"May 28 marked the 123rd year since the birth of Wa-Tho-Huk, Bright Path of the Sac and Fox tribe. Most of us know him as The Legend, Jim Thorpe.

Thorpe is to Canton what Alexander the Great is to Greece. Thorpe led the Canton Bulldogs to win the 1916 world championship of professional football, as well as championships in 1917 and 1919, paving the way for additional titles in 1922 and 1923.

The Legend was clearly the catalyst of the Canton powerhouse team that fiercely battled with our greatest rivals, the Tigers of Massillon. Thorpe put football and Stark County on the map because he was, as he has been called, “bigger than the game itself.” In 1950, an Associated Press poll named Thorpe as the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century, trouncing Babe Ruth.

His life, like that of a true folk hero, is full of triumphs and tragedies, some of them the kind that only real Americans, the Native Americans, can fathom. Heroes such as Thorpe allow us to know the real limits of our potential, giving us goals to strive for."

Get the Story:
James Parker: City should honor Thorpe’s spirit by renaming plaza (The Canton Repository 6/1)

Related Stories:
Jim Thorpe's sons not invited to ceremony in Pennsylvania (5/19)
Sac and Fox Nation joins lawsuit over Jim Thorpe remains (5/16)
Opinion: Jim Thorpe a victim of 'begrudgery' despite Olympic win (8/9)
Jim Thorpe's son hopes for friendly resolution of repatriation case (7/26)
Opinion: Town will go on if Thorpe's remains reburied in Oklahoma (7/19)
Jim Thorpe's son sues to have remains returned to Oklahoma (6/25)
Commentary: A good case for returning Thorpe to Oklahoma (5/24)