Jim Thorpe Medals: Olympics at the Millennium anthology

From the desk of Trace DeMeyer (2000)

Here it is at last – “The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics and The Games.”  My contribution is Chapter 2.  The book just hit the store shelves when the 2000 Olympics in Sydney began.  I can say with a sigh of wonder and relief that I am finally a published author - a dream of mine since childhood. (You may have heard me say I had to get old enough to write, to know what I cared about, with enough confidence to write it, with enough experience under my belt.)

Of course, I cannot take the credit for the idea.  Sidonie and Kay asked me to write the chapter after they found me on the Internet.  Since I was covering Jim Thorpe regularly in the newspaper News From Indian Country, and had interviewed Thorpe’s sons and daughter Grace, it seemed like a task perfectly suited to my skills and research.

So a few years ago I agreed and wrote the first draft, then did a second draft August 1999.  After a few more months, they edited it down for length, and I had a final look after Rutgers Press laid out the pages.  Finally - here it is.

                 Actually, I wrote more than what made it into the book. There is enough for a chapter or two on his children’s efforts to gain support for Jim Thorpe’s recognition as the world’s greatest athlete.  Grace did ask me to go to Switzerland to retrieve the Viking Ship chalice that was a gift from the Czar of Russia… I would like to since they surely deserve it after all these years of waiting!

Now I hope you’ll enjoy reading my contribution as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

5star reviews:
"This thoroughly brilliant anthology is a 'must read' for all interested in sports culture and politics." -- Ed Guerrero, cinema studies, New York University