IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 720 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the International 

Olympic Committee should correct Jim Thorpe’s Olympic records for 

his unprecedented accomplishments during the 1912 Olympic Games. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 20, 2019 

Ms. HAALAND (for herself, Mr. COLE, Mr. COX of California, Mr. GRIJALVA, 

Ms. GABBARD, Mr. HECK, Mr. KEVIN HERN of Oklahoma, Ms. KENDRA

S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSEN of 

Washington, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. LEVIN of 

Michigan, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. MULLIN, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

O’HALLERAN, Mr. PERRY, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. TORRES of California, and 

Mr. YOUNG) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the International Olympic Committee should correct Jim 

Thorpe’s Olympic records for his unprecedented accomplishments during the 1912 Olympic Games. 

Whereas November is Native American Heritage Month, 

when Congress acknowledges the contributions of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in 

the United States; 

Whereas Wa-Tho-Huk or ‘‘Bright Path’’, known as James 

Francis Thorpe or ‘‘Jim Thorpe’’ of the Thunder Clan of 


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the Sac and Fox Nation, was born May 22, 1887, on the 

Reservation of the Sac and Fox Nation in Prague, Oklahoma, and died March 28, 1953, in Lomita, California; 

Whereas Jim Thorpe attended the Carlisle Indian School in 

Pennsylvania and established his amateur football record 

playing halfback, defender, punter, and place-kicker while 

a student, and was subsequently chosen as Walter 

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

1912; 

Whereas prior to the 1912 Olympic Games, Jim Thorpe won 

the pentathlon and the decathlon at the Amateur Athletic 

Union National Championship Trials in Boston, Massachusetts; 

Whereas Jim Thorpe represented the United States as an enrolled member of the Sac and Fox Nation, the largest of 

three federally recognized Tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki 

(Fox), in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden; 

Whereas at the 1912 Olympic Games, he won a Gold Medal 

in the pentathlon, became the first American athlete to 

win a Gold Medal in the decathlon, in which he set a 

world record, and became the only athlete in Olympic history to win both the pentathlon and the decathlon during 

the same year; 

Whereas at the time Jim Thorpe won two Gold Medals in the 

1912 Olympic Games, Native Americans were not recognized as citizens of the United States until 1924 under 

the Indian Citizenship Act; 

Whereas Native Americans were not granted the right to vote 

in every State until 1957; 


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Whereas Jim Thorpe was voted America’s Greatest AllAround Male Athlete and chosen as the greatest football 

player of the half-century in 1950 by an Associated Press 

poll of sportswriters; 

Whereas Jim Thorpe was named the Greatest American 

Football Player in history in a 1977 national poll conducted by Sport Magazine; 

Whereas because of his outstanding athletic achievements, 

Jim Thorpe was the first Native American inducted into 

the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Professional Football Hall of Fame, the Helms Professional 

Football Hall of Fame, the National Native American 

Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the 

Oklahoma Hall of Fame; 

Whereas the Amateur Athletic Union of 1973 restored the 

amateur status of Jim Thorpe for the years 1909 

through 1912; 

Whereas the International Olympic Committee returned duplicates of Jim Thorpe’s Olympic Gold Medals to his 

family in 1982, but did not list him as the sole Gold 

Medal winner for his achievements during the 1912 

Olympic Games; and 

Whereas the International Olympic Committee’s failure to 

update their records disregards the unprecedented 

achievements of one of the best athletes in American history, the only athlete in Olympic history to win both the 

pentathlon and the decathlon during the same year; the 

first Native American athlete to win Olympic Gold Medals for the United States, and the contributions of the 

Sac and Fox Nation in American history: Now, therefore, 

be it 


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1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the International Olympic Committee, 

3 through its president, should officially recognize Jim 

4 Thorpe’s unprecedented athletic achievements as the sole 

5 Gold Medalist in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon 

6 events and correct these inaccuracies in the official Olym7 pic books. 

Æ 


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