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'Jim Thorpe Day" Passed by Unnoticed
Not Even His Family Knew of Proclamation Honoring Indian Athlete

WASHINGTON (UPI).- Monday, April 16, whether you knew it or not was Jim Thorpe Day - but don't feel stupid if you didn't know. Neither did his family. 

President Nixon signed a proclamation marking April 16 as a day to honor the legendary Indian athlete and called upon the people of the United States "to mark this day with appropriate observances."

But nobody bothered to tell the Thorpe family or anyone else, according to Grace Thorpe, his daughter. 

MISS THORPE, a student at the Antioch School of Law, told a press conference Friday that she first learned that both the House and Senate had passed legislation declaring a Jim Thorpe Day, "I was really thrilled."

"I thought, 'Isn't that great - the President naming a day for my dad? It will be a day of celebration for Americans and especially Indians for years to come. "

But on second thought, she said, she wondered why the Indian community wasn't informed, particularly the chief of the Sac and Fox Tribe in Oklahoma where Thorpe came from "and lastly, why wasn't the Thorpe family contacted."

"MY BROTHER, Maj. Carl Thorpe, and I both live in the Washington, D.C., area - we weren't even told of the pending legislation.

"We would have liked to witness the signing. When I got wind of this, I was told by the White House it as too late," she said. 

Miss Thorpe said she also has questions as to the purpose of naming the day.

"Is someone exploiting my father's name, or was this just an oversight or a lack of awareness on someone's part?" she asked.

"If anyone is to exploit my father's name, it had better be legitimate Indians doing it and for Indian issues such as educational scholarships," she said.

MISS THORPE said she had written President Nixon about the oversight. 

"Indian bills have been stagnating in Congress," she said in her letter to Nixon. "The needs of the Indians voiced in those bills are immediate.

"It is my wish that Congress will act quickly on the Indian bills currently pending as they did on the Jim Thorpe Day resolution," she said.

Nixon's proclamation said of Thorpe: "His prowess on playing fields from Carlisle Institute to the Stockholm Olympics remain legendary in this, the 85th anniversary year of his birth.

"The history of college and professional football, world decathlon and pentathlon competition, and major league baseball is permanently enriched by the contributions of this noble American who has been acclaimed by some as the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century."

[[left image]]
Jim Thorpe in the 1920s after his college career was over
 
[[right Image]]
Jim Thorpe as a back at Carlisle in early 1900s.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Saturday April 21, 1973
Section B
SPORTS
Dial a Score LO 3-2842 
For Late Results

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