Thorpe Out

Last week two items of news appeared which told sportsmen that one of the greatest athletes that ever lived has faded out of sport. The items told about Jim Thorpe, the Indian. One described how, after having failed, miserably, to get into condition, he was dropped by the New York Club with which he had been playing professional football. The second stated that he had married for solace a West Virginian named Freeda Kirkpatrick, had started west for his honeymoon. He is 39.

Fifteen years ago Thorpe was in his prime. In 1911 and 1912, playing with Carlisle, he won a place on Walter Camp's All-American elevens. The next summer on the U. S. Olympic team at Stockholm, he won the all-around track and field championship, but his medals were taken away from him when some snoop found out that he had played in a professional baseball game. He signed with the New York Giants, but soon showed that he was not good enough for big league baseball. Though speedy in the field and on the bases, he could not hit a curve ball, could not "judge" a long-hit fly ball. In the past few years he has made his money in the fall with professional football elevens, in the spring and summer with third-rate baseball clubs, and in the winter pursued whatever indoor diversions suited his fancy.