Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe Memorial
Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania

GPS: 40.88458, -75.72511

In 2000, ABC’s Wide World of Sports conducted an online poll and named Jim Thorpe “The Greatest Athlete of the Century.”

Thorpe is in the NFL Hall of Fame for his legendary football career in the 1920s, and is just as well known for winning the gold medal in both the Pentathlon and the Decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. (His feat of winning both events at the same Olympics has never been repeated.)

One of the several plaques around his memorial site relates this famous incident:

Sweden's King Gustav distributed the gold medals — Gustav shook Thorpe's hand in a solemn manner and uttered the famous compliment, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world." Thorpe, almost speechless with modesty, is said to have blurted out, "Thanks, King."

Jim Thorpe was honored on two U.S. postage stamps, issued in 1984 and 1998: