New Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame display paints more complete picture of Jim Thorpe's life
Justin Lenhart admits he struggled with how to use all the space in the new gallery at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
As the museum’s curator, he knew the soon-to-open expansion would be dedicated to Jim Thorpe. Lenhart had ideas about which medals and memorabilia to display from the legendary athlete’s life.
But what about Thorpe’s youth, especially his time at Carlisle Indian School?
A federal investigation released last year confirmed horrific details of abuse and death at government-run Native American boarding schools like Carlisle.
"We didn’t really know how to get into it," Lenhart said. "Was it even our spot to get into it?
"But it shaped him."
To paint a more complete picture of Thorpe, who was Sac and Fox, the museum had to include his time at Carlisle.
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Even as the history of Native boarding schools has moved into the headlines and the public’s conscience, its inclusion in the Thorpe gallery is powerful. It’s a reminder of the schools’ extensive impact on Native Americans – then and still today.
"We don’t want it to get lost in the weeds," Lenhart said.
Thorpe was born in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, in the late 1880s – some records say 1887, others 1888 – and the struggles of his childhood have been well-documented. His twin brother died during a flu outbreak. Then his mother died. Then his father.
Thorpe was a teenager, and with both his parents gone, he became untethered and lost. His siblings had a suggestion.
"You need to go to Carlisle," they said.
Carlisle was the first off-reservation boarding school for Native Americans. The Pennsylvania school was founded by Richard Henry Pratt, who believed cultural assimilation was best for Native Americans.
"Kill the Indian in him, and save the man," Pratt once said.
At Carlisle and other schools that would follow its blueprint, that meant Native American students had to cut their hair, stop speaking their languages, renounce their tribal traditions and separate from their families.
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When Thorpe arrived at Carlisle, he was placed in its outing program.
"That was just indentured servitude," Lenhart said. "These kids would go to these farms and these homes and these companies to be an apprentice. But abuse was rampant."
Time spent in the outing program was supposed to count toward a student’s total time at Carlisle, but after Thorpe had been in the program three years, he was told those years didn’t count toward the seven years he was expected to be at the school.
Lenhart said Thorpe was on the verge of leaving and probably never returning.
"And that would have been the end of anybody ever knowing anything about Jim Thorpe," Lenhart said.
But Thorpe decided to stay, swallow the hurt, endure the deceit and try out for Carlisle's track team. Those were the early days of Thorpe's athletic career, which would ultimately lead to Olympic gold and professional careers in baseball and football.
While Thorpe’s time at Carlisle is largely celebrated for the athletic success he had there, the story is more complicated than that.
That’s why Lenhart and the museum decided to include in the new gallery several panels with information about Carlisle and documents from Thorpe’s time there. There is also a three-minute video featuring people involved with the upcoming movie, "THORPE." As they speak, they sit in front of a black-and-white photo of Carlisle students.
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"Every time I see those pictures," said Richard Hill, executive producer of "THORPE," "you don’t see any of those kids smiling."
The federal government estimates more than 150 students died at Carlisle. Some remains have been excavated and repatriated to relatives, but dozens more gravesites remain.
Jim Thorpe was exposed to that system.
He not only survived the hardships but also thrived despite them.
"It lets people know that extra hill he climbed to end up where he was," Lenhart said.
The museum’s expansion, set for a Friday public opening, makes great strides in telling a more complete story of Thorpe, but the truth is, no single gallery can tell the entire story. Maybe, though, it prompts those who see it to take a deeper look. Read. Investigate. Learn. Appreciate.
"I just want people to leave this getting a fuller understanding of Jim Thorpe," Lenhart said, “because people really compartmentalize and say, ‘Well, he’s an athlete.’"
Much like the history of Native boarding schools, Thorpe was so much more complex than that.
Follow Jenni Carlsonat twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok.