Jim Thorpe

[jefferyepayne]

Very nice, Mark! Congrats.

jeff

[Exhibitman]

Gotta wonder how that came about. Not exactly two guys you associate with one another.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Gotta wonder how that came about. Not exactly two guys you associate with one another.

Why?

jeff

[cfhofer]

Maybe a picture of the book cover will help….

[CardPadre]

I’ve seen this 1956 Lejano Oeste #158 (passing) sticker/whatever in PSA slabs but had never seen this #157 (rushing) sticker anywhere, didn’t know it existed until I saw this album.

[Leon]

a kind of beat up postcard..

[cfhofer]

Neat postcard Leon. Thanks for sharing!

[Exhibitman]

1953 Esso

[Roadrunner]

Jim Thorpe's roommate aboard the Finlandia en route to the 1912 Olympics was John Oliver Johnstone, at the time the youngest athlete to participate in the Olympics (20 years old). I recently met with Johnstone's granddaughter, who said as the youngest of the group, he was the one who had to bunk with Thorpe. He was harassed by others on the ship for this, but developed what became a life long friendship with Thorpe and was an adamant supporter of reinstating his medals. I was told the bib in the image below was the one Johnstone wore for the Olympic high jump where he placed sixth. Comparing it to photos of bibs from the Olympics, however, I am doubtful this hand drawn number is the real deal. The program for the tryouts at Harvard runred41 posted above lists his number as 91, so it couldn't be the one worn for the trials either. Does anyone here think it's possible this could have been worn at the Olympics, or is it just family lore? I imagine if there is a program the bib numbers may be listed, and perhaps get me closer to a conclusion.

[Brent G.]

Does anybody know runred41 in this thread? Looks like he hasn't been on since last year. He's got some great stuff I'd like to talk to him about.

[runred41]

I know runred41! Feel free to send me a message if you'd like.

[Roadrunner]

To correct the historical record as reported in my post above for those who are interested:

John Johnstone was not Jim Thorpe's cabin mate for the entire trip, if he was for any portion of it. Abel Kiviat, generally documented as being Thorpe's roommate, in a 1984 interview with the NY Times described Thorpe being assigned to a different stateroom after arriving. See the link here: https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/13/s...ne-regret.html

The important line being, "Thorpe was assigned to Kiviat's stateroom for two nights until: "Let's say he got very happy, and they moved him down the hall, away from young guys like us.""

Also, the contemporary claim that Johnstone was the youngest to compete in the Olympics to 1912 is again disproven by Abel Kiviat. Johnstone was born in January 1892 and Kiviat in June.

[runred41]

i put wrong info so deleted post