50 greatest Summer Olympians in history

35. Jim Thorpe, Track and Field.

Jim Thorpe may well have been the best athlete of the first half of the 20th century. A member of both the Pro and College Football Halls of Fame as a star defensive back, Thrope was perhaps better known as Olympic hero at the 1912 Games in Stockholm

Mere months after graduating from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Thrope captured gold  in both the pentathlon and the decathlon in, crushing his competition as a 25-year-old force of nature.

Thorpe then embarked on an outstanding professional football career, most notably as a member of the Canton Bulldogs. He even managed to play a handful of years in the majors (as an outfielder for the New York Giants).

Sadly, Thorpe’s participation in a series of exhibition baseball games comprised his eligibility as an amateur, as he was forced to forfeit both of his Olympic gold medals. The awards were later returned to his family, albeit 30 years after Thorpe’s untimely death in 1953.

Next: 34. Takashi Ono.