HR 19 — A Resolution honoring Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe by designating May 28, 2025, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.

PRINTER'S NO.   251

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



              HOUSE RESOLUTION
                 No. 19
                                                 Session of
                                                   2025

     INTRODUCED BY HEFFLEY, VENKAT, GREINER, KENYATTA, STAATS,
        PICKETT, M. MACKENZIE, MALAGARI, FREEMAN AND REICHARD,
        JANUARY 23, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON TOURISM, RECREATION AND ECONOMIC
        DEVELOPMENT, JANUARY 23, 2025


                                  A RESOLUTION
 1   Honoring Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe by designating May 28,
 2      2025, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.
 3         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was born May 28, 1888, and was raised as
 4   a member of the Native American Sac and Fox Nation; 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
11   attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, beginning in 1907;
12   and
13         WHEREAS, While at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Jim
14   Thorpe was coached by the legendary football coach Glenn Scobey
15   "Pop" Warner and was awarded All-American honors in 1911 and
16   1912; and
17         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe honorably represented the Sac and Fox
 1   Nation and the United States of America at the 1912 Olympic
 2   Games in Stockholm, Sweden; and
 3         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was the first United States athlete to
 4   win the pentathlon and the decathlon in one Olympic year; and
 5         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's athletic feats and the worldwide
 6   publicity established the viability of the modern Olympic Games;
 7   and
 8         WHEREAS, To honor his gold medals in the pentathlon and
 9   decathlon, Jim Thorpe received gifts from King Gustaf V of
10   Sweden and Czar Nicholas II of Russia; and
11         WHEREAS, A ticker-tape parade was held in New York City upon
12   Jim Thorpe's return to the United States from Sweden; and
13         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals were revoked after he
14   was found to have violated strict rules regarding amateurism in
15   force at the time; and
16         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's medals were not reinstated until 1982,
17   30 years after his death, when the International Olympic
18   Committee recognized the improper application of the
19   disqualification procedures; and
20         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe had an illustrious professional career
21   after the Olympics, during which he played baseball for the New
22   York Giants, the Cincinnati Reds and the Boston Braves, football
23   for the Canton Bulldogs and basketball for two years after his
24   retirement from professional football; and
25         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe is considered one of football's founding
26   fathers as a result of his career as a professional football
27   player with the Canton Bulldogs, one of the four teams that made
28   up the American Professional Football Association, which later
29   became the National Football League; and
30         WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe, while coaching and playing for the

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 1   Canton Bulldogs, further supported the sport of football by
 2   becoming the American Professional Football Association's first
 3   president; and
 4      WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was voted America's Greatest All-Around
 5   Male Athlete, was chosen as the greatest football player of the
 6   half-century in 1950 by an Associated Press poll of
 7   sportswriters and was named the American Broadcasting Company's
 8   Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Century, which earned him
 9   the honor of having his picture on a special-edition Wheaties
10   cereal box; and
11      WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe was named the Greatest American Football
12   Player in history in a 1977 national poll conducted by Sport
13   Magazine; and
14      WHEREAS, Having been inducted into the Football Hall of Fame
15   in 1963, Jim Thorpe was recognized for his dedication to the
16   sport; and
17      WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe served as a namesake for the Jim Thorpe
18   Award established in 1986 for the best defensive back in college
19   football; and
20      WHEREAS, Jim Thorpe's final resting place is in Jim Thorpe,
21   Carbon County; and
22      WHEREAS, The life of Jim Thorpe is defined by his legacy of
23   inspiring people around the world to light the way of their own
24   "bright paths"; therefore be it
25      RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate May 28,
26   2025, as "Jim Thorpe Day" in Pennsylvania.




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