Jim Thorpe, The World's Greatest Athlete

2009 VisionMaker Film Festival home

 (56 minutes), Release Date: 2009, Filmmaker: Tom Weidlinger, Joe Bruchac

A biography of the athlete who became a sports icon in the first half of the 20th century. Beginning with Thorpe’s boyhood at the Sac and Fox Nation to his rise to athletic stardom at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the story follows Thorpe as he won two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics to his fall from grace in the eyes of the amateur athletic establishment, and his rebound in professional baseball and football. Thorpe retired from pro sports at age 41 just before the stock market crash of 1929. Later becoming a representative for Indian extras in Hollywood, Thorpe also fought for equal pay for Native Americans in the movies and crisscrossed the nation advocating for Indian self-determination in the 1940s.

The VisionMaker Film Festival for 2009 has ended. You can still watch this film on public television: http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder or buy the DVD at VisionMaker Video http://visionmaker.semkhor.com.

Watch the trailer