Jim & Me Read Online Free
Author: Dan Gutman
Fuller said he was, he should be in there, right?
Well, what I found was a little bit suprising. Not only did Jim Thorpe play major-league baseball, but he also played professional football. So I was right! In fact, he was one of the original members of the Football Hall of Fame. But the most interesting thing was that Thorpe didnât become famous for playing baseball or football. He became famous because, in the 1912 Olympics, he won gold medals in the decathlon and the pentathlon.
I didnât even know what those events were at first, so I looked them up in a book about the Olympics. In the decathlon, it said, athletes compete in ten different track-and-field events, everything from sprinting to pole vaulting to throwing the javelin. So the winner of the Olympic decathlon is considered to be the best all-around athlete in theworld. The pentathlon, which isnât in the Olympics anymore, was made up of five other events. Thorpe won that too.
These days, hardly any pro athletes play more than one sport. Most of them specialize, and many even specialize within their sport. Like in baseball theyâve got âclosers,â whose job is to come in and pitch just one inning. Theyâve got designated hitters who donât have to play the field. In football theyâve got guys who only punt, or do nothing but return punts.
But Jim Thorpe did it all âbaseball, football, plus all those track-and-field events. He must have been like Superman in his time.
I know a lot about sports, but I had no idea how great Jim Thorpe was. It didnât make sense that somebody who was that good wasnât more famous. Why hadnât I heard about this guy before?
Then I got to a part in the book that caught my eye:
ââ¦seven months after his Olympic triumph, it was discovered that Jim Thorpe was not an amateur athlete, as the rules required. He had played semi-pro baseball for two summers before the Olympics, earning as little as two dollars per game. Thorpe was forced to return his Olympic medals.â
What?! The guy was the greatest athlete in the world and they took his Olympic medals away because he made a few bucks playing baseball? Wow.That was unbelievable. Jim Thorpe really got screwed over.
Maybe Iâm dumb or something, but I didnât even know there was a day when professional athletes werenât allowed to compete in the Olympics. I mean, pros are in the Olympics all the time now. You see NBA âdream teamsâ playing Olympic basketball. You see NHL stars playing Olympic hockey. You see Olympic athletes in TV commercials. They have to be getting paid. How else could they afford to train so hard for four years if they donât get paid? What are they supposed to do for money, deliver pizzas?
I always thought the Olympics were about being the best , not being the best amateur or the best professional. It shouldnât matter who you are.
There was an old newspaper article about Jim Thorpe printed in the book. I made a photocopy in case I might need it later.
All kinds of thoughts were running through my head as I sat down with the book. Maybe Bobby Fuller was hoping he could warn Thorpe about what was going to happen to him. Maybe he was hoping he could save Jim Thorpeâs reputation, and make his great-grandfather a hero again. Return the glory to his family, and to all American Indians. Maybe Bobby wanted to go back in time and change history.
And I was the only one who could help him.
I was feelingâ¦well, ambivalent. And when Iâm feeling ambivalent, Iâll tell you what I do. I take a sheet of paper and put a line down the middle. I write PRO on one side of the line and CON on the other. Then I try to figure out which side of the paper deserves to win.
I thought about that last point on the PRO side. It was a long shot, but maybe if Bobby went back intime and met his great-grandfather it would turn him around as a person, help him solve his personal
Well, what I found was a little bit suprising. Not only did Jim Thorpe play major-league baseball, but he also played professional football. So I was right! In fact, he was one of the original members of the Football Hall of Fame. But the most interesting thing was that Thorpe didnât become famous for playing baseball or football. He became famous because, in the 1912 Olympics, he won gold medals in the decathlon and the pentathlon.
I didnât even know what those events were at first, so I looked them up in a book about the Olympics. In the decathlon, it said, athletes compete in ten different track-and-field events, everything from sprinting to pole vaulting to throwing the javelin. So the winner of the Olympic decathlon is considered to be the best all-around athlete in theworld. The pentathlon, which isnât in the Olympics anymore, was made up of five other events. Thorpe won that too.
These days, hardly any pro athletes play more than one sport. Most of them specialize, and many even specialize within their sport. Like in baseball theyâve got âclosers,â whose job is to come in and pitch just one inning. Theyâve got designated hitters who donât have to play the field. In football theyâve got guys who only punt, or do nothing but return punts.
But Jim Thorpe did it all âbaseball, football, plus all those track-and-field events. He must have been like Superman in his time.
I know a lot about sports, but I had no idea how great Jim Thorpe was. It didnât make sense that somebody who was that good wasnât more famous. Why hadnât I heard about this guy before?
Then I got to a part in the book that caught my eye:
ââ¦seven months after his Olympic triumph, it was discovered that Jim Thorpe was not an amateur athlete, as the rules required. He had played semi-pro baseball for two summers before the Olympics, earning as little as two dollars per game. Thorpe was forced to return his Olympic medals.â
What?! The guy was the greatest athlete in the world and they took his Olympic medals away because he made a few bucks playing baseball? Wow.That was unbelievable. Jim Thorpe really got screwed over.
Maybe Iâm dumb or something, but I didnât even know there was a day when professional athletes werenât allowed to compete in the Olympics. I mean, pros are in the Olympics all the time now. You see NBA âdream teamsâ playing Olympic basketball. You see NHL stars playing Olympic hockey. You see Olympic athletes in TV commercials. They have to be getting paid. How else could they afford to train so hard for four years if they donât get paid? What are they supposed to do for money, deliver pizzas?
I always thought the Olympics were about being the best , not being the best amateur or the best professional. It shouldnât matter who you are.
There was an old newspaper article about Jim Thorpe printed in the book. I made a photocopy in case I might need it later.
All kinds of thoughts were running through my head as I sat down with the book. Maybe Bobby Fuller was hoping he could warn Thorpe about what was going to happen to him. Maybe he was hoping he could save Jim Thorpeâs reputation, and make his great-grandfather a hero again. Return the glory to his family, and to all American Indians. Maybe Bobby wanted to go back in time and change history.
And I was the only one who could help him.
I was feelingâ¦well, ambivalent. And when Iâm feeling ambivalent, Iâll tell you what I do. I take a sheet of paper and put a line down the middle. I write PRO on one side of the line and CON on the other. Then I try to figure out which side of the paper deserves to win.
I thought about that last point on the PRO side. It was a long shot, but maybe if Bobby went back intime and met his great-grandfather it would turn him around as a person, help him solve his personal
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