PRINTER'S NO. 1241
No. 198 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY McCALL, McILVAINE SMITH, GABIG, ARGALL, BAKER,
BARRAR, BELFANTI, BENNINGTON, BEYER, BIANCUCCI, BISHOP,
BOBACK, BOYD, BRENNAN, BUXTON, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI, CLYMER,
COHEN, CONKLIN, CREIGHTON, CRUZ, DALEY, DALLY, DeLUCA,
DePASQUALE, DERMODY, DeWEESE, DiGIROLAMO, EACHUS, D. EVANS,
EVERETT, FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, FREEMAN, FRANKEL, GEIST,
GEORGE, GIBBONS, GILLESPIE, GINGRICH, GODSHALL, GOODMAN,
GRELL, GRUCELA, HARHART, HENNESSEY, HERSHEY, JAMES, KENNEY,
KIRKLAND, KORTZ, KOTIK, KULA, LENTZ, MAHER, MAHONEY, MAJOR,
MANTZ, MARKOSEK, MARSICO, McGEEHAN, McILHATTAN, MILLARD,
MOYER, MUNDY, MUSTIO, NAILOR, O'NEILL, PALLONE, PARKER,
PAYNE, PETRONE, PHILLIPS, PICKETT, PRESTON, RAPP, READSHAW,
REICHLEY, ROSS, SAINATO, SAMUELSON, SANTONI, SAYLOR,
SCAVELLO, SHIMKUS, SIPTROTH, SOLOBAY, SONNEY, STABACK,
R. STEVENSON, SURRA, TANGRETTI, THOMAS, VEREB, VULAKOVICH,
WALKO, WANSACZ, WOJNAROSKI, YOUNGBLOOD AND YUDICHAK,
APRIL 13, 2007
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
APRIL 13, 2007
A RESOLUTION
1 Honoring Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe by designating May 19,
2 2007, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1887, and was raised
4 as a member of the Native American nation Sac and Fox; and
5 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was the grandson of the nation's chief,
6 Black Hawk, and was given the native name of Bright Path; and
7 WHEREAS, The accomplishments and legacy of Jim Thorpe were
8 not only part of his great "bright path," but have also been an
9 inspiration to people worldwide; and
10 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe overcame great tragedy in his youth to
1 attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, beginning in 1907;
2 and
3 WHEREAS, While at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Jim
4 Thorpe was coached by legendary football coach Glenn Scobey
5 "Pop" Warner and was awarded All-American honors in 1911 and
6 1912; and
7 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe honorably represented the Sac and Fox
8 Nation and the United States at the 1912 Olympic Games in
9 Stockholm, Sweden; and
10 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was the first United States athlete to
11 win the pentathlon and the decathlon in one Olympic year; and
12 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's athletic feats and the worldwide
13 publicity established the viability of the modern Olympic Games;
14 and
15 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was awarded gifts by King Gustav V of
16 Sweden and Czar Nicholas II of Russia to honor him for his gold
17 medals in the pentathlon and decathlon; and
18 WHEREAS, A ticker-tape parade was held in New York City upon
19 Jim Thorpe's return to the United States from Sweden; and
20 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals were revoked after he
21 was found to have violated strict rules regarding amateurism in
22 force at the time; and
23 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's medals were not reinstated until 1982,
24 nearly 30 years after his death, when the International Olympic
25 Committee recognized the improper application of the
26 disqualification procedures; and
27 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe had an illustrious professional career
28 after the Olympics in which he played baseball for the New York
29 Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves, football for the
30 Canton Bulldogs and basketball for two years after his
20070H0198R1241 - 2 -
1 retirement from professional football; and
2 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe is considered one of football's founding
3 fathers as a result of his career as a professional football
4 player with the Canton Bulldogs, one of the four teams to make
5 up the American Professional Football Association, which later
6 became the National Football League; and
7 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe, while coaching and playing for the
8 Canton Bulldogs, further supported the sport of football by
9 becoming the American Professional Football Association's first
10 president; and
11 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was voted America's Greatest All-Around
12 Male Athlete, was chosen as the greatest football player of the
13 half-century in 1950 by an Associated Press poll of
14 sportswriters and was named American Broadcasting Company's Wide
15 World of Sports Athlete of the Century, which earned him the
16 honor of having his picture on a special-edition Wheaties cereal
17 box; and
18 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was named the Greatest American Football
19 Player in History in a 1977 national poll conducted by Sport
20 Magazine; and
21 WHEREAS, In being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in
22 1963, Jim Thorpe was posthumously recognized for his dedication
23 to the sport; and
24 WHEREAS, The Jim Thorpe Award, established in 1986, honors
25 the best defensive back in college football; and
26 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's final resting place is in Jim Thorpe,
27 Carbon County; and
28 WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's life was defined by his athletic
29 aptitude and his legacy of inspiring people around the world to
30 light the way of their own "bright paths"; therefore be it
20070H0198R1241 - 3 -
1 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 19,
2 2007, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.
B21L82DMS/20070H0198R1241 - 4 -