Editing Jim Thorpe (section)

===College career===
[[File:Jim Thorpe 1912.jpg|thumb|alt=Closeup of Thorpe looking up to the sky|Thorpe in 1912]]
[[File:Glenn Warner, Jim Thorpe tackling a dummy.jpg|thumb|alt=Refer to caption|Thorpe tackling a dummy that is made of weights and pulley on wire, with Coach Warner, 1912]]

Thorpe began his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 when he walked past the track and, still in street clothes, beat all the school's [[high jump]]ers with an impromptu 5-ft 9-in jump that broke the school record.<ref name="bookrag">''Encyclopedia of World Biography''. [http://www.bookrags.com/Jim_Thorpe Jim Thorpe], [[Thomson-Gale]], ''Bookrags'', June 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2007.

{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Jim Thorpe |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=On this day in history, May 28, 1888, Jim Thorpe, 'greatest athlete in the world,' is born {{!}} Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-history-may-28-1888-jim-thorpe-greatest-athlete-world-born.amp |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=www.foxnews.com}}</ref> His earliest recorded track and field results come from 1907. He also competed in football, baseball, [[field lacrosse|lacrosse]], [[tennis]], [[boxing]], [[handball]], and [[ballroom dancing]], winning the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.<ref name=museum/><ref name="SI2004">{{Cite news |date=August 8, 2004 |title=Jim Thorpe cruelly treated by authorities |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114205622/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/ |archive-date=November 14, 2007 |access-date=April 15, 2008 |publisher=CNN Sports Illustrated |agency=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mayer |first=Daphne |date=2020-11-25 |title=The Greatest Native American Athlete: Jim Thorpe (Wa-tho-Huk) |url=https://canals.org/2020/11/25/the-greatest-native-american-athlete-jim-thorpe-wa-tho-huk/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=National Canal Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Glenn Scobey Warner|Pop Warner]] was hesitant to allow Thorpe, his best track and field athlete, to compete in such a physical game as football.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} Thorpe, however, convinced Warner to let him try some rushing plays in practice against the school team's defense; Warner assumed he would be tackled easily and give up the idea.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} Thorpe "ran around past and through them not once, but twice".{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}} He walked over to Warner and said, "Nobody is going to tackle Jim", while flipping him the ball.{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}}

Thorpe first gained nationwide notice in 1911 for his athletic ability.<ref name="Redskin">{{Cite news |date=April 28, 1912 |title=Indian Thorpe in Olympiad: Redskin from Carlisle Will Strive for Place on American Team |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/04/28/archives/indian-thorpe-in-olympiad-redskin-from-carlisle-will-strive-for.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=T9}}</ref> As a [[running back]], [[defensive back]], [[placekicker]] and [[punter (football position)|punter]], Thorpe scored all of his team's four field goals in an 18–15 upset of [[Harvard Crimson football|Harvard]], a top-ranked team in the early days of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association#History|National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA).{{Sfn|Jeansonne|Luhrssen|2006|p=60}}<ref name="NCAAHarvard">{{Cite web |last=Richmond |first=Sam |date=November 11, 2015 |title=Jim Thorpe leads Carlisle to upset of Harvard in 1911 |url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2015-11-11/jim-thorpe-leads-carlisle-upset-harvard-1911 |access-date=August 29, 2018 |publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association}}</ref> He also rushed for 173 yards in the game, and after this loss, Harvard didn’t lose another game until 1915.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2020-01-14 |title=The 150 greatest players in college football history: Jim Brown is No. 1 |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/cfb150players/the-150-greatest-players-college-football-150-year-history |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref> Carlisle would go on to finish the 1911 season with an 11–1 record and were retroactively named [[College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS#Other selectors|national collegiate champions]] in a book titled "''Champions of College Football''", written by [[Bill Libby]] in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Libby National Champions |url=https://www.billlibby.com/libby-national-champions |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=Bill Libby |language=en}}</ref> In 1912, Thorpe led the nation with 29 [[Touchdown|touchdowns]] and 224 points scored during the season, according to the [[College Football Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=College Football Hall of Famers Who Are Olympic Medalist |url=https://www.cfbhall.com/news-and-happenings/blog/college-football-hall-of-famers-who-are-olympic-medalist/ |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=www.cfbhall.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Steve Boda, a researcher for the NCAA, credits Thorpe with 27 touchdowns and 224 points. Thorpe rushed 191 times for 1,869 yards, according to Boda; the figures do not include statistics from two of Carlisle's 14 games in 1912 because full records are not available.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=151}}

Carlisle's 1912 record included a 27–6 victory over the West Point [[United States Military Academy|Army team]].<ref name="NYTobit" /> In that game, Thorpe's 92-yard touchdown was nullified by a teammate's penalty, but on the next play Thorpe rushed for a 97-yard touchdown.<ref name="usoc">{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=http://www.usoc.org/26_37888.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201621/http://www.usoc.org/26_37888.htm |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |website=usoc.org}}</ref> Future President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], who played against him in that game, recalled of Thorpe in a 1961 speech:

{{blockquote|
Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw.<ref name="CNN">Botelho, Greg. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/ "Roller-coaster life of Indian icon, sports' first star"], CNN.com, July 14, 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2007.</ref>
}}

Thorpe was a third-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] in 1908{{Sfn|Cook|2011|p=42}} and a first-team All-American in 1911 and 1912.<ref name="NYTobit" /> Football was – and remained – Thorpe's favorite sport.<ref>O'Hanlon-Lincoln. p. 144.<br />* [http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=213 Jim Thorpe], profootballhalloffame.com. Retrieved April 23, 2007.</ref> He did not compete in track and field in 1910 or 1911,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=113}} although this turned out to be the sport in which he gained his greatest fame.<ref name="NYTobit" />

<blockquote>In the spring of 1912, he started training for the Olympics. He had confined his efforts to jumps, hurdles and shot-puts, but now added pole vaulting, javelin, discus, hammer and 56&nbsp;lb weight. In the Olympic trials held at Celtic Park in New York, his all-round ability stood out in all these events and so he earned a place on the team that went to Sweden.<ref name="NYTobit" /></blockquote>

The poet [[Marianne Moore]], who taught Thorpe at Carlisle, recalled:<blockquote> He had a kind of ease in his gait that is hard to describe. Equilibrium with no stricture, but couched in the lineup of football he was the epitome of concentration, wary, with an effect of plenty in reserve.{{Sfn|Maraniss|2022|p=147}}</blockquote>