III

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. RES. 91

Expressing the sense of the Senate that Jim Thorpe should be recognized

as the ‘‘Athlete of the Century’’.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 3, 1999

Mr. SANTORUM submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate that Jim Thorpe should

be recognized as the ‘‘Athlete of the Century’’.

1 SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT JIM THORPE

2 SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED AS THE ‘‘ATHLETE

3 OF THE CENTURY’’.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—The Senate finds the following:

5 (1) Jim Thorpe is the only athlete ever to excel

6 as an amateur and a professional in 3 major

7 sports—track and field, football, and baseball.

8 (2) Prior to the 1912 Olympic Games, Jim

9 Thorpe won the pentathlon and the decathlon at the
2

•SRES 91 IS

1 Amateur Athletic Union National Championship

2 Trials in Boston, Massachusetts.

3 (3) Jim Thorpe represented the United States

4 and the Sac and Fox Nation in the 1912 Olympic

5 Games in Stockholm, Sweden, where he won a gold

6 medal in the pentathlon, became the first American

7 athlete to win a gold medal in the decathlon, in

8 which he set a world record, and became the only

9 athlete in Olympic history to win both the pen10 tathlon and the decathlon during the same year.

11 (4) The athletic feats of Jim Thorpe resulted in

12 worldwide publicity that helped to ensure the viabil13 ity of the Olympic Games.

14 (5) During his major league baseball career,

15 Jim Thorpe played with the New York Giants, the

16 Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves, and ended

17 the 1919 baseball season with a .327 batting aver18 age.

19 (6) Jim Thorpe established his amateur football

20 record playing halfback, defender, punter, and place21 kicker while he was a student at the Carlisle Indian

22 School in Pennsylvania, and was chosen as Walter

23 Camp’s First Team All-American Half-Back in 1911

24 and 1912.
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•SRES 91 IS

1 (7) Jim Thorpe was a founding father of pro2 fessional football, playing with the Canton Bulldogs,

3 which was the team recognized as world champion in

4 1916, 1917, and 1919, the Cleveland Indians, the

5 Oorang Indians, the Rock Island Independent, the

6 New York Giants, and the Chicago Cardinals.

7 (8) In 1920, Jim Thorpe was named the first

8 president of the American Professional Football As9 sociation, now known as the National Football

10 League.

11 (9) Jim Thorpe was voted America’s Greatest

12 All-Around Male Athlete and chosen as the greatest

13 football player of the half-century in 1950 by an As14 sociated Press poll of sportswriters.

15 (10) Jim Thorpe was named the Greatest

16 American Football Player in History in a 1977 na17 tional poll conducted by Sport Magazine.

18 (11) Because of his outstanding achievements,

19 Jim Thorpe was inducted into the National Track

20 and Field Hall of Fame, the Professional Football

21 Hall of Fame, the Helms Professional Football Hall

22 of Fame, the National Indian Hall of Fame, the

23 Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall

24 of Fame.
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•SRES 91 IS

1 (12) The immeasurable sports achievements of

2 Jim Thorpe have long been an inspiration to the

3 youth in Pennsylvania and throughout the United

4 States.

5 (b) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the

6 Senate that Jim Thorpe should be recognized as the ‘‘Ath7 lete of the Century’’.

Æ