The ep32 Jim Thorpe

This is Jimmy Powers and happy to be coming your way with another Grantlin Rice story. This is Jimmy Powers once again transcribed with another story from the tumult and the shouting, the autobiography of Grantlin Rice.

Today's story deals with Big Jim Thorpe, the American Indian, and I'd like to tell you this inspiring story in first person. The Indian is a great natural athlete. Given the same chance, he has the white man lashed to the post.

His heritage is all outdoors. His reflexes are sharp. He takes the game in fact every form of life as it comes to him. He rarely gets excited or off-balance. An example was Chief Albert Bender at Chippewa.

A pal of mine the Chief was a great pitcher, a fine shot, and an able golfer. He strong-armed Connie Mack's pitching staffs from 19-3 to 1914. Mack told me he was once undecided whether he should pick Mathewson or Bender to pitch a game that meant a million dollars to him. When Bender pitched for the

athletics against the Giants in the 1911 World Series, I noticed that he often corled with Eddie Collins at second or stuffing again us at first. What was the fuss all about? I asked the chief.

Well he said they're young. And assists, to first or second, I was throwing them curves. I just wanted to let him know the World Series was just another ball game. I played a lot of golf with Bender from 1911 through 1914.

Whatever game it was, he was a great competitor. Nothing ever bothered him. Here brings up another even greater Indian. His name is Jim Thorpe. In many ways Thorpe was like Bender. Nothing ever bothered him.