Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1915 — FOUND JIM THORPE TO BE A GRASSHOPPER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOUND JIM THORPE TO BE A GRASSHOPPER

Glenn Warner’s resignation from Carlisle and election as coach of the University of Pittsburgh recalls many interesting reminiscences of the great athletio tutor’s achievements during his long regime at the Indian school. Probably the finest thing Warner ever did for the athletic world was to “discover” Jim Thorpe. And thereby hangs a tale. One day in the spring of 1908 Warner had his redskin stars training on the athletic field at Carlisle. A squad was clustered around the jumping standards, where Warner was attempting to show the jumpers how to clear the crossbar a la Mike Sweeney—of course. George Horine had not been heard of at that time. The crossbar had been placed at a height which all the jumpers had failed to clear. Warner had stepped to the standards and was preparing to lower the bar, when one of the athletes touched him on the shoulder and said: "Wait a minute, Mr. Warner, Jim he wants to jump. Ha! Ha! He tink he’s a grasshopper.”'

Warner turned and saw one of the students, an Indian boy dressed in a working blouse and overalls, just as he had come out of the shop, where he was learning a trade. Warner was preparing to shoo the "buck” away and teU him to stop bothering the athletes when the youngster approached the standards, and, springing from the ground, sailed easily over the crossbar. Warner knows an athlete when he sees one. “Say, you,” shouted the coach, “go to the gymnasium and tell Mike to give you an athletic suit and a pair of spiked shoes. Then come out here and get to work. You’re a regular member of the Carlisle track team now.” Four years later the same Indian stood before the king of Sweden, in the huge, white-walled stadium in Stockholm, where the pick of the world’s athletes had been in competition. The Swedish ruler clasped his hand and said: “You, sir, are the most wonderful athlete in the world.”

Jim Thorpe, Champion American Athlete.