It’s difficult to imagine a more compelling artifact from arguably the greatest all-around athlete of the 20th
century pleading for his Olympic medals to be returned, plaintively asking that his greatest triumph on
the world stage might be reinstated as he approached his twilight years. Indeed, the great Jim Thorpe,
would be dead barely more than three years later, virtually penniless and destitute. His poignant plea for
mercy: “May I please have your influence and help in this and you will have the knowledge that you have
made an old American Indian a happy man and when I go to the happy hunting ground my blessings will
be upon you,” Thorpe asked Amateur Athletic Union President Jeremiah T.Mahoney in this letter dated
September of 1949. And then Thorpe signed his full name, a rarity among the archival material typically
found from the football Hall of Famer: “James Francis Jim Thorpe.” But there was to be no mercy in
Thorpe’s lifetime nor for nearly three decades after his death.
Adding to the significance of the letter was the addressee not named in the salutation: Avery Brundage.
For nearly a half-century, the former New York State Supreme Court Judge Mahoney and Brundage had
jointly presided over amateur athletics in this country, with the latter ending up being much more well
known because of his perch atop the International Olympic Committee from 1952-72. The letter addressed
to Mahoney was, by definition, also a plea to Brundage, who at the time headed the United States Olympic
Committee. “I sincerely believe that I should be forgiven my mistakes and my ignorance as a simple Indian boy unversed as I was in the ways of the white man and the A.A.U.,” Thorpe wrote in the second paragraph
of this two-page historical treasure. Adding to the sad irony, or course, was the fact that Brundage had
competed against Thorpe in the Decathlon and Pentathlon in those historic 1912 Games.
Thorpe’s “transgression” had been playing minor-league baseball in the Eastern Carolina League in 1909
and 1910. His real mistake may have been simply playing under his own name, while so many other
collegiate athletes wisely performed under pseudonyms. “Don’t you honestly think I should have my
trophies and my name returned to the honor rolls of the A.A.U.?” Thorpe continued in the letter. “When my
trophies were taken from me it broke my heart and I truly did not know what it was all about.” “Ignorance
is no excuse,” the imperious Brundage once responded during his reign atop the IOC for two decades
as every entreaty from Thorpe’s family and supporters was summarily rebuffed. And then, in 1982, the Jim
Thorpe Foundation, with the support of the U.S. Congress, appealed to the IOC to reverse itself based
on the evidence that the Thorpe disqualification had violated the Committee’s own rules stating that such
decisions would have to come within 30 days following the Games. And just like that, the cruel miscarriage
of justice was redressed a mere 70 years after it had taken place. Justice delayed being justice denied,
indeed. A high resolution image of the letter and a full condition report can be viewed in our online lot
listing.
Letter itself, on Jim Thorpe's Thunderbirds All Girl Softball Team letterhead, is in very nice condition with only a small tear on each page at the top left corner where they were once held together by a staple. Thorpe has signed in vintage 7-10/10 black ink with the "James Francis Jim Thorpe" going from lighter to darker as you go across the signature. The "J" in "Jim" has been smudged a little. Letter has been beautifully framed and double matted to a size of 23" by 26 1/2". Each page of the letter is held in place on the back by 2 pieces of white linen tape which touch about a 3/4" wide by 1/8" deep strip at the top edge.
Includes a full LOA from PSA/DNA.