The burial site of Native American sports legend Jim Thorpe matters deeply to his sons and members of the Sac and Fox Nation in Oklahoma. It should not matter so much to residents of Jim Thorpe, the nearby town in Carbon County named for Thorpe, where his body now lies.

Yes, it may seem ironic for the town to give up its namesake. But Thorpe is buried there only because, long ago, his third wife agreed to have him buried in Pennsylvania, where he went to school as a teen, if that town renamed itself. The erstwhile Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk obliged, merging and renaming themselves. The famed athlete has served as a tourism draw ever since.

Thorpe was born and raised in Oklahoma. “Bright Path” (his Indian name) spent most of his childhood there before attending the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where his athletic prowess first revealed itself.

But Thorpe returned to Oklahoma during his early married life. He told his children he wished to be buried there.