(WHTM) - When you hear the name Jim Thorpe, you may think of the small Carbon County town tucked away in the foothills of the Poconos. On Friday, the man the town is named for will receive the country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jim Thorpe was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, winning for the United States in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Games. King Gustav V of Sweden described him at the time as "the greatest athlete in the world."
Described as the country's "original multi-sport superstar," he played football, baseball, and basketball, and, this year, he is one of 19 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The White House says the award is presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavors.
Thorpe's athletic accomplishments, the White House says, broke down barriers both on and off the field.
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FILE - In this is undated file photo, Jim Thorpe poses in a baseball uniform. Thorpe was on top of the world after winning gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics with mind-blowing performances that went unmatched for decades. They so impressed the King of Sweden that he told Thorpe he was "the greatest athlete in the world.” The Native American was later stripped of the gold medals for breaching Olympic amateurism rules in what has been described as the first major international sports scandal. (AP Photo/File) ![]()
American footballer and athlete Jim Thorpe (1888 - 1953) competing for Carlisle Indian Industrial School at the US Olympic trials in Celtic Park, New York, 18th May 1912. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) ![]()
American multi-sport athlete and Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe (1888 - 1953), here of the New York Giants baseball team, waits for a pitch during a game at the Polo Grounds, New York, New York, 1913. (Photo by Bain News Service/Interim Archives/Getty Images) ![]()
New York City Mayor William Jay Gaynor shakes the hand of athlete Jim Thorpe during the parade of the American Olympic victors. Thorpe won gold in the decathlon and penthatlon. ![]()
(Original Caption) Portrait of athlete Jim Thorpe playing baseball. Thorpe won the decathlon and pentatlon at the 1912 Olympic games, taking first place in six events, including the shot put. Undated photograph. ![]()
(Original Caption) Jim Thorpe (1886-1953), American athlete of Native American descent. Undated photograph. ![]()
(Original Caption) James Thorpe (1888-1953), athlete, shown in his football gear. Head and shoulders photograph. ![]()
(Original Caption) Stockholm, Sweden: Jim Thorpe (1886-1953), American track and field athlete, competing in the broad jump. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) ![]()
Portrait of Jim Thorpe (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) ![]()
View of American football player Jim Thorpe, circa 1910. (Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Born in Oklahoma in 1887, Thorpe died in 1953 at the age of 64. A year later, the borough of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania voted to take on his name and become his final resting place.
The county seat of Carbon County, Jim Thorpe Borough is situated within Lehigh Gorge along what was a critical route for Anthracite coal from communities like Shenandoah, Hazleton, and more to reach larger markets via Philadelphia.
The Anthracite coal industry entered a sharp decline in the early 1900s and Mauch Chunk, like many other coal communities, began looking at tourism as a viable option to re-ignite their economies.
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Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, showing Mount Pisgah', circa 1897. The Mauch Chunk and Summit railroad operated between 1828 and 1932 delivering coal to barges in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Mauch Chunk was the original 1818 name of the borough of Jim Thorpe. From "A Tour Through the New World America", by Prof. Geo. R. Cromwell. [C. N. Greig & Co., London, circa 1897]. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images) ![]()
Mauch Chunk and Mount Pisgah', 1872. View of steam locomotives and coal barges in the town of Mauch Chunk, the lower terminus of the Mauch Chunk and Summit railroad, Pennsylvania, USA. This was a gravity railway bringing coal to the head of the Lehigh Canal for shipment to the Delaware River, 43 kilometres downstream. It was the first operational US railway of any substantial length to carry paying passengers, and ran from 1828 until 1932. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American . Artists" Vol. I, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1872]. Artist John J. Harley. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images) ![]()
Switchback Mt. Jefferson Plane, Pennsylvania, Mauch Chunk, Pa. (Photo by: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Along with adopting his name, the community raised funds to build a monument to the athlete, where a gravesite was erected and soil from his native Oklahoma was placed.
Thorpe himself, though, had little connection to the borough. Pennsylvania, however, is where his athletic career began. He attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and participated in scholastic athletics there.