JIM THORPE - Standing eight feet tall, the newest statue of Jim Thorpe shows the sports legend with his right arm extended and his fingers stretched across a discus.
The bronze tribute was unveiled Saturday - the day set aside in Pennsylvania as "James Francis Thorpe Day" and the first day of the 15th annual Jim Thorpe Birthday Celebration Weekend.
"Jim Thorpe is not your local high school athlete who did good. Jim Thorpe is not your national figure who did good. Jim Thorpe is an international icon who did great," said Jack Kmetz, president of the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame, the group that spearheaded efforts to have the statue placed in the borough bearing his name.
The dedication brought elected officials, former Olympians, area residents and local athletes to Thorpe's final resting place along Joe Boyle Circle. Members of the Lenni-Lenape tribe offered a tribute to Thorpe, who was of Native American descent, and state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-122, read a resolution declaring Saturday as "James Francis Thorpe Day."
Thorpe's grandson, Michael Koehler, and his wife, Patricia, arrived from Minocqua, Wis., to watch as a tarp was removed to reveal the sculpture.
Koehler talked about his grandfather's achievements, from winning the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Sweden to his professional football and baseball careers.
"Jim Thorpe was the kind of athlete who refused to lose," Koehler said. "And anyone who played against him
soon learned that lesson. That's the kind of athlete he was."
The Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame again commissioned sculptor Edmund E. Shumpert to chisel the latest tribute. In 2007, Shumpert finished a sculpture of Thorpe wearing his football uniform.
Kmetz called the statue "amazing," and George "Chuck" Hanna, who served as master of ceremonies, commented on the attention to detail.
"It's a pure facsimile of Thorpe's face and body. It's just very impressive. Look at his shoelaces, the veins and the wrinkles in his shorts."
The newest statue stands toward the front of the mausoleum where Thorpe's remains were interred in 1953. His third wife made a deal with officials from Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk to have the towns accept the remains and recognize themselves as "Jim Thorpe."
While some members of Thorpe's family filed a federal lawsuit demanding his remains be returned to his native Oklahoma, Koehler said he supports keeping the remains in Jim Thorpe.
Years ago, Koehler noted, Thorpe's daughter, Grace Thorpe, performed a Native American burial ritual for her father.
"My grandfather has returned to Mother Earth. He lies on sanctified ground. My half of the family doesn't see any reason whatsoever to change any of that - to disinter his remains and to take him to some obscure plot in Shawnee, Okla.," Koehler said to a rumble of applause.
Kmetz said the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame, a group formed in 1989 to perpetuate Thorpe's memory, honor local athletes and support youth sports programs, hopes to commission another statue of Thorpe. It would be the last, and would show Thorpe in a baseball uniform.
As the ceremonies drew to a close, members of the Jim Thorpe Olympians track and cross-country teams set off to light the torch for the Carbon County Special Olympics.
"The students have 'Jim Thorpe' written on their shirts," said Cynthia Stinger, who competed on the U.S. women's handball team in three Olympics and is manager of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "If that doesn't inspire them to be swifter, higher and stronger, I don't know what will."