#37: Jim Thorpe | The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players (2010) | NFL Films
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ม.ค. 2025
- Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Thorpe comes in at number 37 on NFL Films' "The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players" list produced in 2010.
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guys always say, "well the game was different back then." some truth to that. However....people often forget that these individuals jerry rice, Jim brown, Jim thorpe, would also evolve with the game. so imagine, if you will, Jim Thorpe's natural athletic abilities combined with today's training methods, supplements, knowledge of nutrition, new game techniques, and actually practicing every day. I wish I could watch a guy like that play....shit I wish I could have just seen Jim in his natural athletic prime playing a game of football.
Agree 100 percent. Don't know why people think the early nfl greats won't survive in today's game but in reality I think they are so much more athletic because the lack of everything you just mentioned
Okay, I'm a dinosaur, and DEFINITELY prefer older versions of the NFL to what we have today for a number of reasons. However, I think these arguments cut both ways. Players today would have to adjust to a league where there are more physically, questionable, violent hits allowed, (like clotheslining for example), more primitive transportation and accommodations, less protective equipment, having to work a job in the off season, and, depending on the era, having to play on both offense and defense. The early era players playing today would mainly not be as physically as big or as fast, which I think is a big disadvantage. They would also have to adjust to longer schedules in both the regular and post season. I also believe the offensive and defensive schemes are more sophisticated today. It definitely would be special to go back in a time machine to see Jim Thorpe. From the video, I wonder if the technique of giving the tackler a hip and then taking it away as it is described originated with Thorpe or maybe he made more use of it.
Money as the driving force, simple as that. Increased competition due to a bigger player pool. The selection process will ensure that basically only the really gifted athletes are left able to compete (including a lot of other boundary conditions e.g. technique etc.). The game changed and therfore the requirements expanded. In short, in order to stand out purely with his "natural athletic abilities" he'd be required to play on a whole new level (think of LT, Vick..). Also as mentioned already the change in schemes would effect them as well.
he practiced since he was born every day . haha.. he practiced more than even larry bird . people in school he was practicing . opposite . he three times the shape and conditioning of people today .. haha. he didn't need technology . did it form birth . he would be better even maybe . probably not cause he practiced and trained way less vs at end of the game not even tired . he could probably run the field 100 yards not even be gasped . haha. can't train that ..
Joseph Zupan you did see a guy like that. His name is Bo Jackson
This dude ran a 4 minute, 48 second 1500m, in the decathalon! On dirt! A lot of decathletes can't do that, now!
Even today, he'd be a star in the NFL
With shoes he found in the garbage after someone stole his.
He also did it with two different shoes since someone stole his shoes hoping to sabotage the race.
I know some military soldiers who ran 4 minute miles
False , only a few athletes have been able to run and break the four minute mark
Crazy how probably no one alive today can tell they you that they watched him play but we still know his greatness, crazy 🙏🏾💫
Yea you gotta appreciate stuff like that fr. Sports History is important to me at least
Jim Thorpe made the list?! Hell yeah! Well done NFL Films.
He should be higher
Why wouldn’t he have?
Also DOMINATED the Olympics in the Pentathlon and Decathlon events. Thorpe was an all-around BEAST and arguably GOAT for male athletes in the 20th century
stop calling Goat that's a devil meaning..
YES, GOAT, GOAT, GOAT!!! What does GOAT mean?
@@lancebaker1374 Greatest, Of, All, Time. G.O.A.T
@@ilikemountains2585 technically then he's the GOTTC?
esse esporte é destrutivo demais
Who got this recommended after he got a card in mut
me
Me
that card be sellin everyone ik that uses it he fumble all the time
Me here 😂
Facts Only reason why I’m here 😂
Jim Thorpe at #37 is a joke. GOAT.
TallPaul612
no, he wasn't. what about grange or people right now. thorpe has no credentials or credibility other than what others say. red grange didn't have too much credibility either, but there's actual footage of him dominating on both sides of the ball and special teams. i think he would be great in the nfl now, but not as great because players now are bigger, stronger, and faster.
wrong
A joke because he should be rated higher or a joke because he should be rated lower?????
She says it best at 3:25. We hear the faintest echo of what he was, but it's loud enough.
If he and Jim Brown played today, no one would be able to beat their records!
"Wa-Tho-Huk" Bright Path, Jim Thorpe. A member of the Sauk and Fox Nation of Oklahoma.
All presented elsewhere, so your comment is meaningless.
@@lancebaker1374 yale Oklahoma is the home of Jim
@@Branden787 Prague, Oklahoma is where Jim is from.
@@Garrett1240 yale Oklahoma is where his house and some of his medals are
@@lancebaker1374 you are worthless
Jim Thorpe is the best athlete ever played the most sports and was all star player at all of them.
Yes, Thorpe is one of the best athletes ever. No, he wasn't an all star in every sport he played. He hit .252 with an OPS+ of 99 in six MLB seasons.
Greatest athlete of all time.
James Jackson Ummm not of All-time, that'll be Michael Jeffrey Jordan buddy... But definitely of his Era assuming all of this is true. Unfortunately we don't have any film to judge for ourselves!
Ahmad2423 he sucked, Jim was the best athlete of the 20th Century
Ahmad2423 jordan is overrated
@@AHMAD-2324 Messi is a much better athlete than Jordan. Soccer is by far the most popular sport.
Ahmad2423
jordan is overrated. he was not the greatest nba player, he was an amateur-caliber golfer, and a bad baseball player.
This is absolutely ridiculous Jim Thorpe should be way higher on the list he transformed football and was an amazing athlete
My dad was born in 1921 and when I was a kid, all I heard was how in AWE he was of Jim Thorpe and Babe Didrikson. He said they both could do it all.
babe didrikson was a man.
Jim Thorpe is my ancester! I used to read biographies of him in elementary school back in 2004. My Grandma used to tell me stories of him. My kids great great grand-kids will know who he is! Like if Jim Thorpe is the GOAT 👍🏾
What a coincidence! He's my ancestor too! We must be related! Or FullOfShit. Probably the latter.
Your grandma once told me, "This idiot grandson of mine will believe anything". lol
Yeah he's your ancester not your ancestor.
@@TheBatugan77 me too! My last name is Comte
Wow
Natural multi-sport athlete, what a beast. Would be awesome to see him in action
Respect from the Navajo Nation ✊🏽🔥
Do you know the song and chant at the beginning of the video?
Great Grandson of Chief Black Hawk‼️
The greatest athlete in history, you will never see someone like him
Wilt Chamberlain?
@@lilcurry4314 wilt would be the 2nd greatest of all time just behidn thorpe. wilt would have him on strength.
@@Johnadams20760 best athlete with barely any film yeah right
@@SAINTxSZN you don't need film to know this. just simply look at what he did.
Jim Thorpe's importance cannot be overstated. Without him emerging as the first true superstar, the NFL and professional football as a whole might never have taken off. I'm not saying he is the BEST player of all time, but he is without a doubt the most important.
Guy could run 100 yards in 10 seconds. That I'd world class speed in any time period. Didn't have all the specialized training or performance enhancing substances or even protein powders that are around today. And....he never practiced..ever. This was back when giants walked the earth. Sadly...these giants are extinct.
Jacoby Ford ran that fast in his prime. So did Chris Johnson and Jacoby Jones.
That's 100 years later with better cleats etc
sanders, jackson, Hester...they all probably could run like that. Jim never practiced...ever. no specialized training or athletic performance substances...not even protein or any of the new methods. no footwork drills or parachutes or sleds. just raw athletic gifts.
Joseph Zupan Don Hutson could run 100 yards in 9.7 seconds
Joseph Zupan. Don't forget Sayers!
Native Bo Jackson.
Great analogy!! I concur!
Far Better!
It depends on how you look at it. Bo Jackson could probably do almost everything Jim did better, and that's coming from someone who LOVES Jim Thorpe. Bigger, Faster, Stronger
J Will
Put Jim Thorpe in todays day and age with nutrition and training program and modern understanding about football not just the game but the training and all other sports, and put naturally physically gifted intelligent man that doesn't back down from anything and all he does he does his best like Jim Thorpe - you'll get the same results.
pepamethodman Thorpe is an interesting case, but not a chance he dominates like he did back then. Bo Jackson didn't lift weights and didn't use many of the modern advancements.
When I was a kid growing up in the 60's who loved to play football and was a good athlete and fancied myself maybe being a decathlete some day, I asked my Dad who the best athlete in the world was and he said Jim Thorpe was and from that day forward he was my boyhood hero...unfortunately for me I stopped growing in the 8th grade so never played athletics past H.S.
I don’t mean to dismiss his incredible athletic ability with this comment but DAMN his hair was on point!!!
He just game out in madden and this is on my home
The greatest all around athlete of all times hands down.
Every native who participates in sports, his spirit lives in them.
No peds in his era! What a treat it'd be to watch him play
There were peds back then, not the same anabolics we have today but they were used mostly by baseball players though so not sure if he ever took any. To be fair, medicine in general was pretty different back than as well. Definitely not taking anything away from his legacy and ability, still a GOAT regardless imo. Football wouldn't be the same today without the guy
@@Birdman721000 Thorpe played baseball
@@ethansprague2005 Okay fair! Like I said, not saying he did, and definitely not taking anything from his legacy. You heard that interview, man was a A1 savage!
But to say PEDs weren’t around those days, is just not true
Today the Olympic Committee reinstated Jim Thorpe. It took 110 years. Thorpe once again is the sole winner of the 1912 Olympics and medals returned.
Finally
Jim Thorp is the Greatest Athlete of all time
Dude was my idol every time I tried a new sport lol, not just football
He was super man
"We hear the faintest echo of who he was, but it's loud enough." UGH I CAN'T HANDLE IT.
Wasn't that the guy who won an Olympic medal with unmatched shoes he found in the trash because his got stolen?
I thought that was jesse owens
@@LauraPerez-fo7uq No, it was Thorpe.
The greatest athlete of all time and maybe the greatest football player of all time
Michael Wilson Lmao neither
Michael Wilson 😂😂😂Nope wrong on both. But I understand you're caught up in the hype of the video...
He may be the greatest athlete of all time. He excelled in every sport he played.
Keep dreamin
@Kam Mike you saw him? Wow!
How great a football, baseball, track and field athlete was Thorpe? He won numerous Gold medals in the Olympics, played professional baseball, and when you walk into the Football Hall of Fame...it's a giant sculpture of Jim that greets you. Not really sure how there are 36 better football players than Thorpe.
Jim Thorpe is the most amazing athlete in history, that simple, that great
@Jordan Watkins Bo Jackson is certainly comparable. The other 2 aren't even in the same galaxy.
There is a town in Pennsylvania named Jim Thorpe after him.. I live very close to there.. local legend
To me, he's the world's greatest athlete, played with everything he had, never cried like these athletes today, and he was a American, north American Indian ,red man he's part of mother earth
Much respect to Jim Thorpe a real bad ass.
Jim Thorpe... Such a great athlete and person he has a town named after him. That's when you've done something with your life
The fact that we have no real footage of the guy increases his mistique even more and pushes him past mere mortals ,into the clouds and a righteous spot among the pantheon of the Gods.
Along with Bruce Lee,lol.
There is plenty of real footage. Just because some TH-camr can't find and provide it doesn't mean the footage does not exist.
@@lancebaker1374 Did you even listen to the video?
Jim Thorpe, in my opinion has got to be the greatest athlete of all time.
Happy Highlights-Highlights, talk show, and more! To say a player (in any sport) as goat is a huge misconception, even to say greatest in the NFL, don't get me wrong each great in their own right, let's take Tom Brady for example 5 SB wins most this, most that etc, maybe the best as QB but there's all the other positions as well so you would have to break it down by positions, if you were to ask me whose the best I would say it's personal preference and opinion.
Soviet Onion 72 you mind want look up the definition of the word athlete..... you can say Tom Brady is the greatest football player of all time but not even close to greatest athlete
Owen Gette didn’t compete against one black athlete. So how so?
@@whayes8084 because it’s very hard to find records of nfl games in the 1920s, I can’t say for sure if he faced off against any of the small number of black players who played in the 1920s, but what I can say is that he almost certainly did during other athletic showcases.
This dude was a god at life
We have the idea to had watched "Legends"; like Montana, Rice, Payton, Taylor, Lott; etc; we will be able to watch them forever.
Just one footage and some photographs from Jim Thorpe and above all the LEGEND of his work like an athlete. In those days it was about to knew the existence of Jim Thorpe, and imagine his greatness.............. that is a LEGEND.
Jim Thorpe to me was the greatest athlete that ever lived & this should never be questioned. You will never see someone accomplish at a high level what he did ever again.
Should be questioned he didnt compete against no black athletes only slow white guys
Incredible sportsman, of native American parentage. Too often great sportsmen and women of history are overlooked now but he is still the best all round there has been
I think thorpe's dad was white
Mister Blue and his mom was also have white
Just imagine if their was more footage of him playing he would be ranked way higher
I think that Jim, in all his sadness as a man caught between worlds, always seemed to believe when faced with a challenge, well, let’s have at it. God bless Jim Thorpe.
Should be higher
Yeah at least top ten
How can you be Sure..there is no film.
Hard to put him much higher when he didn't play pro football full time until into his 30s, and the league was not a huge talent magnet in his day. I'm a huge Jim Thorpe fan, but I'm comfortable with this ranking. Had he played today, he might have been an elite slashback, doing everything well. But we'll never know.
Should be top 5 hands down!
Should be higher
Jim Torphe The Real GOAT!!!
Took a course in American sports history in college back in the day… after hearing about him I knew he was the goat.
37???? Too low. He is easily in the top 5.
He was great but not top 5. I would say top is Tom Brady, Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, Jim Brown, and Joe Montana. He was great, we just cant put him that high
@@aqua6930 he better then joe Montana
The fact that Jim Thorpe played for a team in Massillon Ohio is mind blowing
33 at the NFL’s inaugural season and yet was the league leading rusher 3 times, imagine if he was born 30 years later in the peak of old school running backs
back in the 90's i was in third grade... we had gone to the library to check out books and i chose some football one and in there they had half a page dedicated o this man. the title to the short passage about him was "the greatest of all time" and it had a pic of thorpe throwing a football in what seemed to be a native shirt. we had to present our books to the teacher who was an old vietnam vet and as he rummaged through my book the only page he commented on was the thorpe one. he pointed at the picture smiled and told me 'ol thorpe was somethin special"
The greatest athlete in the history of the world!!
He’s so famous there’s a town in Pennsylvania named after him
They Don't make e'm like that anymore....
they make em better now
Dean Hagler-Jaen greatest comment 😂😂😂
Dean Hagler-Jaen They PRODUCE, as in supplement. Something Jim Thorpe had none of.
aaron2342 No, low IQ.
Matter of fact they never made em like that before Jim Thorpe was rare like Mr. Clean with hair
If thorpe played in the modern era he would be arguably top 5.
Freak before everyone used that term in sports. He created the term "Visualization," using pictures and photographs of athletic motion and transferring it instantly into action. There probably was no athletic endeavor "Bright Path" couldn't blaze a trail through. Trained with modern techniques he would probably still be regarded as what he was. The World's Greatest Athlete. As King Gustav of Sweden observed, "Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world." "THANKS KING." WAS HIS CLASSIC REPLY. Truer words were never spoken.
Big Jim shouldn't just be in the Hall of Fame. He should be ON it. His image should be above the entrance.
awesome!!
Idk about any of his other stuff but she calls him “one of the best baseball players at the time” when he was literally a below average big league baseball player at the time with a small sample size.
Who else is coming from Madden 21?
Facts yo
💯
There are very few videos on him to the point where there are more videos of him in Madden:
@@goldennuggetjr4725 Thats actually true. If you search "Jim Thorpe Madden 21", there are a million TH-cam videos.
Oh, and Thorpe played in an era when there was very little padding, no face guard and all of the men were MEN!
Yeah! We love Jim...The G.O.A.T!
And to make him Thorpe even more legendary Jim Thorpe would never train before trying something new so he was always good right away at whatever he did
surprised there wasnt more footage of him.... jack johnson & jack dempsey were filmed a lot. hes like a ghost... incredible legend.
boxing was the more popular sport
Bo Jackson name is still well known today because he played Pro Football and Pro Baseball (he sucked at baseball) Yet, no one knows Jim's name. Jim played and dominated all the main sports Pro Football, Basketball & Baseball and he competed in the Olympics, he was even dubbed by a king as the greatest athlete in the world! This is true, I can't think of an athlete today who accomplished any of the things Jim did. He was a natural born athlete who excelled in any sport he played, he also was a boxer, lacrosse player and swimmer, he was a coach's dream athlete it didn't take years for coaches to teach him a sport it just came natural to Jim.
If not the greatest player ever to play certainly the greatest athlete to ever play.
Rip Jim. Shout out to a whole great little town named Jim Thorpe in P.A.
Should have been rated higher ! He appeared on the scene much earlier.
JIM has got to be top 10 !
I really like the song they use at 2:45. Anyone know what it is?
Guys like Thorpe, Baugh, they are forgotten today.
All of this was built on the shoulders of giants, like them.
Let's not disrespect Ladainian Tomlinson, please. Two different eras. LT was a monster.
This story should be shared and told worldwide. Could well be the goat in terms of the NFL. Tom Brady Jim Brown and Jerry Rice are modern-day greats but Jim Thorpe is a real legend .
footage of him filmed with an android
Lmao
Filmed with a cricket wireless phone
alexandre mathieu I have an android but that was funny lmao
alexandre mathieu 😂😂😂IKR😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
He had more Heart than any player today!
michael d Well of course he did they were playing for pennies. Compared to today's athlete's...So my point is he didn't have anything else to play with or for. Because they dam sho weren't gonna give a native American in the 1920's any endorsement deals.
Ahmad2423 he's mixed half white half native American
Greatest American athlete
I played football and track and field in high school. Now I’m about to enter my second year in college hopefully to tryout to play football this years team. Aiming to play in the NFL for my family back in South Dakota.
Yeah, but you aint no Jim Thorpe. You'd probably break your neck riding a horse like Jim did as a boy.
@@rjohnson1569 I know I ain’t no Mr. Thorpe, but does that mean I’m going to stop anytime soon? No. Just watch me.
Thanks king .
Thanks, King.
This is the number 1 football player. and probably number 1 in baseball aswell.
Arturo Gomez definitely not baseball
In that time period Honus Wagner, ty Cobb, Johnny Evers, and frank baker were miles better than Jim Thorpe. That's just in the 1900s and 1910s, I'm leaving out all the greats before and after that time period. For football still no however he is definitely amongst the greats but jerry rice is still the goat.
You just say things to sound safe. What an idiot you are.
Arturo Gomez BEST ATHLETE EVER
Happy Highlights-Highlights, talk show, and more! Naw the greatest Athlete Of All-time is easily Michael Jordan...IMO that's not even a serious debate!
Rip Jim Thorpe 🙏🏾
I read books about Jim Thorpe. I also found myself in the town in PA named after him. He, Barry Sanders, and Joe Namath are my all time favorites:)
This country needs another one of him
Jim Thorpe:
"An Amazing Athlete!!!!" No Contest.****
Proud to say I’m related to him.
Me too!
👍👍👍
I live in canton ohio. Canton had a team called bulldogs. He could play any sport and be great at everything. Best athlete the canton mckinley bulldogs has a iconic football program.
Amazing athlete rip🙏❤😔
People don’t understand how athletic native Americans are😭I went from 120 skinny to 155 buff in a matter of two months, and not to mention my grandpa who never worked out a day in his life, was one of the most muscular guy I know lmaoo
The interesting bit about his mismatched shoes at the Olympics is that he borrowed one from a teammate which was too small and squished his foot a bit and the other he found in the garbage was too big so he wore an extra sock to make it more snug. With those shoes he won the high jump, ran a 15.6 110 meter hurdles which was faster than Bob Mathias ran it in the 1948 Olympics, placed third and fourth in the pole vault and javelin (events he was inexperienced with) and then finished the decathlon with a 4:40 1500 meter run.
According to his obituary in , he could run the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat; the 220 in 21.8 seconds; the 440 in 51.8 seconds; the 880 in 1:57, the mile in 4:35; the 120-yard high hurdles in 15 seconds; and the 220-yard low hurdles in 24 seconds. He could long jump 23 ft 6 in and high-jump 6 ft 5 in. He could pole vault 11 feet; put the shot 47 ft 9 in; throw the javelin 163 feet; and throw the discus 136 feet.
I feel like I'm the reincarnation of Jim Thorpe, we were born on the same day may 28th, we are both 6'1 and both native American. I'm up next lol
#37? Hell, he is #1 Athlete of 20th century! And that includes Secretariat and Muhamed Ali.
Not when he didn't compete against black athletes
What's really crazy is that this dude had a twin brother. As crazy as his athletic abilities were, his twin would have been genetically identical. There could have been two of him!
Jim Thorpe was and is the greatest athlete America ever has seen. Those track stars that enter pro football can run fast, but cant catch a football any better than a 10 yr old kid
Markiplier?
Usually I'm not big on reaching far back and comparing athletes from then to now, but as the commentator said, he was a dominant player in many sports. I'd have to put him in top 10 of all time football player too.
He’s not top 10, he played against guys that didn’t even know what stretching was ! It’s like people calling Wilt the best basketball player because he scored 100. Yes he’s a pioneer but let’s not get delusional the dude scored 6 rushing TDs and had 4 passing TDs. Sports evolve, athletes get better, it’s evolution.
#37?? He should be in the top 10. Thorpe, Red Grange & Bronko Nagurski were the first superstars of the NFL. If he’d played in Chicago or NYC he’d be better documented in terms of film and statistics
Awesome athlete! Wish they could of picked someone else to narrate for him instead of a Washington Post crony. Didn't need that cheap plug for her book either.
As a Native American we look at Jim as the standard for athletics no matter the sport he was the man!
Anyone else here in 2021 after he got his UL card?