Bill Thorpe cherishes his dad's legacy
Bill Thorpe's limousine ride from his Bricktown hotel to the Jim Thorpe Award banquet is the highlight of his year. He's riding with past winners and the current recipient, defensive back royalty, and they will ask him questions. Bill Thorpe, 92 years old, likes talking about his father, who was born 132 years ago in Indian Territory, just outside Prague, either in Lincoln or Pottawatomie County, depending on which birth monument you believe. The Thorpe Award, administered by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, is dear to the heart of Bill Thorpe, one of just two surviving children of America's greatest athlete. “I think it was really good they did bring that along,” Thorpe said last week, sitting in Bricktown's Hilton Garden Inn on the eve of the banquet, wearing an OKC cap. “Really helped bring his name back to life. I know each year it kind of fades, then comes back with the award.” Bill Thorpe's short-term memory can come and go, but his memories of growing up in California remain strong. Jim Thorpe – one of college football's greatest players, pro football's first star, the 1912 Olympic decathlon champion, an outfielder for John McGraw's New York baseball Giants – has been dead 66 years. But he remains alive in the memory of his son and with a Hall of Fame that treasures his Oklahoma roots. Bill Thorpe will tell the stories of his dad. To Thorpe Award winners. To Oklahoma writers. To Angelina Jolie, who is producing a movie about Jim Thorpe's life. Bill Thorpe met with Jolie and “he'll never be the same again,” said Gigi Tannahill, Thorpe's caretaker. “She would ask questions, I'd have to kick him under the table.” Tannahill had brought along scrapbooks with old family photos, and flipping pages ignited memories. Of Jim Thorpe pulling off his sportscoat and playing football with his four sons. Of the father not sparing the rod. “A great father,” Bill Thorpe said. “He did that things that were necessary to our backside. Four boys, all hellions.” Of Thorpe dancing in Indian powwows.
Of Jim Thorpe giving away $25 to people in need, when $25 was a lot of money and Thorpe himself could have used the money. “He had his good times and he had his bad times,” Bill Thorpe said. “When he was married to my mother was one of the good times. He drank some but didn't drink as much as before he was married.” Bill Thorpe loves the events that honor his father. He was enthralled upon his first visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in which one player, Jim Thorpe, is exalted above all, with a statue in the entrance rotunda. Bill Thorpe attended the 2012 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, and was feted by the U.S. Olympic Committee. He hopes to visit Sweden for the location filming of the Jolie movie. Funny, but Bill Thorpe has learned a lot more about his dad's athletic feats since his dad's death than he ever did from Jim Thorpe himself. “Not a big talker,” Bill Thorpe said. And when Jim Thorpe did talk about it, Bill, at 9 or 10 years, didn't retain it. “At 9 or 10, you're not paying a lot of attention.” Bill Thorpe attended Indian boarding schools in California and Nevada after his parents split up, then joined the U.S. Navy for the end of World War II, eventually was drafted into the Army and served in Korea. He went to work for Vaught Aircraft Manufacturing. He was transferred to Texas in the late `70s and retired there after 40 years. Quite close to his dad's homeland, where one of his brothers, Jack, became principal chief of the Sac and Fox tribe, and where the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame honors his father at its museum and annually at the awards banquet that bears his name. At 92, Bill Thorpe still swings a pretty good golf club, but he's slowing down. On most trips, he'll fall asleep. But not on this one. He's wide awake with anticipation, like a little kid, Tannahill said, all the way up I-35, even popping her for not stopping at WinStar Casino, on his way to Oklahoma City, where he shares the cherished legacy of Jim Thorpe. Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-7608080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.