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Article: Story of Jim Thorpe, Pa., includes greed, hope, tender moments and tragedy.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 5, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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JIM THORPE, Pa. _ In this Olympic summer, the idle old men who congregate on the benches at the foot of Broadway Street find themselves musing about the sad fate of Jim Thorpe, and about the curious way their town came to bear the name of the great Indian athlete.
If booming Atlanta is a symbol of the new money-driven Olympics, then this musty old Pennsylvania railroad town, a charming but spiritually sagging community, remains in a way a reflection of its simpler past.
At a time when multimillionaire athletes enrich themselves with Olympic glory, here is a town named for a man who lost two gold medals because he'd been paid $5 a game to play semipro baseball.