What do you think?
Rate this book
All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe
All American is riveting and grand-that rare pairing of exquisite writing and unassailable research. Crawford delivers you to an age when iconic titans like Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner marched across the planet, and he is the perfect guide to their enormous triumphs and tragedies. This is epic American history at its page-turning finest.
-Bill Minutaglio, author of City on Fire and First George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
He was the greatest football running back of his era, leading his Carlisle Indian Industrial School team to victory over all the great college powerhouses. King Gustav of Sweden called him ""the greatest athlete in the world"" after he won gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games. Yet Jim Thorpe was also at the center of the greatest sports scandal of the twentieth century-a scandal that took away his Olympic medals and banned him forever from intercollegiate sports.
Now, in this revealing new biography, Bill Crawford captures Jim Thorpe's remarkable rise and fall. From his youth on Oklahoma's Sac and Fox Indian reservation to his astounding feats on the gridiron, from his Olympic triumphs to his complex relationship with coach ""Pop"" Warner, who mentored, exploited, and ultimately betrayed him, All American brings you up close and personal with the greatest athlete of the twentieth century.
-Bill Minutaglio, author of City on Fire and First George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty
He was the greatest football running back of his era, leading his Carlisle Indian Industrial School team to victory over all the great college powerhouses. King Gustav of Sweden called him ""the greatest athlete in the world"" after he won gold medals for the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games. Yet Jim Thorpe was also at the center of the greatest sports scandal of the twentieth century-a scandal that took away his Olympic medals and banned him forever from intercollegiate sports.
Now, in this revealing new biography, Bill Crawford captures Jim Thorpe's remarkable rise and fall. From his youth on Oklahoma's Sac and Fox Indian reservation to his astounding feats on the gridiron, from his Olympic triumphs to his complex relationship with coach ""Pop"" Warner, who mentored, exploited, and ultimately betrayed him, All American brings you up close and personal with the greatest athlete of the twentieth century.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Bill Crawford
49 books8 followersBill Crawford is a writer in Austin with an interest in Texas history. His previous books include Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves (cowritten with Gene Fowler) and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire (cowritten with Joe Nick Patoski).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 21, 2009
it was about a relative of mine
November 24, 2024
"From Publishers Weekly
Crawford's terse, punchy biography of sports legend Thorpe (1888–1953) illuminates the current debate over the exploitation of unpaid college athletes by money-making, headline-grabbing educational institutions. Thorpe's own story is familiar: of mixed Caucasian and Native American background, Thorpe was raised on an Oklahoma reservation and was a somewhat obstinate kid before being sent to the Carlisle School, where educators sought to "detach Indians from their native 'savagery.' " Thorpe's awe-inspiring athletic prowess was harnessed for the football team by the school's bullying coach, "Pop" Warner. The young sport, a brutal endeavor still played without guards, was just beginning to catch on when, in 1911, Thorpe led Carlisle to a stunning upset over Harvard. The next year, Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympics and was arguably America's most lauded athlete. In 1913, though, true reports that Thorpe had played professional minor-league baseball (violating rules for Olympic amateurs) caused a scandal, marked by racist reporting and Thorpe's betrayal by the well-paid Warner, after which Thorpe was stripped of his medals. Texas journalist Crawford enlivens what is normally treated as a gauzy story of struggle against adversity with a no-nonsense approach, letting the racist attitudes against Thorpe speak for themselves and creating a resonant portrait of a champion in a hostile age. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* A case can be made that Jim Thorpe was America's greatest all-around athlete. He won the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics--a feat never duplicated--and he played on both a World Series baseball team and a professional championship football team. Yet he was also a tragic figure. He was stripped of his Olympic medals and records--they were reinstated posthumously--and the financial benefits he reaped from his athleticism were siphoned away by "friends" and ill-chosen advisors. Crawford recounts Thorpe's tumultuous life from a hardscrabble youth on an Oklahoma Indian reservation (during the era when Indian schools sought to wean children away from their "savage" roots) to his emergence as a football All-American at the Carlisle Indian Academy to his Olympic triumph and on to his later years, when he was virtually ignored. Crawford also devotes considerable space to Glenn "Pop" Warner, Thorpe's coach at Carlisle and later his financial advisor and de facto agent. Warner always benefited from his association with Thorpe, but the same can't be said for Thorpe's relationship with Warner. Crawford also sheds considerable light on the stripping of Thorpe's Olympic medals, citing evidence to suggest that professional baseball executives fomented the scandal as a way of forcing Thorpe to play pro ball. This is a carefully researched, thoroughly readable work that will have broad appeal among those with an interest in sports history. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Crawford’s terse, punchy biography of sports legend Thorpe (1888-1953) illuminates the current debate over the exploitation of unpaid college athletes by money-making, headline-grabbing educational institutions. Thorpe’s own story is familiar: of mixed Caucasian and Native American background, Thorpe was raised on an Oklahoma reservation and was a somewhat obstinate kid before being sent to the Carlisle School, where educators sought to "detach Indians from their native ‘savagery.’ " Thorpe’s awe-inspiring athletic prowess was harnessed for the football team by the school’s bullying coach, "Pop" Warner. The young sport, a brutal endeavor still played without guards, was just beginning to catch on when, in 1911, Thorpe led Carlisle to a stunning upset over Harvard. The next year, Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympics and was arguably America’s most lauded athlete. In 1913, though, true reports that Thorpe had played professional minor-league baseball (violating rules for Olympic amateurs) caused a scandal, marked by racist reporting and Thorpe’s betrayal by the well-paid Warner, after which Thorpe was stripped of his medals. Texas journalist Crawford enlivens what is normally treated as a gauzy story of struggle against adversity with a no-nonsense approach, letting the racist attitudes against Thorpe speak for themselves and creating a resonant portrait of a champion in a hostile age. Photos. Agent, Jim Hornfischer. (Nov.) (Publishers Weekly, September 13, 2004)"
- Amazon
Crawford's terse, punchy biography of sports legend Thorpe (1888–1953) illuminates the current debate over the exploitation of unpaid college athletes by money-making, headline-grabbing educational institutions. Thorpe's own story is familiar: of mixed Caucasian and Native American background, Thorpe was raised on an Oklahoma reservation and was a somewhat obstinate kid before being sent to the Carlisle School, where educators sought to "detach Indians from their native 'savagery.' " Thorpe's awe-inspiring athletic prowess was harnessed for the football team by the school's bullying coach, "Pop" Warner. The young sport, a brutal endeavor still played without guards, was just beginning to catch on when, in 1911, Thorpe led Carlisle to a stunning upset over Harvard. The next year, Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympics and was arguably America's most lauded athlete. In 1913, though, true reports that Thorpe had played professional minor-league baseball (violating rules for Olympic amateurs) caused a scandal, marked by racist reporting and Thorpe's betrayal by the well-paid Warner, after which Thorpe was stripped of his medals. Texas journalist Crawford enlivens what is normally treated as a gauzy story of struggle against adversity with a no-nonsense approach, letting the racist attitudes against Thorpe speak for themselves and creating a resonant portrait of a champion in a hostile age. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* A case can be made that Jim Thorpe was America's greatest all-around athlete. He won the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics--a feat never duplicated--and he played on both a World Series baseball team and a professional championship football team. Yet he was also a tragic figure. He was stripped of his Olympic medals and records--they were reinstated posthumously--and the financial benefits he reaped from his athleticism were siphoned away by "friends" and ill-chosen advisors. Crawford recounts Thorpe's tumultuous life from a hardscrabble youth on an Oklahoma Indian reservation (during the era when Indian schools sought to wean children away from their "savage" roots) to his emergence as a football All-American at the Carlisle Indian Academy to his Olympic triumph and on to his later years, when he was virtually ignored. Crawford also devotes considerable space to Glenn "Pop" Warner, Thorpe's coach at Carlisle and later his financial advisor and de facto agent. Warner always benefited from his association with Thorpe, but the same can't be said for Thorpe's relationship with Warner. Crawford also sheds considerable light on the stripping of Thorpe's Olympic medals, citing evidence to suggest that professional baseball executives fomented the scandal as a way of forcing Thorpe to play pro ball. This is a carefully researched, thoroughly readable work that will have broad appeal among those with an interest in sports history. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Crawford’s terse, punchy biography of sports legend Thorpe (1888-1953) illuminates the current debate over the exploitation of unpaid college athletes by money-making, headline-grabbing educational institutions. Thorpe’s own story is familiar: of mixed Caucasian and Native American background, Thorpe was raised on an Oklahoma reservation and was a somewhat obstinate kid before being sent to the Carlisle School, where educators sought to "detach Indians from their native ‘savagery.’ " Thorpe’s awe-inspiring athletic prowess was harnessed for the football team by the school’s bullying coach, "Pop" Warner. The young sport, a brutal endeavor still played without guards, was just beginning to catch on when, in 1911, Thorpe led Carlisle to a stunning upset over Harvard. The next year, Thorpe won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympics and was arguably America’s most lauded athlete. In 1913, though, true reports that Thorpe had played professional minor-league baseball (violating rules for Olympic amateurs) caused a scandal, marked by racist reporting and Thorpe’s betrayal by the well-paid Warner, after which Thorpe was stripped of his medals. Texas journalist Crawford enlivens what is normally treated as a gauzy story of struggle against adversity with a no-nonsense approach, letting the racist attitudes against Thorpe speak for themselves and creating a resonant portrait of a champion in a hostile age. Photos. Agent, Jim Hornfischer. (Nov.) (Publishers Weekly, September 13, 2004)"
- Amazon
August 4, 2022
I read it because of the recent news that his wins in the Olympics were reinstated. It was a fascinating read about all the unique circumstances around his life.
November 4, 2025
Brilliantly assembled - truly a triumph
April 18, 2011
I don't know when it started but since as long as can remember I've loved readying about Jim Thorpe. This was one of my favorite books about him. I always felt he was treated poorly when his gold medals were stripped away from him because he "forfeited his amatuer status" by playing in a handful of minor league baseball games.
Very typical of how Native Americans have been treated through the history of our country Thorpe was made the scape goat and took the fall for his coach (Pop Warner), the Carlisle Indian School and the amateur sporting organizations that were just figuring out how to make money by controlling amateur athletes.
Very typical of how Native Americans have been treated through the history of our country Thorpe was made the scape goat and took the fall for his coach (Pop Warner), the Carlisle Indian School and the amateur sporting organizations that were just figuring out how to make money by controlling amateur athletes.
December 24, 2015
Glad I read! As a Lawrence, Ks gal and grew up within blocks of Haskell this helped me understand more about this famous man! Well researched book and such a sad story of the rise and fall of a true All American. Also, I learned about his coach..POP Warner. He was truly the greatest athlete of our century!!!
April 25, 2014
The book was full of facts and details about Jim Thorpe and they really showed how athletic, smart and caring Jim Thorpe was. Also it shows the rich history of the old football and track programs he used to went to.
June 10, 2013
A very readable biography about one of history's most improbable and best athletes. Well worth a read for any sports fan.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews