Clarence Childs had a problem.

His first year as the Hoosiers' head football coach couldn't exactly be considered a success. After being hired in early 1914 to take over the lagging IU football program, Childs hadn't exactly ignited the gridiron passions in Bloomington. Worse yet, he didn't even lead his team to improvement on the field. The 1913 squad went 3-4, including a 2-4 record in the Big Nine Conference under former head coach James Sheldon. Childs' 1914 squad could muster no more than the same 3-4 record overall, and the team went just 1-4 in league play. Wins over DePauw, Northwestern and Miami (Ohio) weren't exactly going to cut it, at least not in Childs' eyes.

Then again, failure was never really part of the equation for Childs. The Wooster, Ohio, native turned hard work in the classroom into a spot in the Yale School of Law in the first decade of the 20th century, and he found time to excel on the field as well. He played tackle for the football team during the fall, he wrestled in the winter and he was a track and field athlete in the spring. He was known for having a tough work ethic and a soft heart, traits he openly displayed.

For instance, when he was a senior in the Yale School of Law, he served as a witness in a trial that saw a man named Arthur Jacobs sent to prison for eight months on a theft conviction. Jacobs' wife began sobbing at the verdict, and it so moved Childs that he took up a collection for the woman. He first collected $35 from the crowd in the courtroom to help the woman, then he and 18 other Yale students donated their witness fees, swelling the total donation to $46.

On top of taking the lead in the courtroom, Childs also was a leader for the track team where he was surprisingly named captain of the squad for the 1911 season. By January, 1912, Childs had resigned his position as captain to focus on finishing school, and he also planned to put all his efforts into the hammer throw. He had a knack for the event, and when the 1912 Olympic Trials rolled around, Childs earned a spot on the United States track and field team that would travel to Stockholm, Sweden.

Childs didn't just enjoy the Olympic experience, either. He made it count. He earned a bronze medal with a toss of 48.17 meters (a little more than 158 feet), missing a silver medal by roughly nine inches. He also took care of a little business for Yale while he was in Stockholm, hammering out an agreement with English universities Oxford and Cambridge to hold a dual meet with Yale and Harvard at Harvard Stadium in June, 1913.

In other words, Childs was a problem solver and a multitasker even before those phrases had been coined.

When Childs returned to the United States, he landed at Wooster University where he served as Director of Athletics. He served in that capacity until IU came calling in February, 1914, and he took over as Hoosier football coach in September 1914 (oh, and he was the track and field coach at IU, too).

With all that success under his belt, Childs couldn't stand pat and simply accept Indiana's struggles on Jordan Field, which was the home of the football, baseball and track and field squads (and currently serves as the parking lot outside the Memorial Union). He knew he had to do something big, something that could create a buzz around the football program and inject some life into a sport that hadn't seen a winning season since 1910. Something simply had to be done, and Childs had a big idea for IU.

He would get by with a little help from his friends. Actually, just one friend.

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One of the overlooked aspects of the Olympics is the ability to network. The greatest athletes from all over the world gather, and it gives those athletes a chance to meet and get to know one another. During the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, athletes had more than two months to get acquainted (the Games of the V Olympiad opened May 5 and closed July 22), and Childs took the opportunity to get to know the biggest star of the games.

James Francis "Jim" Thorpe was born in Prague, Okla., in 1887, and if you don't know who he is, get ready to be amazed. Thorpe was born to mixed-race parents - his father was of Irish and Sac and Fox Indian decent, and his mother had French and Potawatomi Indian ancestry - which meant Thorpe would be considered by the society of the time to be of Native American decent, greatly limiting his opportunities. He enrolled in Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania in 1904, and his athletic career began in 1907 when he joined the track and field squad. Other sports quickly followed, and he eventually competed in football, baseball, lacrosse and ballroom dancing (yes, ballroom dancing).

Thorpe was Carlisle's best track and field athlete, and his coach, Glenn "Pop" Warner - yes, THAT Pop Warner - wasn't wild about the idea of Thorpe playing such a physical game as football. But Thorpe insisted he be given a tryout, and Warner finally relented. Legend has it that Thorpe ran through and past the defense not once, but twice on the same play, turning back to attack the defense again, before running over to Warner, flipping the future legend the ball and saying, "Nobody is going to tackle Jim."

From that point on, the 6-1, 190-pound Thorpe was destined to be a star on the gridiron. He was named first-team All-American in 1911 and 1912. As a running back, defensive back, kicker and punter, Thorpe scored all of Carlisle's points in an 18-15 upset of Harvard in 1911 and in a 27-6 win over Army in 1912, Thorpe again caught the attention of the nation when he scored on a 92-yard TD run that was called back on a penalty. On the next play, he scored on a 97-yard TD run. During that game, by the way, Thorpe ran over an Army player who tried to tackle him, injuring the cadet in the process. The linebacker, a sophomore named Dwight D. Eisenhower, was never the same, and he later quit football to concentrate on his military career. Eventually, Eisenhower went into politics, where he did pretty well for himself.

But Thorpe's biggest splash came when he went out for the U.S. track and field team for the 1912 Olympics. He earned a spot on the squad in four different events - the pentathlon, the decathlon, the high jump and the long jump, and he trained on the ship ride from the United States to Sweden. Thorpe first competed in the pentathlon, an event that features athletes competing in five different events in the same day for points. He won four of the five events, taking home first place in the broad jump, the 220-yard dash, the mile run and the high jump, and he finished third in the javelin. That same day, he finished fourth in the high jump standalone event, and he placed seventh in the long jump.

His final event was the decathlon, a grueling 10-part test that in 1912 asked Thorpe to compete in the following disciplines - broad jump, shot put, pole vault, 100-yard sprint, hammer throw, discus, mile run, high jump, high hurdles and javelin. Despite his heavy workload heading into the decathlon, Thorpe crushed the competition, taking home first place in the shot put, the high jump, the 110-meter hurdles and the mile run. He finished in the top four in all 10 events, earning 8,413 points, an Olympic record that would stand for nearly two decades.

When Thorpe was awarded his gold medals on the final day of the Olympics, King Gustav V of Sweden presented Thorpe with his medal and various awards. After awarding Thorpe his prize, King Gustav grabbed Thorpe's arm and said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." Thorpe simply answered, "Thanks, King."

When Thorpe returned home, he was honored with a ticker-tape parade down Broadway in New York, and he discovered he was the most famous athlete in America. After finishing his football career at Carlisle, Thorpe suffered a major setback when newspapers began reporting that in the summers of 1909 and 1910, Thorpe had played minor league baseball in the East Carolina League, earning between $2 and $35 a week. Unlike a number of other collegiate players at the time, Thorpe used his real name, making it easy for reporters to track down the information.

In other words, it turned out Thorpe was a professional athlete at the time of the 1912 Olympics, and under the strict amateur rules at the time, he should not have been eligible to compete for the U.S. in Stockholm. The Amateur Athletic Union, which then put together the Olympic team, withdrew Thorpe's status as an amateur athlete retroactively, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Thorpe of his medals.

On the bright side, with his professional status no longer a secret, Thorpe was officially a free agent in the sports world. Eventually he settled on baseball, the most popular sport in the country as his chosen profession. He signed with the New York Giants late in the 1913 season, and he was part of a worldwide barnstorming tour with the Giants and Chicago White Sox. During the trip, Thorpe met the Pope, the leader of Egypt and Britain's King George V, and he reportedly wrestled with another baseball player on the floor of the Colosseum in Rome.

As a member of the Giants, Thorpe was largely a showpiece, and he didn't actually get much playing time. He was used as an attraction since his name carried so much weight, but he rarely got into games. He appeared in a total of 66 games for the Giants from 1913-15, and by the summer of 1915, Thorpe was looking for a change. Baseball didn't seem to be working out, and he was ready for a new challenge.

Fortunately for Childs, he was looking for change as well.

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No one is quite sure exactly when Childs contacted Thorpe about the possibility of his former Olympic teammate joining him as backfield coach with the Hoosiers. It's not even clear how much Thorpe was paid for his efforts. What is certain, however, is that by early September, Thorpe had agreed to come to Bloomington.

"Jim Thorpe to Coach Indiana," the September 2, 1915 The Indianapolis Star trumpeted. Subheads screamed "World's Greatest Athlete Will Help Childs with Backfield Men" and "Noted Indian Will Start Work When Baseball Season Is Ended."

"This news, coming as it does on the eve of the opening of the season, should serve to act as a tonic to athletics at the Bloomington institution," The Star wrote. "That Thorpe should be - and no doubt will be - of great assistance to Coach Childs in developing a powerful football eleven at Indiana this year cannot well be gainsaid. Coach Childs said last night over the long-distance telephone that he proposes to turn over the back field men to Thorpe and devote most of his own time to the linesmen. Thorpe probably will be unable to join Coach Childs' staff until the close of the National League baseball season, for he is now playing with the New York Giants. The season will close in early October, and Thorpe has advised Mr. Childs that he immediately will come on to Bloomington."

By late September, Childs was putting his players through their paces on a very soggy Jordan Field, a place famous for its inability to shed water. With the days growing shorter, Childs had to move practice to the track oval at Jordan Field, which recently had been fitted with temporary high-power electric lights. Childs had to be itching for Thorpe to arrive because one of his assistants, Dan Goodman, left the team to "assume new duties with the Ford Motor Company in Indianapolis."

The Indiana Daily Student finally announced Thorpe's hiring locally in its Sept. 28 edition.

"James J. Thorpe, the famous Carlisle Indian athlete, reputed the world's greatest athlete, will arrive here in a few days to assist Coach Childs in football. He is at present with the New York Giants, having signed a contract to play baseball with them two years ago. Big league baseball will close October 8, but it is thought that he will be able to leave a few days before the close of the season.

"Thorpe will take charge of the backfield upon his arrival and will, no doubt, be able to turn out a strong offensive from the fine material on hand…. As Coach Childs has a large squad of nearly forty men, Thorpe will be of great assistance."

It's time to take a step back and recognize the shockwave the announcement of Thorpe's hiring sent through the Bloomington community. Simply put, no real comparison can be made with any modern athlete. The closest might be Bo Jackson, who was a Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star while also becoming an All-Star baseball player. To match Thorpe, Bo would also have needed to win the Tour de France or an Olympic Gold medal. Then, Jackson would had to have come to IU to serve as an assistant coach during the prime of his career. A better comparison might be if Michael Jordan had continued to play basketball throughout the 1990s while also becoming a major league baseball player and winning the 100-meter sprint at the Olympics. It's mind-boggling. The fact that Thorpe would be coming to little ol' Indiana University to help the foundering football team was staggering.

Thorpe, however, wouldn't arrive in time to help the Hoosiers for their season opener vs. DePauw. Still, as the campus buzzed over the unveiling of plans for a new gymnasium to be built north of Jordan Field, Childs and his IU squad got off to a fast start to the season, beating DePauw 7-0. A player only identified as McIntosh scored the only touchdown of the game in the second quarter.

A few days after the DePauw game the IDS announced that Thorpe would be arriving in Bloomington Thursday, Oct. 7.

"After some three weeks of anxious waiting, McGraw's national pastimers (John McGraw coached the Giants at the time) turn over to the University coaching staff one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known, James Thorpe. He and his family will arrive in this city Thursday evening at 7 o'clock. Thorpe will take up his duties as assistant coach Friday afternoon.

"Students, alumni and, in fact, the entire college world looks forward to the coming of this great athlete, with great eagerness to know exactly how his coaching will compare with his known ability as a player. In fact, the thing foremost in the minds of these men is, can this All-American star teach the Indiana backfield men the tricks that made him so famous at Carlisle? Coach Childs and Thorpe, assisted by old stars such as Coval, Rab Hare, Dick Miller, George Cook and Howard Paddock, working on some forty-five huskies, should round in shape a team such as never before wore Cream and Crimson uniforms. If the old injury jinx will stay away and let out of his hospital those already convicted, Indiana will have no one to feel afraid of."

Thorpe finally arrived, and he made his first appearance at Jordan Field the next day. The IU faithful showed up in droves for practice, first gathering at 4 p.m. outside the Student Building before marching through campus to Jordan Field. Chic Griffis, the yell leader for the Hoosiers (a precursor to cheerleaders), taught the assembled crowd new cheers for the upcoming game vs. Miami (Ohio), and he also called for "nine cheers for Thorpe," and "nine cheers for Childs" as the Hoosiers practiced. A number of alumni made their way into town, as well, to get a glimpse of the superstar on the Hoosiers' staff.

Thorpe may have fired up the crowd, but he couldn't have had much of an immediate impact on the Hoosiers. Still, IU hammered Miami (Ohio) 41-0 in front of a huge crowd at Jordan Field Oct. 9, jumping out to a 34-0 lead by halftime. The IDS didn't report on Thorpe's movements during the game - he wasn't mentioned, although it was mentioned in the paper that Bertha Whitaker, Class of 1919, had visited her parents in Martinsville that Sunday - but the fans thrilled to the sight of Thorpe on the sideline.

By the next Tuesday, Thorpe was finally getting in some real work with the kickers. He worked with two players named Clair Scott and Frank Whitaker prior to a scrimmage, and he apparently made an impression.

"Before the scrimmage, assistant coach Thorpe had the kickers out in the center of the arena instructing them in getting off their punts in good form," the IDS wrote. "The Indian's long, twisting spirals were not duplicated by either Scott or Whitaker, although both Crimson backs showed much improvement over past performances."

A few days later Thorpe wowed observers again. He worked with the kickers before the team left for its battle with the University of Chicago in the Windy City, and Thorpe put on a show in practice.

"In showing the kickers how to boot the ball, the Indian sent the pigskin seventy and seventy-five yards on an average and was roundly applauded," the IDS reported. "Halfbacks Scott and Gray, who do the punting for Indiana, made several good punts of forty-five and fifty yards. Thorpe then instructed Whitaker and (Earl) Peckinpaugh in the art of place-kicking. (Archie) Erehart also loosened up and sent some drop-kicks between the goal posts from the thirty-five and 40-yard lines. Thorpe left last evening with the ten men in the kicking department for Chicago, where they will try out on Stagg Field today."

The Hoosiers' trip to Chicago to take on Amos Alonzo Stagg's Maroons put a chip on IU's shoulders. Chicago had embarrassed Indiana 34-0 a year earlier, and the Hoosiers were ready for some revenge. With Jim Thorpe in their back pocket, Indiana couldn't go wrong.

At least that was the thought in Bloomington. Unfortunately for Hoosier fans, the story was one that would become familiar over the years. Poor tackling, poor line play and penalties led to a 13-7 loss to the Maroons, much to the chagrin of the 500 IU fans in attendance and the 300 more hanging out at the Union to read the results as they were sent down from Chicago. On the bright side, the students in Bloomington could chew away their sorrows by gnawing on two barrels of apples that were donated by the Union.

The Chicago media hyped Thorpe's appearance in the city and almost completely overlooked the fact that Childs, not Thorpe, was IU's head coach. More than one paper described the game by mentioning "Indian Jim Thorpe's Hoosier footballers," and Thorpe far overshadowed the IU football team. Meanwhile, back in Bloomington, the IDS tackled the story of Thorpe's wife, Iva, who was settling into her new home. As part of the weekly "Fair Sex Forum" in the newspaper, Iva, who was just identified as "Mrs. Thorpe," was repeatedly asked about her Native American ancestry, but she disappointed readers by maintaining that she couldn't lend any insight into what goes on at an Indian reservation.

"As I told you before, I'm only one-sixteenth Indian," Iva told the IDS. "No, I never lived on a reservation. I haven't a single 'blanket Indian' relative that I know of, but Mr. Thorpe has. Oh, no! I never wore a blanket."

Iva did take the time to brag about her five-month old son. Sadly, Jim Jr. would pass away at the age of two in 1917.

After returning to Bloomington following the game, Thorpe spent some time on Jordan Field practicing kicking by himself with few witnesses around. An IDS reporter, however, was there to capture the moment for posterity.

"A little exhibition of drop-kicking was given yesterday afternoon, unknown to the regular bleacherites," the Oct. 19 IDS reported. "No one was around - there was no grandstand play - just a step, a quick swing of the leg and a double-thud as the ball hit ground and cleated shoe at the same instant. The kicker was "Jim" Thorpe, late addition to the Crimson coaching staff. He stood on the line which divides the gridiron into two equal portions, a little toward the sideline to avoid the mud. There was a flash of red and brown as his leg swung to meet the rising pigskin and away sailed the ball, end over end, squarely between the white posts at the end of the field.

"The long kick was accomplished with so much ease and grace that it appeared the least difficult feat in the world, but the big Indian merely smiled. It's not "being done" on many gridirons this season, however, so old Jordan Field ought to feel mighty proud."

In other words, Thorpe quietly walked out to the unmanicured field and started pounding 50-yard dropkicks through the goal posts. Let's see Kobe Bryant do that.

With a bye week on the schedule following the Chicago game, the coaching staff focused on the fundamentals during practice. Thorpe worked with his players, and great lengths were taken to try to shield Jordan Field from spies. Barbed wire was placed along the top of the wooden fence that surrounded the field, and guards were posted to shoo off anybody who wanted to take a peek through knotholes. The Hoosiers suffered a setback when assistant coach F. E. Ferguson, who was working with the offensive line, broke a bone in his foot during practice. That injury had to get the attention of Thorpe, who was still interested in playing professional sports.

It's also likely that Thorpe could have taken some part in the event held just north of Jordan Field Oct. 23, which saw hundreds of IU students take part in clearing the area where the new Men's Gymnasium would be built. The groundbreaking saw axes handed out, and for more than two hours male students chopped down an apple orchard that occupied the site. Coeds handed out cider and sandwiches, and a good time was had by all. Considering there wasn't much to do in Bloomington and the groundbreaking was the biggest event in town on a Saturday afternoon in October, it's reasonable to imagine that Thorpe made an appearance.

Indiana's trip to Indy to take on Washington and Lee Oct. 30 was a huge event in and of itself, and the game was sold out. It was estimated that three-quarters of the student body at IU - including the girls! - would be attending the game. Special trains were scheduled, and Indiana governor Samuel M. Ralston would be in attendance.

For his part, Thorpe had been developing new talent on the kicking corps. Russell Hathaway, a 19-year-old fullback, recently joined the group and was already kicking 40-yard field goals thanks to Thorpe's instruction. In all, six different Hoosiers were showing promise as kickers, with at least five players ripping punts of 50 or 60 yards in practice, and Erehart was kicking field goals from all kinds of angles from 25-, 30- and 40-yards out.

Despite all the work, IU's kickers missed when it mattered most. Twice in the third quarter Erehart missed drop-kicks, one from at least 40 yards out. Those misses played a key in IU's 7-7 tie with Washington and Lee, and the largest crowd ever to see a game in Indianapolis to that point - 8,500 - was at least treated to a close game.

The game may have been a toss-up on the field, but IU was a huge winner at the box office. Thanks at least partly to the presence of Thorpe in the big city, Indiana cleared between $5,000-$6,000 in the game, a staggering amount for the time.

Another big payday would undoubtedly come when Indiana traveled to Ohio State Nov. 6, and Thorpe spent his week working with the Hoosiers on their punting, drop-kicking and punt coverage. Thorpe also got involved in teaching IU how to tackle, and there was quite a bit of excitement surrounding the idea that with Thorpe teaching the team his secrets, the Buckeyes literally wouldn't know what hit them.

Unfortunately for IU, Ohio State was Ohio State even then. The Hoosiers were flagged for more than 100 yards in penalties, and the Buckeyes won 10-9. Thorpe's work with the kickers didn't pay off as IU missed five field-goal attempts, with Erehart kicking one along the ground over the goal line and another from IU's Harry Gray getting blocked.

Childs was livid with his players, and he drove his players hard in practice during the next week. IU's coach led his linemen in drills to improve their blocking on kicks, and he worked with the line on techniques to block kicks. Thorpe, meanwhile, worked with every single member of the backfield to try to find a consistent kicker. A total of 18 players attempted kicks in practice, and Reagle Acre, a Class of 1917 student from Sigma Delta Psi, joined the team after going 6-of-8 from 40 yards in a tryout.

The IDS hoped the work would make an impact.

"Childs, assisted by Thorpe, is working hard to develop a steady toe and a line that will hold like so much stone," the Nov. 9 edition reported. "If this can be accomplished, Northwestern and Purdue will have to use flying machines to win."

Indiana didn't have a flying machine at its disposal, so it took a train back to Chicago for its Nov. 13 battle with Northwestern. After IU fell behind 6-0 in the first quarter, Whitaker took it upon himself to lead the Hoosiers, and he scored a pair of touchdowns and kicked both extra points to lead Indiana to a 14-6 victory. At halftime of the game, Thorpe wowed the crowd with a kicking and punting exhibition, and the fans were crazed just to see the superstar in person.

Following the game, Thorpe's celebrity was too much for a young boy in the crowd to handle.

"At Northwestern after the game a little chap came running up to (equipment manager) Uncle Jake Buskirk, who was carrying the ball with which the game had just been won," the 1916 Arbutus reported. "The chap touched the ball reverently and then exclaimed exultantly to his fellows, 'Jim Thorpe touched that ball, and so did I!' "

Thorpe's attention, however, wasn't focused on the Hoosiers by this point. He knew he had to make a living somehow after the IU season ended, and it being football season, Thorpe did the only thing he knew to do. He signed a contract to play for the Canton Bulldogs of the Ohio League after being offered the whopping sum of $250 a game (that's roughly $5,400 in today's dollars), and Thorpe's first game would be a Nov. 14 battle vs. the archrival Massillon Tigers. He took a train from Chicago to Massillon, and he came off the bench to star for the Bulldogs. Canton lost the game 16-0, but more than 5,000 fans showed up to watch the game. Most of them had to be there for Thorpe. Although the game was a local rivalry, average attendance for Canton's games prior to the signing had been 1,500 fans. After the game, Thorpe headed back to Bloomington.

The final game of the season for the Hoosiers would be the annual matchup with Purdue, and the town couldn't have been more excited for the game. It was Homecoming Weekend. With Thorpe on the sideline, it was expected that even more fans and alumni would be making the trip to Bloomington. Adding to the excitement was the thought that Jordan Field would be hosting its last game. Plans had been made to build a new football stadium next to the Men's Gymnasium, which was under construction, and the new field would occupy the space that would eventually become the Wildermuth Center.

Poor weather had chased the Hoosiers into one of its first indoor practice facilities, a tent set up at the nearby Gentry Farm. The 160-foot by 300-foot tent was lighted as it would be for a circus performance, and it featured a lined field and goal posts at both ends of the tent. In the week leading up to the Purdue game, Thorpe worked with the kickers for an hour at Jordan Field despite the elements before loading his players into an "auto truck" for the ride to the tent.

The day before the game Childs made his squad practice on the quagmire that was Jordan Field to get them used to the conditions, and the water-logged footballs still managed to fly through the uprights on kicks from 35 yards out. When the day of the game, Nov. 20, finally arrived, Jordan Field was covered with sawdust to try to dry the water that had settled on the surface. A bright sun and wind helped a little, but it wasn't enough. Thanks to the construction of 2,000 additional seats in the days leading up to the game, a crowd of more than 7,000 packed Jordan Field to see IU battle the Boilermakers.

What they saw was far from the prettiest game in Hoosier history, and the rain and snow from the previous three days hampered both teams. Thorpe's kickers weren't much of a factor considering the fact that drop-kicking the ball was nearly impossible in all the mud, but Purdue managed to boot an extra point en route to a 7-0 win over the Hoosiers. Thorpe again put on a punting exhibition for the crowd at halftime, but he was careful not to wear himself out. After all, he had a game to play the next day in Canton, Ohio.

Immediately following the game, Thorpe bolted for the train station. He arrived in time for the second battle in three weeks between Canton and Massillon, and he took over as head coach of the Bulldogs. He made his presence felt, too, drop-kicking a field goal from 45 yards out in the first quarter, and he added a place kick of 38 yards in the third quarter to push Canton to a 6-0 victory.

Just like that, the Jim Thorpe Era at IU ended.

Although there initially were some hopes that Childs might bring Thorpe back for the 1916 season, it quickly became clear that Childs had other issues to be concerned about. IU was in the market to make some more changes, and in early December the Indiana administration hired Ewald O. "Jumbo" Stiehm to take over as Director of Athletics. Stiehm made a name for himself as a football coach at Nebraska. With the Hoosiers making so many upgrades to their athletic programs from a facilities standpoint, it was decided that an experienced leader was needed to take IU into the future. Stiehm was most comfortable on the gridiron, and his arrival spelled the end of Childs' time in Bloomington.

Thorpe and Childs quietly left town, but both would make their marks elsewhere. Childs would never coach football again, but he served in the Army during World War I. He was sent to France, and among other jobs he became the athletic director at the Colombes Stadium in Paris. He left the military with the rank of major, and he became an industrial engineer. He passed away in Washington, D.C., in 1960.

Thorpe, meanwhile, would simply go on to be named the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century by the Associated Press. He helped Canton win three Ohio League championships, reportedly sealing the 1919 title with a wind-assisted 95-yard punt late in the game, and he was named president of the American Professional Football Association - a precursor to the NFL - in 1920. Thorpe eventually played for six NFL teams, although he never won a title, and he retired from football in 1928. He also played Major League Baseball with the Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves, compiling a career batting average of .252 in 289 games before retiring from baseball in 1919. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Thorpe dabbled in Hollywood, where he made a handful of movie appearances, and he was played by Burt Lancaster in the 1951 film of his life, "Jim Thorpe - All-American." Thorpe's personal life, meanwhile, was a shambles for most of the rest of his life. He was divorced from Iva in 1925, and he later was married twice more. After his playing days ended, Thorpe struggled. He descended into alcoholism, and he worked a number of odd jobs later in life, including serving as a doorman, a ditch digger and a security guard. When he was hospitalized for lip cancer in 1950, he was broke and had to be admitted as a charity case.

Thorpe recovered from that setback, but he finally succumbed to his third heart attack March 28, 1953 at the age of 64. Following his death, the towns of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk purchased his remains and erected a monument in his honor. The two entities merged and renamed themselves Jim Thorpe, Pa., a move that was controversial and continues to be the subject of lawsuits with the Thorpe estate.

In 1982, the IOC reinstated Thorpe's Olympic gold medals from the 1912 games since he was disqualified past the 30-day time limit for such decisions to be made. Two of Thorpe's children, Gale and Bill, were awarded commemorative medals.

Jim Thorpe's time at Indiana was brief, but his impact on the program during his few months in Bloomington was substantial. He helped create some buzz around the football team, and his presence on the sideline drove attendance - and therefore revenue - at a time when IU was upgrading its facilities. Without Thorpe, IU might not have had the financial confidence to build the IU Fieldhouse (the future Wildermuth Center), and that construction project helped push Indiana to build the original Memorial Stadium. Although some might consider Thorpe to have been more of a sideshow at IU than anything else, the bottom line is that for a few months in the autumn of 1915, the sports world kept an eye on Bloomington, Ind., a view that it wouldn't normally have had if a god wasn't wandering among the Hoosiers.

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