wikipedia biography